A carbon credit represents one metric ton of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) emission reductions. Carbon credits are one mechanism by which individuals and companies can fund projects that combat climate change. When you buy a carbon credit, you're paying someone to reduce or remove 1 ton of emissions from the atmosphere.
We produce emissions through transportation, food, energy, and many other aspects of our lives. While we can and should take action to reduce our own emissions, we can also fund climate solutions elsewhere in the world, such as tree planting or sustainable food options. Being carbon neutral means that you reduce or remove as many tons of emissions as you emit. Climate Refarm is an all-in-one platform that allows you to be carbon neutral by purchasing carbon credits.
The food sector is one of the most under-funded areas of climate change mitigation, despite the fact that it represents about 30% of global emissions. Our main focus is on increasing the adoption of plant-based food because of this solution's co-benefits: improving human health, reducing land and water use, reversing biodiversity loss, and mitigating zoonotic disease risk.
Animal-based foods account for twice the emissions of plant-based foods, despite providing only 18% of the world's calories and 37% of its protein. Emissions from livestock are largely due to deforestation to make space for pasture and feed crops, as well as methane emissions from ruminant animals.
Climate Refarm is a plartform for funding climate solutions in the food system. Each carbon credit funds a portfolio of projects, such as helping a school cafeteria shift add more plant-based options, reforesting degraded land, or supporting sustainable food policies.
Solving climate change will require us to rapidly scale a variety of solutions at once. Similarly, we believe that decarbonizing the food system requires simultaneous action to promote sustainable diets, reverse damage ecosystems, and create lasting policy change.
Animal agriculture is extremely land-intensive; about half of the Earth's ice-free land is used for grazing and feed crops. By reducing demand for animal products, some of this land becomes available for restoration and natural carbon removal. We make sure that this carbon opportunity is captured by funding reforesting efforts near our food projects.
Experts have identified hundreds of solutions for our climate crisis – from renewable energy to plant-based diets. Carbon credits allow individuals and companies to fund these solutions, and take action beyond reducing their own emissions. Not all carbon credits are created equal, and it's important to consider their co-benefits. We focus on food-related credits because of their unique co-benefits for water, air, land, human health, and animal welfare.
We do not count emission reductions from research and policy work, due the difficulty of quantifying their impact. Nevertheless, we believe it's important to fund these projects in order to shape our long-term climate trajectory.
While the reforestation credits in each portfolio are independently verified, our crediting methodology for sustainable food purchasing is still undergoing approval with major carbon registries.
We are a for-profit, public benefit corporation (PBC), which means that social and environmental impact are part of our company charter. Incorporating as a PBC allows us to raise outside capital and scale our impact as quickly as possible.