We invest locally in a healthy climate through carbon farmers!

24 September 2021 - Published by Paula Nijman

In Mid-September the Carbon Farming consortium travelled to Norway in order to discuss the project during meetings and inspire each other with practical examples and field visits. After two years of online meetings, it was great to meet each other in person. And, since in two years a lot has been going on with regard to Carbon Farming, there was a lot to catch up about.

Some colleagues traveled by bike, boat, and train, but for most of us, it was unavoidable to fly. This was a point of discussion because it is known that CO2 emissions of airplanes are sky-high. We meet online as much as possible, however, sometimes it is necessary to meet in person. Therefore, we decided that we will invest in CO2-fixation, based on the CO2 emissions that were caused by the flights. And what could be better than doing this through one of our own showcases: Nieuw Groen (New Green).

Nieuw Groen is a startup platform, matching climate-conscious people and businesses with local carbon farmers who store CO2 through agroforestry and climate-friendly soil management. Carbon farmers can sequester an average of 1 to 5 tons of CO2 per hectare per year by applying specific carbon sequestration techniques on their farms. The total amount of CO2 that was emitted by our flights came down roughly to 8 tonnes of CO2. Through Nieuw Groen, the same amount of carbon will be fixated by the planting of walnut trees on the farm of René and Irma Berning in the east of the Netherlands. Autumn is tree planting season, the walnut trees will be planted in upcoming October.

Within the carbon farming consortium, seven partner institutions work together within four countries across the European North Sea Region. This partner meeting was the start of the last year of the project. Our Norwegian partner Norsk Landbruksrådgiving (NLR) had the honor to receive the consortium.

"We hope that our example of offsetting the emissions of our flights through Nieuw Groen will be followed by many other EU projects. In any case, we will bring it to the attention of the North Sea Region Programme Secretariat so that other projects can also support carbon farming in this way.“ says Marjon Krol, the project leader of the Carbon Farming project.

Heleen Klinkert Vadalkar is the founder and director of Nieuw Groen. After calculating the total emission, she connected us to the initiative of the Berning family. Also curious on how to contribute to a healthy climate through natural, local initiatives? Take a look at the website of Nieuw Groen.