Agricultural
Carbon Projects:
Are They
Sustainable?
Exploring the meso-level of
agricultural carbon finance
Corinna Clements and Keith M. Moore
Office of International Research,
Education and Development , Virginia
Tech
Overview
 Context
 Scalar
framework
 Parameters
 Case Studies
Context
Smallholder
farmers & Climate
Change
Terrestrial Carbon
Agricultural Carbon Finance
Projects
A Scalar Framework
Parameters for Evaluation
 Stakeholder
 Market
Engagement
Linkages
 Generation
and Use of Carbon Revenues
Stakeholder Engagement
 Scale

Degree of decision-making power
 Role



of participation
of:
Individuals
Local leaders
Local organizations
Market Linkages
 Monitoring,
reporting, and verification

Verified Carbon Standard (VCS)

Climate, Community, and Biodiversity
Alliance (CCBA)

Plan Vivo
Use of Carbon Revenues
 Structure
 Method
 The
of payments
of distribution
percentage of total project costs
covered by carbon revenues
Case Studies
The Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project
(KACP)
 The BioCarbon Fund
 Vi Agroforestry
The Sofala Community Carbon Project
 Plan Vivo
 Envirotrade
Participation
 Local-level
 Field
intermediaries
Officers/Community Technicians
 Community
Meetings
Market Linkages
The KACP


BioCarbon Fund
Verified Carbon
Standard
The Sofala Project



Plan Vivo
University of Edinburgh
Climate, Community,
and Biodiversity Alliance
Comparison of Carbon Revenues and their Distribution
Project
Payment to project
for sale of carbon
credits
Discount Rate
Payment to farmers
per ton sequestered
Proportion of project
expenses covered by
carbon revenues
The KACP
$4.00
60%
$0.96
30%
Sofala
Community
Carbon
$8.32*
15%
$4.00
70-77%**
Figures from Atela 2012; Goodman 2010, 2012; Envirotrade 2009, 2013
*Average in year 2012
**Calculated percentage of local expenses covered by carbon revenues in years 2009-2012, based
off of figures in the 2009-2012 annual reports. Proportion of total costs covered by the project,
including overhead expenses and costs of operating Envirotrade, is unknown, limiting our ability to
compare The KACP and Sofala.
Two Narratives
 Practice-based
 Market-based
To what extent can agricultural carbon
finance initiatives become self-sustaining?

Do carbon revenues justify efforts to monitor,
report, and verify sequestered carbon?

What role do stakeholders have in determining the
following facets of the project:





Finance mechanism
Practices to be implemented
Verification methodology
Contract arrangements
Payment Structure
Thank you
Questions?