Description

Novel carbon removal methodology Our project is verified following the Soil Amendment methodology and results in CORC20+ credits. The decomposition of organic carbon contained in the Soil Improvement Fibres is modelled with the Yasso-model (https://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/yasso), which is developed by the Finnish Meteorological Institute and used by Finnish authorities for calculating Finland’s greenhouse gas inventory. Only the proportion of carbon that is stored in the soil for 20 years or more is considered as a carbon removal. This way the carbon that decomposes during the fast decomposition phase after application is not included in the carbon removal. Globally, in other soil carbon removal schemes the soil carbon sequestration credits are issued based on shorter crediting periods, ranging between 5 and 20 years depending on the project. Soilfood is a circular economy company that aims to replace virgin raw materials with recycled materials in large volumes and quickly. At the same time, we work in co-operation with our customers to reduce emissions and create carbon removals in the soil. We create a sustainable food chain by processing industry side-streams into fertilizers and soil improvers for agriculture. We add novel value to the circular economy by selling the first carbon removals from Finnish agriculture. Revenue from the sale of carbon removals is divided into three parts: one for the farmer, one for the industrial operator and one for Soilfood, as it takes all involved parties to ensure that the recycling of side streams and the creation of carbon removals is possible. This way we make sustainable choices more competitive. How are carbon removals achieved? Soil Improvement Fibres are carbon-rich soil amendment products that are manufactured from pulp and paper industry side-streams. Typical fibre application of 25–50 tonnes per hectare adds multiple tonnes of slowly decaying organic carbon to soil. The carbon removal is achieved by applying the fibres onto fields, which increases the soil carbon stock. When fibres are used as soil improvers, a proportion of the inert organic matter contained in the Product is stored in the soil carbon pool as durable carbon compounds. Without the soil amendment use the side streams would be incinerated by pulp and paper mills, releasing all the carbon (C) contained in the organic matter into the atmosphere. In Finland, 90 % of these side streams are still incinerated.