Carbon market consultation has pros and cons for farming sector

The upsurge in corporate interest in the developing and relatively unregulated carbon market - which has been spurring speculation in large areas of Scotland’s land and environmental projects - offers threats and opportunities to the farming sector.

Nigel Miller, Farming for 1.5°

And farmers have been asked to make their voices heard in the debate which surrounds the issue by becoming involved in the current UK Government consultation on how the sector should be regulated.

The role which carbon calculators and carbon sequestration play along with how the carbon trading market for agriculture could work as part of a wider framework for emissions trading is currently being put under the microscope after the sector had often been described as ‘the new Wild West’.

NFU Scotland is urging its members to help draw up the union’s response by taking part in an online survey and joining a webinar on the topic next Monday evening.

“Farms and crofts have the potential to use carbon sequestration to both offset their own remaining emissions or to sell this sequestered carbon as credits to supply chain partners and businesses in other sectors,” said the union.

“However, that has generated significant interest and ongoing investment from the private sector in carbon trading, and this new ‘greenwashing’ market, which has attracted a significant amount of media attention in recent times, has opportunities but also significant risks,” it warned.

The union said it wanted members to give their views on whether the existing UK Emissions Trading Scheme would be an appropriate mechanism to regulate the market to prevent double counting and to reduce the degree of ‘greenwashing’ often used by large companies.

The consultation is also examining the best ways of sequestering carbon on farm and is seeking feedback on the role of carbon calculators and looking for input on why carbon auditing can be challenging and how a nationwide tool could be implemented.

A call for a single effective and standardised carbon audit tool was made recently by former NFU Scotland president, Nigel Miller who is currently vice-chair of the Farming for 1.5° group.

Speaking in his other capacity as chair of the Ruminant Health and Welfare Group last week he said that the number of available calculators for conducting carbon audits meant that farmers could, in good faith, inadvertently chose one which gave a meaningless result.

“What is needed is a single approved on-farm calculator and there is a role here for the government and industry to drill down to a standardised auditing system which does more than just calculate a simple carbon footprint.

“It is also important that the calculator continues to develop as the science behind the issue becomes better understood – and it will need to be driven and validated by hard scientific evidence.”

NFU Scotland is also hosting a series of meetings around the country to look at the development of the new Scottish agricultural support framework which will change the way farmers and crofters in Scotland are supported.