Partnership for credible reporting on carbon intensity of agriculture commodities
March 22, 2022 – Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC) and SustainCERT announced a partnership at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in San Francisco, CA, to accelerate the deployment of an end-to-end digital solution for corporate reporting on the carbon intensity of agriculture commodities. The result will unlock scalability and credibility for climate action in agriculture supply chains.
Agriculture needs to close an 11-gigaton greenhouse gas emissions gap to hold global warming below 2 degrees whilst feeding 3 billion more people by 2050. While companies strive towards net-zero targets and reducing their supply chain (or Scope 3) emissions, the level of action and investments required to close this gap needs to scale drastically.
Harnessing the power of technology for speed, scale and credibility
ESMC and SustainCERT have partnered to accelerate the deployment of SustainCERT’s Scope 3 software and digital verification capabilities for agriculture value chains in the United States. The end-to-end digital solution is designed to create trust that real progress is happening on the ground and to recognize those taking action in their supply chains, thereby incentivizing much needed co-investments in climate action. The solution will also mitigate double counting risks in a way that is recognized by best-practice frameworks.
The solution will integrate the partners’ proprietary systems to enable seamless and digitized Scope 3 intervention impact monetization through the creation of verified Scope 3 units. ESMC will help pilot test and improve the solution, allowing for better alignment with user needs as well as civil society quality requirements, including the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
For Marion Verles, CEO, SustainCERT “This partnership confirms that verified Scope 3 units can drive finance at scale towards low-carbon interventions in agriculture value chains. This requires digital solutions designed to manage the inherent complexity of Scope 3 accounting and that can produce credible, verified and comparable Scope 3 data.
Debbie Reed, ESMC Executive Director noted, “ESMC’s collective market program is based on rigorous science to ensure our ag supply chain members and stakeholders that the emissions reductions occurring on the ground are backed up with verified data. Partnering with SustainCERT to provide insight and to test and refine the Scope 3 Software will enable our members to scale collective investments in ag supply chain interventions. Independent 3rd party verification and tracking of credible Scope 3 units is essential to meet Scope 3 emissions targets to address the climate crisis.”
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Contact: Debbie Reed, ESMC Executive Director (dreed@ecosystemservicesmarket.org)
Contact: Dino De Francesco, SustainCERT, Communications & Marketing Director, (dino.defrancesco@sustain-cert.com)
About Ecosystem Services Market Consortium
Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC) is a non-profit collective action program dedicated to scaling quantified and verified sustainable ecosystem services from agriculture. It is a public private partnership of the agricultural supply chain and value chain – including agricultural producer groups and co-ops, major corporate food and beverage companies, agribusiness, conservation NGO’s, ag tech companies, land grant universities, and others. ESMC members have collectively invested in and are launching ESMC’s national scale market program in May 2022. Read more at www.ecosystemservicesmarket.org.
About SustainCERT
SustainCERT is a global carbon impact verification organization bringing credibility to climate action through the world’s first software platform for digital verification and management of credible claims for carbon markets and value chains.
SustainCERT empowers businesses, investors and carbon project developers to measure, report and verify their environmental impact claims to ensure climate pledges bring real, meaningful impact on the ground.
Founded as an independent standalone company in 2018 by the Gold Standard, SustainCERTs approach aligns with, and contributes to, leading international frameworks including the Sustainable Development Goals, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
SustainCERT is also the co-founder of the Value Change Initiative, a multistakeholder forum bringing together some of the world’s largest companies, leading civil society actors and internationally recognized frameworks to collectively define best practice and drive down Scope 3 emissions at scale.
