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Source: PRESS RELEASE, 2/8/21 Indigo Agriculture, a company dedicated to harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet, today announced additional multi-year commitments to purchase verified agricultural carbon credits through Indigo Carbon. Maple Leaf Foods and
Epiphany Craft Malt will purchase verified agricultural carbon credits to
further their sustainability objectives. Cool Effect will offer Indigo Carbon credits to buyers on their existing
platform, allowing both individuals and organizations to fulfill their
sustainability goals with high quality offsets. The North Face will provide
Indigo-partner farmers with a premium for cotton grown with regenerative
practices and is incentivizing new (additional) practice adoption. Through
these commitments, the companies join a growing cohort of private industry
leaders spurring the global effort to leverage agriculture as a
meaningful climate solution."Agriculture holds significant promise as a means for addressing
climate change and these partners are supporting the change we need to unlock
the industry's potential to benefit people and the planet," said Ben Allen, Head of Global Market Development at Indigo.
"With the purchase of Indigo Carbon credits,
companies directly support farmers' climate smart efforts to make beneficial
farming practices the norm, not the exception. I'm incredibly proud to count
this new crop of companies among our partners, whose investment and
collaboration demonstrate a new era of public-private partnership for
good." With an inaugural credit purchase price of $20/tonne
of carbon dioxide equivalents sequestered and abated, Indigo Carbon allows companies to directly finance
growers' transitions to cultivation practices that improve their soil health,
profitability, and the environment at large. Representing a new income stream
for farmers, the credits establish an outcomes-based mechanism to accelerate
the adoption of agronomic methods proven to reduce on-farm emissions and remove
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As private companies increasingly seek out rigorous, science-based
strategies for addressing the environmental impact of their operations,
verified offsets have emerged as a key tool for facilitating impactful and
cost-effective abatement and removal. Indigo Carbon presents
the first agricultural carbon credit project to deploy scalable,
registry-approved methodologies for monitoring and quantifying net on-farm
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions and removals. Developed by the Climate Action Reserve and Verra - nonprofit
organizations that manage leading GHG offset project registries - the
methodologies establish rigorous standards to ensure the legitimacy of carbon
credits for the benefit of growers, buyers, and the public. As the first
project developer to adopt and operationalize these protocols, Indigo Carbon enables companies to turn to
agriculture -- currently a largely untapped strategy for achieving
environmental targets -- with offsets that adhere to the highest industry
standards for measurement, reporting, and verification. "We are proud to partner with Indigo Ag as
another key milestone in our purposeful journey to becoming the most sustainable
protein company on earth," said Michael McCain,
President and CEO, Maple Leaf Foods.
"The potential for carbon sequestration through regenerative agriculture
is game changing for global climate action. As a carbon neutral company, Maple
Leaf Foods is committed to creating a more sustainable food system by investing
in high-impact environmental projects and supporting local farmers as they
harness the power of agriculture to meaningfully reduce greenhouse gases
globally." "As the first apparel brand to partner with Indigo, we are excited
about the positive environmental impacts regenerative cotton production can
have not only for The North Face products, but for our industry as a
whole," said Carol Shu, Senior Manager
of Global Sustainability at The North Face.
"Regenerative products have the ability to shift the industry from simply
'doing less harm' to actually replenishing or having a positive impact on
nature and resources, and as a brand that is committed to protecting the
outdoor places we love to play, we believe this is another critical step in
addressing climate change impacts in our supply chain." "Indigo's approach to changing and improving farming by adjusting
long-standing farming practices while revolutionizing how crops are managed
inspired me to think bigger about our solutions to fight climate change,"
said Sebastian Wolfrum, Founder and Director
of Malting and Roasting Operations at Epiphany Craft Malt, a
small-batch malthouse committed to establishing a resilient, sustainable, and
quality supply of domestically grown malt. "At Epiphany Malt, the small grains
we use are the foundation to our excellence in malting. We want to start where
it matters most to us, in the field." "We are pleased to offer Indigo carbon offsets on the Cool Effect
platform beginning in the fall," said Dee
Lawrence, Co-Founder of Cool Effect, a nonprofit
that provides individuals and businesses the opportunity to create a tangible
impact on climate change by funding the highest quality carbon-reducing
projects around the world. "We value Indigo's pioneering work with the
Climate Action Reserve and Verra to quantify carbon sequestration in soil as
well as its goals to teach and promote beneficial sustainable agricultural
practices that help both the farmer and mother earth." The introduction of these new buyers expands on previously announced corporate
purchase commitments from companies across diverse sectors
including financial services (Barclays, JPMorgan Chase), food and beverage
(Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, New Belgium Brewing), technology (Givewith, IBM,
Shopify), and professional services (Boston Consulting Group). Backed by strong private market demand and multi-year purchase agreements,
a growing network of over a thousand farmers across 21 states, end-to-end and
on-the-ground program support, and committed practice changes on over 2 million
participating acres, Indigo Carbon is
poised to issue its first credits and reward growers for "farming
carbon" later this year. Learn more about Indigo Carbon and opportunities to support farmers
in adopting beneficial farming practices. ABOUT INDIGO AG Indigo Ag improves grower profitability,
environmental sustainability, and consumer health through the use of natural
microbiology and digital technologies. The company's scientific discoveries and
digital platforms benefit stakeholders across the agricultural ecosystem,
including tens of thousands of growers across millions of acres. Working across
the supply chain, Indigo Ag is
furthering its mission of harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed
the planet. In 2019, the company launched Indigo
Carbon - a scientifically backed program that provides growers with
a new revenue stream in the form of verified agricultural carbon credits. Indigo Ag is headquartered in Boston, MA, with additional offices in Memphis, TN; Research
Triangle Park, NC; Sao Paulo, Brazil;
and Basel, Switzerland.
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