Ranchers secure new streams of income through carbon credits
On Dec. 11, Kateri Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Ben Veres presented the potential of the carbon market at the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA) Winter Roundup Convention and Trade Show, held at the Ramkota Hotel and Conference Center in Casper.
“Kateri helps producers unlock natural capital in their property through carbon credits and other natural-based programs,” Veres stated. “We strive to bring the latest resources and technology to ranchers, giving them more options to evaluate and understand their soil and animal health.”
According to Veres, Kateri employs advanced technologies such as soil sampling, GPS livestock tracking and data analysis to accurately measure carbon sequestration on ranches.
These essential tools allow ranchers and land managers to generate carbon credits by adopting improved grazing practices.
Essentially, Kateri helps ranchers capitalize on the carbon sequestration potential of their grasslands, providing a significant source of income while promoting sustainable land management practices.
What is a carbon credit?
Carbon credits can be generated through projects which take carbon in from the atmosphere or reduce the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere.
The carbon market allows for the buying, selling, transferring and exchanging of carbon credits around the world.
“The first widely recognized carbon credit project involved planting trees in the 1980s,” Veres stated. “The first carbon credits were introduced through the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement signed in 1997. It established a system for trading carbon emissions and effectively created the concept of carbon credits as a mechanism to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) globally.”
Around 2010, large organizations started participating in carbon sequestering, and by 2015, additional rules and regulations were put in place as Fortune 500 companies made commitments to reduce their emissions.
Veres added, “Until 2020, there were not many formal rules in place to guide companies, and we saw a lot of carbon credits on nature-based solutions (NBS), primarily planting trees.”
NBS are promising ways to earn carbon credits and achieve carbon neutrality, such as managing land in a manner to support carbon sequestration and environmental restoration.
“What we are seeing today and for the next few years will be stronger grasslands projects with higher data quality and investing more into the land,” he stated.
Different carbon credits
“To help ranchers understand the potential of carbon credits, it’s important to understand the different kinds of carbon credits,” Veres added.
Carbon avoidance credit is generated by a project which prevents GHG emissions from happening in the first place.
Veres compared carbon avoidance to tilling up a field. Carbon is lost when a field is tilled and to prevent this, the rancher would not till the field to receive credit.
“If most people in this room today place a conservation easement on their land, they get paid for the carbon they are keeping on their land,” he stated.
On the other hand, a carbon removal credit is generated by a project actively taking carbon dioxide (CO2) already in the atmosphere and storing it in the ground.
Veres said, “Ranchers can do this through grazing practices. If they improve the need for perennial grasses, they can pull more carbon out of the air to put into the soil.”
Carbon offsets and insets
Next, it is important to understand the definition of offsets and insets in carbon sequestration.
Offsetting involves compensating for emissions by funding projects which reduce or remove CO2 or other GHGs from the atmosphere. These projects are usually located away from the emission source and can include various activities such as reforestation.
“For example, U.S. steel has a lot of emissions. To offset them, which is difficult to do in the industry through processes, what they do instead is pay a rancher to improve their grazing practice or pay to have a tree planted,” Veres stated.
On the other hand, carbon insetting refers to reducing carbon emissions within a company’s value or supply chain.
It focuses on projects directly impacting the company’s operations and those of its suppliers and partners.
While both carbon offsets and carbon insets are vital tools, they each serve different purposes and are implemented in different contexts.
Carbon developers
“At Kateri, it is our job to help ranchers focus on grazing – not weeding through protocols, markets or registries,” Veres explained. “We take care of the paperwork to certify natural capital outcomes, starting with soil carbon.”
According to Veres, grasslands play a vital role in carbon sequestration, acting as significant carbon sinks in the Earth’s carbon cycle.
These ecosystems, characterized by extensive fields of grasses and herbaceous plants, have the capacity to capture and store atmospheric CO2 in their plant biomass and soil.
“Very few carbon developers are in soil carbon. At Kateri, we feel this is a massive opportunity, as 26 percent of the land on Earth is grazed by livestock,” he says. “This is a huge opportunity for us to use carbon sinks and reward landowners for their stewardship.”
Kateri offers soil sampling and partners with universities to find new value for producers while providing the latest in technology to monitor operations.
“How can we be sure of how much carbon is being captured?” he asked. “What we do is come out and take soil samples. We have taken thousands of samples over the years, and because we go through this intensive process, we can sell credits for more because of our high scientific rigor.”
In addition to soil sampling and in-person visits to discuss the landscape, Kateri advisors offer specific strategies for grazing cycles, forage composition and stocking rate, plus water use and distribution.
Recently, Kateri announced a new partnership with Audubon Conservation Ranching, a wildlife habitat program of the National Audubon Society.
Kateri is thrilled to leverage Audubon’s regenerative grazing toolkit to help provide ranchers with increased financial incentives for implementing regenerative land management practices, which improve bird habitats, increase biodiversity and enhance soil health through grassland restoration.
Melissa Anderson is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
