Ag Carbon Glossary
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Ag Carbon Dictionary
Additionality
A characteristic of a project that needs to be demonstrated in order to be eligible to participate in the voluntary carbon market. A project is additional if it's activities are the cause of emission reductions/removals that would not have occurred otherwise, and would not have taken place without incentives produced by the voluntary carbon market.
Atmospheric Carbon
Gaseous carbon compounds influencing the earth's atmosphere, primarily carbon dioxide, but also methane and carbon monoxide. These compounds are created by human and natural processes and exchanged between the atmosphere and the terrestrial biosphere and oceans.
Biodiversity
Biotic resources, or the animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms, derived from a unit of land - measured in richness and abundance. Society, and an agricultural operation, benefit from biodiversity in terms of pollination of crops, predation of pests, hunting and enjoyment of nature. Biodiversity can be impacted directly by management practices such as seeding divese species into a pasture or cover crops as well as indirectly through grazing management or the type of tillage system employed.
Buffer Account/Pool
Agoro Carbon must perform a risk assessment of the projects before each verification and deposit a portion of the verified emission removals generated during the monitoring period into Verra’s buffer account. The portion of verified emission removals that must be deposited is dependent on the risk assessment score.
Cap and Trade Markets
A system in which organizations and countries are permitted to produce a set amount of carbon dioxide emissions and other atmospheric pollutants, with the provision that those who do not produce their entire allowance may sell their remaining capacity to those who have exceeded their allowed limit
Carbon credit
One Metric Tonne of C02 that is either removed or reduced from a bussiness as usual scenario. A carbon credit is a frequently used measurement unit to quantify carbon. Typically, one carbon credit is equal to one metric ton of carbon or carbon dioxide equivalent that is sequestered.
Carbon Cropping verb
Agricultural approach and management techniques that use conservation practices to sequester carbon into soils while combating climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and improving soil health while adding a new revenue stream.
Carbon Emission Reductions
Reductions of carbon dioxide emissions, or it's greenhouse gas equivalent, from a business as usual scenario
Carbon emissions
The release of carbon containing greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.
Carbon Farming
Practices, on farm or ranch, that reduce atmospheric greenhouse gasses by removing greenhouse gasses from the air and storing them in the soil or plant material. These practices also decrease the flux of greenhouse gasses from farm or ranch through enhanced management.
Carbon market
The voluntary market for carbon credits. It’s primary purpose is to allow companies to voluntarily purchase and retire carbon credits to offset their unavoided emissions. Since participation is voluntary, companies often choose to participate for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting, risk mitigation or other reasons tied to the company’s mission or success. Other actors, e.g., countries, NGOs, etc., may also purchase carbon credits to incentivize the activities that led to the creation of the carbon credit.
carbon methodology/protocol
A carbon offset methodology is a framework document that outlines the quantification and parameters necessary to produce carbon offsets during the entire duration of a project
carbon net neutral
Carbon neutral means zero net emissions through the use of offsets
Carbon Neutral
The end goal of all production systems in the world. Carbon neutral is to producer no greenhouse gas emissions or have enough offsets that reduce the footprint number to zero.
Carbon Offsets
One Metric Tonne of C02 that is either removed or reduced from a bussiness as usual scenario. Offsets are the retirement or cancelation of carbon credits to cancel out emissions produced by the owner of the credit
Carbon Registry
A carbon registry system is a platform that allows organizations to track, manage and trade greenhouse gas emissions (GHG emissions)
Carbon Removal
Removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere through natural or human activity.
Carbon Sequestration
A process by which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and stored in various forms. In agriculture, this is typically as soil organic carbon. This is stored for varying lengths of time due to natural and human processes, including microbial action, temperature, precipitation, and management
Carbon standard
A program that certifies project-generated greenhouse gas reductions and removals by ensuring the project meets the requirements of an approved methodology, overarching project requirements set by the standard, and has undergone an independent audit. Additional Context: The carbon standard that Agoro Carbon uses is the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), which is managed by Verra. The VCS Program requires that our project follow the requirements of the VCS Standard, the applied methodology, and undgergo a third party audit before allowing us to issue carbon credits. Other similar standards include The Climate Action Reserve, The Gold Standard for the Global Goals, and Plan Vivo.
CO2
Carbon dioxide
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emission
A gas substance, often carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gasses that are emitted into the atmosphere and trap heat. When reported these gasses are often put on a scale based on thier global warming potential compared to commonly recognised carbon dioxide (Carbon Dioxide equivalents).
Loss
When emission reductions or removals stored in biomass, that had been accounted for, are released back into the atmosphere.
Monitoring Period
A discrete period of time during which a project measures emission reductions and removals. A project cannot have overlapping monitoirng periods or gaps in monitoirng periods for the length of the project lifetime.
Mycorrihzal Fungi
Mycorrhiza literally means “fungus root” that describes the symbiotic relationship of fungi and plant roots. Mycorrhizal fungi supply plants with water and essential nutrients from parts of the soil that roots alone would not be able to access. Plants with mycorrhizal fungi are more tolerant to drought. In return, the plant provides the fungus with sugars and other carbohydrates that are produced through photosynthesis. Mycorrhizal fungi are best developed in undisturbed soils that aren’t excessively fertilized with phosphorus. Most cover crops are a host for mycorrhizal fungi which can then be transferred to the following crop, potentially increasing yield.
Nutrient Cycling
Nutrient cycling is the transformation of nutrients from complex organic compounds to simple compounds or elements by organisms. There are 16 or more essential nutrients that plants need to grow to be healthy, most of which are obtained from the soil. To optimize crop production, producers may add nutrients to the soil in the form of fertilizer, manure, or other amendments. Healthy, functioning soil has the capacity to provide at least some of a crop’s nutrient requirements through improved nutrient cycling, reducing the amount of fertilizer needed. Adding the right type and amount of fertilizers, manure, compost, or other amendment in the right way at the right time can help make the soil healthier and improve plant production.
PDD or PD
Project Description Document or Project Description
Permanence
Permanence is a key tenet of carbon offset programs. In order for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions or removals to earn offset credits and have value in the carbon markets, the GHGs must be permanently reduced or sequestered. Permanence is defined as providing lasting benefits to the environment.
Practices
Those agricultural activities that are scientifically proven to sequester carbon or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and offered as part of the Agoro Carbon Alliance program.
Regenerative Ag
Regenerative agriculture is a holistic approach to food and farming systems that emphasizes conservation and rehabilitation. It centers on revitalizing topsoil, promoting biodiversity, optimizing the water cycle, and enhancing overall ecosystem health.
Reversal
When a loss occurs that is greater in volume than the emission reductions and removals generated in the monitoring period in which the loss is discovered. When a reversal occurs in a project that has already issued carbon credits, the underlying value of the issued carbon credits is at risk if a buffer account does not exist.
SBTi
Science Based Target Initiative. An organization with the goal of reducing global GHG emissions by helping companies set reduction targets that are aligned with the latest climate science, and holding the companies accountable to those targets through transparent reporting.
Scope 1
Scope 1 pertains to emissions originating from sources directly owned or controlled by an organization. For instance, this includes emissions resulting from burning fuel in the organization's fleet of vehicles, excluding electrically-powered vehicles.
Scope 2
Scope 2 encompasses the indirect emissions that a company generates through the production and utilization of the energy it purchases. For instance, in the case of electric fleet vehicles, the emissions stemming from the electricity generation used to power those vehicles would be categorized under Scope 2.
Scope 3
Scope 3 includes emissions that are not directly produced by the company itself, nor a result of activities related to its owned or controlled assets, but are instead associated with the organization's value chain, both upstream and downstream. An example of Scope 3 emissions is the environmental impact of products purchased, used, and disposed of from suppliers. It encompasses all sources outside the boundaries of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions.
SD VISta
The Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard
SDGs
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) consist of 17 interconnected objectives intended to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, both now and in the future." Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. These goals were designed to be achieved by the year 2030.
SOC
Soil Organic Carbon
Soil Carbon
It starts as soil organic matter, which consists of elements like carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, which comes from plant and animal materials that are converted during the breakdown process by microorganisms. Soil organic matter and soil organic carbon are often used synonymously, and most growers know it as organic matter, which is about fifty percent carbon. So, in other words, soil organic carbon is the carbon in soil organic matter.
Stacking
The concept of stacking refers to one producer enrolling the same land in more than one program or contract under different management practices with additionality. Many contracts prohibit stacking, meaning the producer may enter into only one carbon contract for a specific piece of property. The breadth of a stacking prohibition can vary greatly by contract, with some prohibiting only other carbon contracts, while others may prohibit participation in any government programs as well.
Verification
The process of confirming carbon reduction or sequestration generated through project implementation through a third party auditor.
Voluntary Carbon Market
The carbon market we refer to here is the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) which is a market-based system in which companies, individuals and organizations can voluntarily purchase carbon offsets issued by a carbon project, such as an improved agricultural land management project. The purchase of carbon offsets in the VCM is driven by corporate social responsibility, to acheive certain sustainability goals, a desire to mitigate environmental impact and to demonstrate climate leadership.