Carbon Yield

We’re excited to share that Carbon Yield has made two excellent additions to our team this past year: Vivian Powell, our Data Analyst; and Madalene Andoe-Leggett, our Agriculture Project Manager. They quickly became so integral to our team that we forgot to share their arrival with the world... Welcome, Vivian and Madalene! 🎉 Vivian (they/them) joined the team in August of 2023 as our first full-time addition. They hold a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Applied Math & Stats, and they’re passionate about science communication, data, and building more just and resilient food systems. Over the past year, Viv’s data expertise and creativity has played a key part in designing our new data system, working with GHG models, project quantification and lit review, and much more! Madalene (she/her) started in February 2024 and has been an invaluable part of our team since. She has a B.A. and over a decade of experience in sustainable food systems, and is driven by a dedication to forging environmentally beneficial, equitable food systems. Carbon Yield is strengthened by Madalene’s dedication, agriculture experience, and organizational prowess, and we are lucky to have her!

Thanks for all of the engagement on our first post with The Climate Source on lessons from #Ag Supply Chain Decarbonization. Check out our next installment: 2nd Rule of Thumb Quantification challenges are not a barrier to action. We have good enough tools, sure they are going to get better (ask us about the exciting ones that are in the wings!), but directionally we know what works and have plenty of sure-bet #decarbonization solutions ready to roll. We cannot let quantification inhale the lion share of the budget set aside for #GHG incentives, nor do we have to accept coarse emissions factors that tell us very little about the implementation of a specific project. What we do start to know is what variables matter the most, and what variables just take up space and time on a producer survey. We can focus on the biggest #emissions sources, the data that impact those sources most directly, the critical inputs that are hard to observe from a satellite model, and the variables related to meaningful departures from business as usual. That gives us more than enough to move a project forward, stand behind impact, and even recalculate in the future if better tools can reduce our uncertainty on the range of impact actually generated. 3rd Rule of Thumb Governance and Accounting are where to put resources Producers are willing to make changes, share data, and contribute to decarbonization, but they need to know their needs are protected, real value is being put on the table, risks are shared, and compensation is based on factors they can control. Brands are willing to invest, but need to know claims are not double counted and provide sufficient flexibility to navigate complex procurement and supply chain challenges. These are fundamentally governance questions. This is where we invest a ton of time and resources, and is the key to scaling effective programs. Crucially, we design governance structures that are resilient to change, but adaptive to the context of a given #supplychain and its stakeholders. Claire Pluard Sam Schiller Vivian Powell Jessie Deelo Benjamin Filippo

Carbon Yield believes the biggest opportunity for most ag producers to get compensated for GHG reductions will be in “Scope 3” supply chain programs. But when you consider the foundational role agriculture plays in so many supply chains, it is surprising how far we have to come for these programs to scale and provide durable value to producers. As the calendar turns, we are creeping closer and closer to 2030, where the top 10 CPG companies have committed to 15%+ #GHG reductions. We are at a critical phase where these targets have to start getting real, and there isn’t some silver bullet coming from direct air capture or magical carbon forests. We need to start getting real about the kind of high quality emissions reductions we can produce from the activities that add up to products on the shelves and produce in our fridges. Our collaborators, Jessie Deelo and Benjamin Filippo at The Climate Source have been our most aligned friends in this industry and strategic thought partners on how best to do this work, and we are coordinating a series of posts to spread what we are learning (so keep your eyes peeled!). While it is tempting to put our heads down and grind out the work, we realize we need to start sharing what we are learning to help accelerate this nascent #agriculture decarbonization industry. We want to hear from our community of partners as we start to share. Do these nuggets resonate with you? Feel free to chime in within the comments if these speak to you (or if you think we are total wack-a-dos, that’s cool too). Here is Rule of Thumb 1! You can’t solve GHG challenges without a supply chain strategy A GHG strategy has to be embedded in and constrained by how you source crops and commodities. Do you have direct traceability back to supplier farms? Do you source through co-ops and aggregators? How stable are your supplier relationships - do they need to be flexible year over year? Who holds the durable relationship with a producer that can see them through a multi year #decarbonization plan? Selecting the right supply chain partnerships and controlling risks for all involved has a significant bearing on how structurally committed each party can be to decarbonization outcomes. These GHG program decisions cannot be made in isolation of the broader project of a brand assembling a reliable, productive supply chain. Claire Pluard Sam Schiller Vivian Powell