Recently, the first agricultural carbon credit in Jiangsu Province was successfully traded in Dongba Street, Gaochun District, Nanjing.
At the scene, through a carbon sink bidding auction, agricultural carbon credits equivalent to 130.67 tons of carbon dioxide were successfully auctioned off, with Red Beauty Group ultimately winning the bid at a price of 75 CNY per ton, totaling 9800.25 CNY.
The first carbon credit in Jiangsu is born. Image provided by Nanjing Agricultural University.
This marks the inaugural auction of additional carbon sequestration based on biomass charcoal applied to organic rice cultivation, a first in the country.
Jiangsu's First "Carbon Credit" Emerges
The seller in this transaction hails from Chunhe Rice Professional Cooperative in Dongba Street, Gaochun District, Nanjing. In 2022, Jiangsu Province initiated its first organic rice carbon sequestration and emission reduction project in Gaochun. A team composed of Nanjing Agricultural University's College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and Nanjing Guohuan Organic Product Certification Center jointly conducted research on agricultural green and low-carbon production within 500 mu of rice fields owned by this cooperative.
Agricultural carbon credits are issued in the form of certificates, monitored and assessed by third-party organizations, and reports are issued for farmland with clear ownership to quantify agricultural carbon sinks within a certain scope.
The owners of these agricultural carbon credits are Chunhe Rice Professional Cooperative in Dongba Street and Muping Village. The carbon sequestration volume traded in this transaction represents the additional carbon sink generated by the application of biomass charcoal to organic rice cultivation in Muping Village. "The successful auction of this carbon sink not only increases the economic income of the village collective but also enhances our confidence in continuing the development of green agriculture," said Wei Tongtian, Secretary of the Party General Branch of Muping Village, Dongba Street.
Demonstration Field of Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality Technological Innovation Special Fund Project in Jiangsu Province. Image provided by Nanjing Agricultural University.
"Carbon-based agriculture can be a representative area for improving the new quality of agricultural productivity. This field requires the construction and implementation of carbon sink trading mechanisms. It aims to achieve efficient organization and management models such as specialized green low-carbon agricultural technology services, carbon asset management services, and innovative mechanisms for coupling and sharing benefits between primary production and tertiary service industries, along with the integration and utilization policies of land and production materials." explained Professor Pan Genxing from the College of Resources and Environmental Sciences at Nanjing Agricultural University.
Biochar, a solid product obtained from biomass under limited oxygen pyrolysis conditions, has the characteristic of strong stability and can remain in the soil for hundreds of years, significantly increasing soil carbon storage. Applying biochar to agricultural soil can improve soil structure, increase soil porosity, enhance water retention, and thus improve soil fertility as well as crop yield and quality.
In recent years, the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environmental Sciences at Nanjing Agricultural University has effectively enhanced green production through the new productivity of biochar technology. Through multiple field trials in regions such as the Huaihe River and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the team has found that biochar application can significantly reduce nitrous oxide emissions and methane emissions from rice fields.
Carbon sink technology is crucial. Since 2007, the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environmental Sciences at Nanjing Agricultural University has developed biochar soil application technology according to the needs of farmland soil, achieving a significant increase in soil organic matter levels, increased crop yield and quality, and significant greenhouse gas emissions reduction.
At the same time, the team integrated and analyzed years of field observation data through big data technology, constructed models for soil carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions from farmland, combined with cutting-edge evaluation methods at home and abroad, and finally created a set of methodologies for quantifying carbon sequestration and emission reduction through biochar soil application. "It is these two technologies that effectively support this agricultural carbon sink trading," explained Associate Professor Cheng Kun from the College of Resources and Environment at Nanjing Agricultural University.
According to calculations, compared with conventional techniques, after applying biochar, the average incidence of pests and diseases in the 500 mu rice fields of Chunhe Rice Professional Cooperative decreased by 15%, the average soil organic matter content increased by 6.1%, the average soil carbon sequestration rate increased by 89%, and the average greenhouse gas emissions from rice fields decreased by 16%, with a net emission reduction of 51%, generating a carbon sink of 130.67 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
According to the "Interim Measures for the Administration of Carbon Emissions Trading," key emission units can use nationally verified voluntary emission reduction credits to offset their carbon emission quotas. The offset ratio shall not exceed 5% of the carbon emission quotas to be cleared. Therefore, voluntary emission reduction transactions are an indispensable supplement to mandatory carbon markets.
Cheng Kun stated that this auction, from the development of technology to the development of methodologies and third-party verification, and the smooth implementation of carbon sink trading, provides a good demonstration and guidance for how agricultural carbon sinks in Jiangsu Province can join the voluntary emission reduction trading market in the future. He called for the promotion of agricultural projects to participate in voluntary emission reduction trading through the development and promotion of agricultural carbon sink technologies and project methodologies to promote the realization of the value of agricultural ecological products.
Carbon sinks become a new element of agricultural new quality productivity. "The new quality of agriculture should include the integration of food production, biomass energy production, carbon sink construction, and the integration of pastoral ecosystem services industry and rural revitalization." Pan Genxing said that the value chain of agriculture integrating food production, carbon sink assets, and ecosystem service assets will enhance agricultural new quality productivity through new business models.
As the world's largest rice producer and consumer, China emits a large amount of methane from rice fields. In May 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for Agricultural and Rural Emission Reduction and Carbon Sequestration," with methane emission reduction from rice fields as the top priority among the ten actions. How to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from rice fields has become an important goal of agricultural carbon sequestration and emission reduction.
"Carbon sink construction, operation, and management have become new elements of agricultural new quality productivity." Pan Genxing stated that it is necessary to innovate traditional practices of straw returning and organic fertilizer, improve the production and supply capacity of rural biomass energy, enhance the scale and level of organic fertilization and carbon sink construction in farmland, and create a new organic industry by combining new technologies for soil improvement, fertilizer substitution, and waste treatment. He hoped that the organization and operation mode of agricultural research and rural revitalization services would adaptively change, promote new quality agricultural production and rural industries through the organization and operation mechanism of "science + culture + operation," introduce new mechanisms for talent growth and evaluation, effectively organize resources, and promote the rapid and efficient improvement of agricultural new quality productivity.
