ESMC first user of SustainCERT’s innovative value chain decarbonization platform
Providing agriculture supply chains with access to scalable solutions to accurately verify and track the decarbonization impact of Scope 3 projects.
SustainCERT, a global leader in climate impact verification, and Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC) are pleased to announce ESMC as the first user of SustainCERT’s market-first value chain decarbonization impact solution.
ESMC has been collaborating with SustainCERT since December 2020 to accelerate value chain decarbonization throughout North American agricultural systems. This is the latest milestone for ESMC’s Eco-Harvest market program, which was validated and verified according to the Value Change Initiative Guidance in 2022 by SustainCERT. Validation and verification provide assurance that the greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts from ESMC’s interventions are aligned with annual Scope 3 GHG inventory reporting – which in turn allows Eco-Harvest to undergo more streamlined annual verification.
A world first, SustainCERT’s platform of software and services combines climate and environmental accounting expertise with industry leading technology to accurately verify, track and co-claim emission reductions and removals from a value chain project (also known as an ‘intervention’). It provides companies with the ability to account and claim GHG impact from interventions and enables the transfer of GHG impacts – verified by SustainCERT’s auditors – between supply chain partners and other eligible entities. This allows ‘co-claiming’ of shared Scope 3 intervention outcomes, which when verified, can show progress towards reporting a company’s Scope 3 targets. This concept means companies can co-invest in GHG reductions and removals in their supply chains, share costs of decarbonization, and scale action faster.
Agriculture needs to close an 11-gigaton GHG emissions gap to hold global warming below 2 degrees while feeding 3 billion more people by 2050. ESMC’s Eco-Harvest market program was designed to cost-effectively and sustainably address how to scale solutions to reduce agriculture’s GHG and environmental footprint while also increasing agricultural resilience and regenerative agricultural system outcomes. ESMC’s unique supply chain and public-private partnership business model allows for member co-investment and cooperation at scale, while recognizing and rewarding producers for the public benefits resulting from environmental stewardship on private lands. By collaborating with SustainCERT on this digital solution for corporate carbon reporting, Eco-Harvest impact units will have 3rd party verification to underscore their validity.
We are delighted to have achieved this significant milestone with ESMC to be able to provide agriculture value chains with a solution to unlock scalability and credibility in climate action. “This enables corporates in a value chain to invest in the same decarbonization program, while ensuring their reporting is accurate, credible, and representative of on-the-ground impact. Meanwhile, the solution also makes sure that everyone is recognized for their efforts. This creates real incentives for co-investment and the scaling of Scope 3 action.”
Marion Verles, CEO, SustainCERT
ESMC’s market program incentivizes agricultural GHG emissions reductions and increased soil carbon, and our MRV quantifies outcomes. SustainCERT’s verification platform ensures our Scope 3 agricultural supply chain outcomes are scientifically rigorous. Working with SustainCERT to develop and deploy this platform creates a capstone for our market program solution for corporations in the food and beverage sector.
Debbie Reed, Executive Director, ESMC