Google to Buy Carbon Credits from An Indian Startup that Turns Large Amounts of Agricultural Waste Into Biochar

Google has signed a significant deal to purchase carbon credits from an Indian startup called Varaha. This startup's initiative converts large amounts of agricultural waste into biochar, a form of charcoal that captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it in the soil.

The Google-Varah deal is one of the biggest ever involving biochar, and is Google's first foray into India's carbon dioxide removal (CDR) sector.

Varaha is an innovative Indian startup focused on carbon dioxide removal (CDR) through the production of biochar. Varaha converts agricultural waste into biochar using pyrolysis Reactors.

Biochar is a form of charcoal that captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it in the soil. Biochar not only helps mitigate CO2 emissions but also improves soil health, offering an alternative to traditional fertilizer.

Key Points:

Carbon Credits: Google has committed to purchase 100,000 tonnes of carbon removal credits from Varaha by 2030 as the catalytic first buyer of biochar credits produced by a Varaha facility in Gujarat, India.

Biochar Production: Varaha sources agricultural waste from hundreds of smallholder farms in India and converts it into biochar using Reactors.

Environmental Impact: Biochar not only helps mitigate CO2 emissions but also improves soil health, offering an alternative to traditional fertilizer.

Scalability: Varaha estimates that India's agricultural waste could generate enough biochar to store more than 100 million tons of CO2 annually.

This partnership is part of Google's broader strategy to achieve its net-zero emissions goal and support scalable solutions to address climate change.

Varaha has raised a total of $12.7 million from prominent funds such as RTP Global, Omnivore, Orios Venture Partners, and Japan’s Norinchukin Bank.

Besides Google, other tech giants are also exploring carbon credit purchases from Indian companies to offset their emissions. While specific deals haven't been widely publicized, companies like Microsoft and Amazon have shown interest in similar initiatives. These companies are looking to support carbon dioxide removal (CDR) projects, such as biochar production, to help achieve their sustainability goals.

Soon Farmers Can Sell Carbon Credits, to Industries, Earned from Adopting Sustainable Agricultural Practices

The initiative to provide carbon credits to farmers in eight states is a groundbreaking effort to promote sustainable agriculture

Soon, Farmers in eight states will be financially rewarded for adopting sustainable agricultural practices, such as low tillage, direct-seeded rice (DSR), nitrogen management, and crop residue management.

The initiative to provide carbon credits to farmers is actually limited to eight specific states in India: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.

This program aims to incentivize environmentally friendly farming and help farmers earn additional income through carbon credits.

The private company involved in this particular carbon credit program for farmers is Grow Indigo. It's a joint venture between Mahyco, an Indian seed company, and Indigo Ag, a US-based agriculture technology company. Grow Indigo is responsible for enrolling farmers, managing carbon credit projects, and ensuring that the credits are generated and sold according to the Verra certification standards.

How It Works

Farmers will be rewarded for adopting sustainable practices such as low tillage, direct-seeded rice (DSR), nitrogen management, and crop residue management. These practices help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve soil health.

Financial Rewards: The carbon credits earned by farmers can be sold to industries, such as aviation, mining, and fertilizer manufacturing, which need to offset their carbon footprints. Approximately 75% of the revenue from the sale of carbon credits will flow back to the farmers.

Third-Party Audit: The carbon credits are certified by Verra, a global voluntary greenhouse gas reduction program, ensuring that the credits are legitimate and verifiable.

Based on the certification by Verra, the carbon credits will be awarded to farmers in the next couple of months. This certification ensures that the carbon credits are legitimate and verifiable, providing farmers with a reliable way to earn additional income through sustainable agricultural practices

Impact: The program aims to benefit small and marginal farmers by providing them with an additional source of income while promoting environmentally friendly farming practices.

Grow Indigo has enrolled 80,000 farmers in Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana covering diverse crops in over 40,000 hectare in various carbon programme.

This initiative is a significant step towards making agriculture more sustainable and helping farmers earn extra income through carbon credits.

To recall, earlier this month IndianWeb2 reported that India is gearing up for its first carbon credit sale, with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) playing a crucial role.

In July this year, the Agriculture Ministry has developed the framework for promoting the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) in the agricultural sector to encourage small and marginal farmers to get carbon credit benefits.Introducing carbon markets to farmers can accelerate the acceptance of eco-friendly agriculture practices while enhancing their income.

Bureau of Energy Efficiency (under the Ministry of Power) is also involved in developing the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme.

Indian Govt Plans Its First Carbon Credits Sale Via FCI

India is gearing up for its first carbon credit sale, with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) playing a crucial role. The government plans to leverage FCI's optimized logistics and digital transformation efforts, which have significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions. This initiative is part of India's broader strategy to meet its emission reduction targets under the Paris Agreement.

The carbon credits generated from these efforts will be sold, providing a financial incentive for further sustainability initiatives. This move is expected to promote cleaner technologies and practices across various sectors.

India's carbon credit trading scheme, established under the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022, aims to create a domestic carbon market. This market will incentivize emission reductions by allowing companies to trade carbon credits, thus encouraging them to adopt more sustainable practices.

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is playing a pivotal role in the Indian government’s first carbon credit sale. By optimizing its logistics operations, FCI has significantly reduced its greenhouse gas emissions. This includes digital transformation initiatives that streamline supply chain operations, reduce transportation distances, and improve overall efficiency. The carbon credits generated from these emission reductions will be sold. 

It’s a significant step towards achieving carbon neutrality and promoting sustainable practices in India’s foodgrain management system.

To optimize its logistics, focusing on improving efficiency and reducing emissions, FCI has adopted digital tools to streamline its supply chain operations. This includes real-time tracking of foodgrain movement, automated inventory management, and predictive analytics to forecast demand and optimize storage and distribution

Further, by optimizing routes and consolidating shipments, FCI has reduced fuel consumption and transportation costs. This not only lowers emissions but also ensures timely delivery of foodgrains.

Moreover, FCI is incorporating sustainable practices such as using energy-efficient equipment and renewable energy sources in its operations. This further contributes to reducing the carbon footprint.

Besides, the FCI is also working with various stakeholders, including state governments and private partners, to implement best practices in logistics and supply chain management. Additionally, it provides training to its staff on sustainable practices and efficient resource utilization.

FCI maintains a vast network of storage facilities across the country, including warehouses and silos, to store the procured food grains.

Established in 1965 under the Food Corporations Act, 1964, the FCI operates under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. FCI’s primary mandate is to ensure the food security of India by managing the procurement, storage, and distribution of food grains, primarily wheat and rice.

In April this year, the Indian government has significantly increased FCI’s authorized working capital to ₹21,000 crore from ₹10,000 crore. This financial boost is aimed at minimizing borrowings and interest payouts, and funding a planned modernization drive. The additional capital will help FCI enhance its storage facilities, improve transportation networks, and adopt advanced technologies.

Later in July, the Union government has restructured FCI’s funding, allowing it to operate without taking on new debt for the first time. This move expected to cut interest payments by a tenth and smoothen the flow of funds, ensuring more efficient operations.

Notably, the Indian government has several plans and initiatives related to carbon credit sales and the development of a domestic carbon market.

Last year in June, the Ministry of Power has notified the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, 2023, which aims to establish a domestic carbon market. This scheme sets the framework for trading carbon credits, with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) acting as the administrator and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) overseeing the trading process.

Besides, the country is also working towards launching a national carbon market to drive down fossil fuel use. This market will allow polluters to exchange credits equivalent to a certain amount of emissions, incentivizing companies to reduce their carbon footprint

COP26: SDG Exchange Launches Platform to Enable Trading of Carbon Credits

SDG Exchange, an exchange platform for carbon credits that seeks to enable efficient, transparent and trusted global marketplaces for carbon offsets pursuant to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, today announced the global launch of its platform amid the ongoing COP26.

A release issued by the exchange here today stated that all assets listed on SDG Exchange platforms are compliant with Paris Agreement Article 6, fully verified by independent third-party auditing and meet the most rigorous standards, including ISO 14064-3.

Carbon credits entering SDGx’s Carbon Asset Monetization (CAM) marketplace are registered on the blockchain, eliminating current carbon market inefficiencies including double counting, double printing, double spending, and emerging double retirement. All transactions, custodianship, accounting and retirement are public records via an immutable distributed ledger.

Carbon credits can remain as a credit, or be transferred into a digital Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMO) unit, allowing the transfer of carbon credits between countries and marketplaces globally. Pursuant to Article 6, one ITMO equals one metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent. Asset transactions are fulfilled via Fiat, Bitcoin or Ethereum.

“SDGx’s platform delivers market infrastructure with transparency, trust, accountability, efficiency and global price normalization, which is exactly what countries and large private sector players need for global carbon offset markets to reach the scale and volume required to mitigate climate change. We look forward to being a trusted marketplace enabler,” Jason Cooner, CEO of SDG Exchange said.

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement calls for a robust global marketplace for trading carbon offsets as one of the primary tools to address climate change. Five years later, a global consensus on market standards remains elusive. The SDGx platform is a major step forward in market standard execution.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged at the COP26 UN climate conference in Glasgow that India will achieve net-zero emissions by 2070.

Speaking at the ‘High-Level Segment for Heads of State and Government’ during the UNFCCC’s 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, the Indian Prime Minister also announced that the country would make one billion-tonne reduction in projected emissions from now until 2030.

Ramping up India's fight against climate change and global warming, Modi also announced several ambitious targets for the country.