Get to know Regenagri’s Carbon Insetting Standard

In the first of our carbon insetting series, we’ll take a look at how insetting presents a practical solution to reducing supply chain emissions – and explore Regenagri’s Insetting Standard as the first service of its kind offered by a third-party verified regenerative agriculture certification.

What is carbon insetting?

Carbon insetting is a way for organisations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and/or increase carbon sequestration within their own value chains or supply chains. It is becoming an increasingly popular way for organisations to address their Scope 3 emissions.

Carbon insetting can take different forms, but one common approach is for organisations to purchase carbon insetting credits from their suppliers – such as farms. In an agricultural supply chain, carbon insetting typically involves direct investment in farm-level interventions, such as:

• Cover cropping
• Reduced tillage
• Application of organic matter
• Management of crop residues
• Agroforestry
• Renewable energy adoption
• Other regenerative agriculture practices

How is carbon insetting different from carbon offsetting?

Carbon offsetting helps companies to compensate for their emissions by purchasing credits from projects external to their supply chain or value chain. For example, a tech company could offset its emissions by purchasing rainforest protection credits, even if they have no existing supply chain or value chain relationship with the rainforest.

By contrast, carbon insetting focuses on achieving reductions or removals interventions within an organisation’s supply chain or value chain. For example, a garment manufacturer could purchase carbon insetting credits from a cotton farm they already source cotton from. Carbon insetting shifts the focus to transforming supply and value chains for the better.

What is Regenagri’s Insetting Standard?

The Regenagri Insetting Standard is an international certification scheme for carbon insetting owned by Regenagri CIC. It enables both organisations and governments to acquire and claim credible Regenagri insetting units generated by farms and farming organisations in their very own supply chains.

Once signed up to the Insetting Programme, Regenagri-certified farms and farming organisations generate insetting units as a result of implementing regenerative agriculture practices. These units are verified by approved third certification bodies.

Regenagri’s Insetting Standard includes:

• A strong, technology-based system for tracking and checking results (MRV)
• A focus on ensuring projects are genuinely additional and have long-lasting impact
• A contextualized approach to ensure it fits the local farming context
• A farmer-focused approach with benefits shared equitably across the supply chain and strong stakeholder engagement
• A focus on delivering quantifiable benefits to the whole ecosystem alongside carbon-specific initiatives

What makes Regenagri’s Insetting Standard innovative?

As the first third-party regenerative certification programme which offers insetting as an additional service, Regenagri offers a holistic solution for reducing supply chain emissions. As opposed to offsetting approaches which often focus more on individual projects or interventions, Regenagri’s approach emphasises holistic system change across the supply chain.

The Regenagri insetting programme is integrated within the broader Regenagri certification programme. While the Regenagri Insetting Standard primarily focuses on carbon insetting units, the Regenagri certification schemes aim at monitoring and certifying of wider environmental benefits beyond carbon, such as soil health, water stewardship, biodiversity, and social resilience.

In combination, Regenagri certification and insetting not only reduce emissions and sequester carbon – they deliver a whole set of measurable, data-backed benefits for landscapes, communities, and countries connected to the organisation’s operations.

Several features set Regenagri’s Insetting Standard apart:

• Innovative impact measurement: Instead of traditional financial checks, Regenagri measures impact via a score-based system (0–100) based on innovation, impact, scalability, sustainability, and farmer expertise.
• Country-specific benchmarking: Each country has its own benchmark based on economic, environmental, and policy factors, which insetting projects must outperform.
• Regularly updated baselines: Instead of relying on fixed historical data, Regenagri regularly updates baselines to reflect developments in farming practices, technology, policy, and climate conditions.
• Carbon reversal risk management: Regenagri uses a combination of buffers and predictive modelling to manage the risk of carbon reversal.
• Dual recognition: Carbon insetting units can not only be used for corporate emissions reporting but also, where approved, for national climate commitments under the Paris Agreement.
• Financial benefits for farmers: A large portion of insetting revenue is directed back to farmers, ensuring they receive most of the financial benefit from participating in the system.

Más información

Does your organisation sound like a good fit for Regenagri’s Carbon Insetting programme? Póngase en contacto with our team to learn more.