Rabobank has introduced an innovative online platform designed to bridge the gap between large corporations aiming to offset their carbon emissions and smallholder farmers in developing nations engaged in carbon sequestration through agroforestry practices.
Through the planting of trees on their lands, these farmers can provide CO2 credits to corporations seeking to mitigate their environmental impact. This platform, developed in collaboration with Microsoft, is set to launch in 2022 but has already undergone successful pilot programs with hundreds of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, who collectively planted over 50,000 trees in the past year.
Rabobank envisions broadening this initiative significantly, with plans to enroll 15 million farmers by 2025. This effort is expected to create an area of agroforestry three times larger than the Netherlands, achieving a potential annual sequestration of 150 million tons of CO2 emissions.
To ensure transparency and accuracy in measuring carbon sequestration, partnerships with companies specializing in remote sensing technologies have been established to monitor biomass changes. Rabobank highlights that the benefits for farmers extend beyond financial gains, as enhanced soil quality and improved water levels can lead to a substantial reduction in yield risks associated with climate variability and adverse weather conditions.