Amid mounting political headwinds and global uncertainty, London Climate Action Week has rapidly become a gravitational centre for climate dialogue and as the name suggests, action. Now in its fifth year, LCAW hosted over 700 events - doubling from the previous year - and offered a crucial space for collaboration amid a fast-shifting climate agenda.

Agreena partnered with The Conduit to close the final day with a breakfast event spotlighting one of the most immediate and overlooked climate solutions: soil. A diverse panel of functional experts including Verra CEO Mandy Rambharos, Louis Dreyfus’s Marcus-Alexander Neil, Agreena’s Head of Programme Roberta McDonald, and Regenerative Farmer Thomas Gent, explored the credibility, science, and value behind soil carbon. The conversation centred on trust, innovation, and redefining value in voluntary carbon markets (VCM), showing how soil is finally taking centre stage as a critical climate solution.

Kanika Chandaria, Agreena’s Head of Marketing and Communications, set the scene, emphasising soil's foundational and often underappreciated role in underpinning food security, ecosystem resilience, and carbon sequestration. While soil carbon credits have historically faced skepticism due to perceived measurement challenges, a significant shift is underway. "In 2024, for example, we saw a 285% increase in soil carbon removal retirements," Chandaria noted, signalling the market is beginning to wake up to its potential.

This momentum is being driven by buyers seeking to contribute to impactful solutions with measurable impact, scientific and technological breakthroughs in digital measurement, reporting, and verification (dMRV), and a broader understanding that soil carbon can simultaneously deliver on carbon, nature, and resilience goals.

The panel opened with a dissection of what constitutes credibility and integrity in the evolving carbon market. As expectations for quality rise, designing a system that enables scalable solutions today is paramount. Roberta McDonald, Agreena Head of Programme, outlined three core pillars underpinning integrity in soil carbon:

• Data rigour: "Data is not just about collecting data from a farmer...There is verification of that data, there's the scaling collection of that data…and how you actually clean, verify and utilise that data" she explained, highlighting the importance of digital systems, remote sensing, and field sampling.

• Science-based frameworks: Agreena's adherence to external methodologies like Verra VM0042, developed by scientific experts, ensures alignment with best-in-class and most up-to-date practices.

• Third-party verification: “God knows there's a lot of it,” McDonald noted, but stressed it’s essential. Multiple audit layers - from Validation and Verification Bodies’ (VVBs) to Verra - ensure that farmer actions are validated rigorously and ultimately translated into a financeable, credible asset.

From the buyer’s seat, Marcus-Alexander Neil of Louis Dreyfus highlighted credibility starts with "the fundamental stewardship" of soil. He highlighted a market shift towards removals and nature-based solutions, advocating for a holistic approach where "every methodology has its risks and it's the act of management of those risks... that actually (builds) confidence in the entire market."

Mandy Rambharos, CEO of Verra, underscored how standards underpin high-integrity climate solutions. She pointed to Verra's rigorous methodology development, involving external scientific panels, and the continuous improvement approach. "When we update our methodologies... we only know things are not going to work when we start implementing," she stated, likening it to iPhone updates – necessary for progress, even if sometimes frustrating for users. Mandy also highlighted the increasing focus on digitalisation for data transparency and traceability, a key theme throughout London Climate Action Week, along with enhanced VVB training to ensure consistent application of methodologies.

Despite historical critiques regarding fragmentation and measurement difficulties, soil carbon is gaining significant momentum. However beyond frameworks, technology, and audits, it’s the lived realities of implementation that often determine success. That’s where the farmer’s voice becomes indispensable.

Thomas Gent, fourth generation farmer, founder of Gentle Farming, and Regenerative Agriculture Lead at Agreena, brought the farmer's perspective to life. He vividly described the realities of transitioning to regenerative practices on his 800-hectare farm in Lincolnshire. "The simple answer is really not easy," Thomas admitted, citing financial barriers, the need for new machinery and staff, and the unpredictable nature of weather during the crucial transitional years. He stressed the vital role of support for farmers during this challenging period of the infamous ‘yield dip’, experienced while the soil recovers from years of intensive farming, before reaping the later rewards. Carbon finance helps bridge this gap, but long-term resilience is the real payoff.

"If we are focused on soil health, increasing soil carbon, it has so many benefits," Mandy added, further differentiating soil carbon within the broader carbon credit universe, noting its powerful impact beyond carbon sequestration. Focusing on soil health leads to a cascade of co-benefits, including biodiversity, improved food production, and enhanced farmer livelihoods. Mandy also noted the growing popularity of VM0042, Verra's soil carbon methodology.

Roberta elaborated on the scientific and technological breakthroughs enabling soil carbon's rise. She highlighted how remote sensing, soil sampling, and advanced monitoring capabilities are "unlockers for scale", pioneered by Agreena’s proprietary dMRV technologies. This tech not only aids monitoring and verification but also crucially "helps the farmer on the ground, because we need to be able to communicate back when these practices happen. This is the difference it makes in the field."

Marcus-Alexander reinforced this, noting that LDC's confidence in the space stems from their deep agricultural roots and the ability to tell a comprehensive story. He also touched upon insetting as an exciting avenue for driving interest by integrating soil carbon into Scope 3 strategies.

Moving beyond a narrow, carbon-only perspective, the experts were guided by Kanika into sharing insights into the multifaceted value of soil carbon, discussing the paradox of a market that often over-indexes on permanence and precision while underinvesting in scalable, near-term impact solutions like soil carbon.

Marcus-Alexander emphasised the importance of tailoring the value proposition to the specific buyer. "Listen to that customer... and do the work to demonstrate value in a way that represents what they need," he advised, acknowledging that the definition of value, whether it's location, food security, or biodiversity, can change from one conversation to the next.

Having begun transitioning 18 years ago, Thomas vividly illustrated the real-world, long-term co-benefits for farmers. While carbon is a critical mechanism for finance, he explained that farmers are equally, if not more, interested in the practical benefits. "The financial performance of our farm compared to our neighbours is significantly better... it's just to do with the health of the soil," he stated, attributing improved resilience to weather extremes to healthier soil's water retention capabilities. He also highlighted the emotional aspect, noting that farmers committed to regenerative practices are often "the happiest farmers that you will meet."

Mandy shared how Verra is working to bring more rigour and visibility to solutions with broader benefits. Since January, all Verra projects must demonstrate at least three Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emphasising that co-benefits are "part and parcel of the benefits of the project." Verra's nature framework, SD Vista, and CCB program were also referenced as holistic approaches to addressing environmental and social impacts alongside carbon.

To close, Kanika posed the critical question of why demand for soil carbon isn't yet at scale, despite its integrity, innovation, and value.

Marcus-Alexander cited greater clarity from compliance markets on the breadth of impact that carbon credits can offer as a massive signal of confidence. On the voluntary side, he advocated for continued storytelling and increasing transparency through digital tools.

Mandy shared Verra’s focus on "impact stories" featuring project proponents and local communities to tell the story of tangible benefits, pointing to the need for enhanced communication and awareness. "We want the actual proponents, people that are on the ground to tell the story," she said. She also highlighted the importance of documenting use cases in an engaging way to overcome the "bland, boring terms" often associated with carbon projects.

Thomas underlined how carbon finance catalyses transition by mitigating financial risk during the crucial initial years of the transition. Crucially, income sources that are independent of government cycles provide the stability and confidence for farmers to "try all of these new things."

To close the session, each panelist offered their single takeaway for scaling soil carbon:

• Marcus-Alexander Neil: “Compliance demand through policy change would unlock scale beyond 4-year political cycles.”

• Roberta McDonald: "Multiple finance solutions for the farmers” as not every farmer is taking up all practices today. “We need to keep encouraging [farmers]…and carbon happens to be a vehicle to support [all these benefits]”

• Mandy Rambharos: "Communicating that..soil supports all life… in a way that is practical is extremely important…And also I think as a community, we need to look at all we have on the table... and look at how we bolster that, rather than criticising stuff that is happening all the time."

• Thomas Gent: "Everybody needs to go home and smell some soil” reiterating the importance of visiting a farm, understanding how soil works and seeing the tangible difference regenerative practices bring.

Kanika Chandaria concluded by reiterating her belief that "we actually have all the tools that we need today in order to ensure a liveable and resilient future." She stressed that soil carbon is not "science fiction" but a natural, scalable solution, emphasising that carbon markets, though imperfect, effectively direct capital to where it's needed most. She urged attendees with net-zero strategies to consider soil carbon as an integral part of their portfolios to drive real impact.

Agreena's debut event at London Climate Action Week event spotlighted a simple truth: to meet our climate goals, we need to invest into the scalable solutions available today - soil carbon. As the market continues to mature, prioritising trust, embracing innovation, and broadening the definition of value will be key to unlocking the full power of soil in the fight against climate change.

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