4.4. How much can I expect to earn?

  • Your potential earnings depend on your practices, context and efforts throughout the programme. The baseline assessment already gives you an idea of your potential gains for the following year. Indeed, if you are already a net sequestering farm when you register, your annual GHG balance will be compared to a fixed regional reference (+250kg CO2e/ha for regions assessed so far). If you are a net emitter, your annual GHG balance will be compared to your baseline assessment and you will therefore have to improve your practices to earn carbon revenue;
  • A free simulation tool is available on our website. To access it, simply create an account on our mySoilCapital platform. It will allow you to estimate your initial profile and to your future carbon earnings.
  • Although it depends on your practices, it is not uncommon to store between 0.5 and 2 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year or to improve your carbon profile by 0.5 to 1 tonne of carbon per hectare per year. We make it a point to ensure that you earn a minimum income of £23 per tonne sold. In fact, we make a floor price commitment of €27.50 per certificate, which is £23 at a GBP-EUR exchange rate of 1.2 (future prices are subject to the prevailing exchange rate at that time);
  • A 200 ha farm that stores 1 tonne of carbon per ha per year would generate a net gain of at least £22,640 over the course of the programme, as per the below table.
Years012345 1112131415
Costs£980£980£980£980£980£980      
Area (ha)200200200200200200 200200200200200
Minimum income per certificate £23£23£23£23£23 £23£23£23£23£23
Certificates per hectare (carbon stored + 0.25 t/ha) 1.251.251.251.251.25      
Volume sold 80%80%80%80%80% 20%20%20%20%20%
Carbon payments £4,600£4,600£4,600£4,600£4,600 £1,104£1,104£1,104£1,104£1,104
Min. Net gains-£980£3,620£3,620£3,620£3,620£3,620 £1,104£1,104£1,104£1,104£1,104

4.3. Does Soil Capital guarantee that all certificates generated will be sold?

  • We do not make this guarantee. What we do guarantee is that each certificate sold earns the farmer at least £23. This is based on our floor price commitment of €27.50 per certificate, which is £23 at a GBP-EUR exchange rate of 1.2. Future prices are subject to the prevailing exchange rate at that time. What’s more, we guarantee that you will always receive 70% of the final sales price, however high that sales price rises.
  • We do also have a limited number of agreements that allow us to guarantee the sale of certificates for some farmers, thanks to the multi-year commitments already made by some companies;
  • Typically, certificates will be generated and sold annually by our partner, South Pole. They are experts in the carbon markets, having mobilised finance for over 700 projects worldwide from their 18 global offices and network of corporate partners. There is every indication that demand for these certificates is currently outstripping supply. As an example, when we launched the programme, we had already pre-sold €500,000 worth of certificates that would be generated in the following years;
  • Note also that 20% of all certificates generated will not be sold that year. They must be held in a buffer and will be sold 10 years later if you meet the loss prevention criteria.

4.2. What baseline will I be paid against?

Each tonne of CO2e reduced or sequestered during the programme generates a carbon certificate. Your baseline assessment influences how your certificates will be calculated.

If your baseline assessment shows that you are already sequestering carbon overall, your annual GHG balance will be compared to a fixed regional reference (+250kg CO2e/ha for regions assessed so far) and the difference between your annual performance and this regional reference will be translated into certificates.

If your baseline assessment shows that you are a net emitter of GHGs, your annual GHG balance will be compared to your own baseline assessment and you will therefore have to improve your practices to create a differential that will be translated into a number of certificates. In this case, it is the difference between your new situation in year x and your initial situation that determines the number of certificates generated.

4.1. When will I be paid?

You will be paid each year during the carbon certificate crediting period (i.e. in years 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) after the delivery of your mySoilCapital monitoring report.