Maple Leaf Foods, The North Face, Cool Effect, Epiphany Craft Malt join effort to support farmers addressing climate change with Indigo Carbon

BOSTON, Feb. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Indigo Agriculture, a company dedicated to harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet, today announced additional multi-year commitments to purchase verified agricultural carbon credits through Indigo Carbon. Maple Leaf Foods and Epiphany Craft Malt will purchase verified agricultural carbon credits to further their sustainability objectives. Cool Effect will offer Indigo Carbon credits to buyers on their existing platform, allowing both individuals and organizations to fulfill their sustainability goals with high quality offsets. The North Face will provide Indigo-partner farmers with a premium for cotton grown with regenerative practices and is incentivizing new (additional) practice adoption. Through these commitments, the companies join a growing cohort of private industry leaders spurring the global effort to leverage agriculture as a meaningful climate solution.

"Agriculture holds significant promise as a means for addressing climate change and these partners are supporting the change we need to unlock the industry's potential to benefit people and the planet," said Ben Allen, Head of Global Market Development at Indigo. "With the purchase of Indigo Carbon credits, companies directly support farmers' climate smart efforts to make beneficial farming practices the norm, not the exception. I'm incredibly proud to count this new crop of companies among our partners, whose investment and collaboration demonstrate a new era of public-private partnership for good."

With an inaugural credit purchase price of $20/tonne of carbon dioxide equivalents sequestered and abated, Indigo Carbon allows companies to directly finance growers' transitions to cultivation practices that improve their soil health, profitability, and the environment at large. Representing a new income stream for farmers, the credits establish an outcomes-based mechanism to accelerate the adoption of agronomic methods proven to reduce on-farm emissions and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

As private companies increasingly seek out rigorous, science-based strategies for addressing the environmental impact of their operations, verified offsets have emerged as a key tool for facilitating impactful and cost-effective abatement and removal. Indigo Carbon presents the first agricultural carbon credit project to deploy scalable, registry-approved methodologies for monitoring and quantifying net on-farm greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions and removals. Developed by the Climate Action Reserve and Verra - nonprofit organizations that manage leading GHG offset project registries - the methodologies establish rigorous standards to ensure the legitimacy of carbon credits for the benefit of growers, buyers, and the public. As the first project developer to adopt and operationalize these protocols, Indigo Carbon enables companies to turn to agriculture -- currently a largely untapped strategy for achieving environmental targets -- with offsets that adhere to the highest industry standards for measurement, reporting, and verification.

"We are proud to partner with Indigo Ag as another key milestone in our purposeful journey to becoming the most sustainable protein company on earth," said Michael McCain, President and CEO, Maple Leaf Foods. "The potential for carbon sequestration through regenerative agriculture is game changing for global climate action. As a carbon neutral company, Maple Leaf Foods is committed to creating a more sustainable food system by investing in high-impact environmental projects and supporting local farmers as they harness the power of agriculture to meaningfully reduce greenhouse gases globally."

"As the first apparel brand to partner with Indigo, we are excited about the positive environmental impacts regenerative cotton production can have not only for The North Face products, but for our industry as a whole," said Carol Shu, Senior Manager of Global Sustainability at The North Face. "Regenerative products have the ability to shift the industry from simply 'doing less harm' to actually replenishing or having a positive impact on nature and resources, and as a brand that is committed to protecting the outdoor places we love to play, we believe this is another critical step in addressing climate change impacts in our supply chain."

"Indigo's approach to changing and improving farming by adjusting long-standing farming practices while revolutionizing how crops are managed inspired me to think bigger about our solutions to fight climate change," said Sebastian Wolfrum, Founder and Director of Malting and Roasting Operations at Epiphany Craft Malt, a small-batch malthouse committed to establishing a resilient, sustainable, and quality supply of domestically grown malt. "At Epiphany Malt, the small grains we use are the foundation to our excellence in malting. We want to start where it matters most to us, in the field."

"We are pleased to offer Indigo carbon offsets on the Cool Effect platform beginning in the fall," said Dee Lawrence, Co-Founder of Cool Effect, a nonprofit that provides individuals and businesses the opportunity to create a tangible impact on climate change by funding the highest quality carbon-reducing projects around the world. "We value Indigo's pioneering work with the Climate Action Reserve and Verra to quantify carbon sequestration in soil as well as its goals to teach and promote beneficial sustainable agricultural practices that help both the farmer and mother earth."

The introduction of these new buyers expands on previously announced corporate purchase commitments from companies across diverse sectors including financial services (Barclays, JPMorgan Chase), food and beverage (Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, New Belgium Brewing), technology (Givewith, IBM, Shopify), and professional services (Boston Consulting Group).

Backed by strong private market demand and multi-year purchase agreements, a growing network of over a thousand farmers across 21 states, end-to-end and on-the-ground program support, and committed practice changes on over 2 million participating acres, Indigo Carbon is poised to issue its first credits and reward growers for "farming carbon" later this year.

Learn more about Indigo Carbon and opportunities to support farmers in adopting beneficial farming practices.

ABOUT INDIGO AG

Indigo Ag improves grower profitability, environmental sustainability, and consumer health through the use of natural microbiology and digital technologies. The company's scientific discoveries and digital platforms benefit stakeholders across the agricultural ecosystem, including tens of thousands of growers across millions of acres. Working across the supply chain, Indigo Ag is furthering its mission of harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet. In 2019, the company launched Indigo Carbon - a scientifically backed program that provides growers with a new revenue stream in the form of verified agricultural carbon credits. Indigo Ag is headquartered in Boston, MA, with additional offices in Memphis, TN; Research Triangle Park, NC; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Basel, Switzerland.

SOURCE Indigo Ag