Farmers sell first carbon credits, Thermo Fisher Scientific among buyers

“The first carbon credits created by Lithuanian farmers were purchased by US biotechnology giant Thermo Fisher Scientific, US and Canadian climate solutions companies Anew Climate and Key Carbon, and private equity fund Livonia Partners operating in the Baltics.

 

As reported by climate finance company InSoil [1], which manages the largest carbon farming program in Lithuania, and agricultural company Linas Agro, the program has started to generate tens of thousands of euros in income for farmers.

 

“The first returns received by farmers from carbon credits show that this program can create clear economic value for farms. For Lithuanian farmers, this becomes an additional source of income in addition to crop sales, helping to strengthen farm profitability,” Jonas Bakšys, CEO of Linas Agro, said in a statement.

 

Laimonas Noreika, CEO and co-founder of InSoil, said that in order to continue maintaining high results, a limit on the amount of land to be included is being applied this year. Only 50,000 hectares of farmland will be accepted into the carbon farming program this year. So far, over 140,000 hectares have been included.

 

According to the report, almost 1 million hectares of farmland are participating in the InSoil program across Europe.

 

As BNS reported last June, Canadian voluntary credit market company Key Carbon planned to lend 100 million euros to farmers through InSoil - the latter had planned to expand its international carbon farming program to 1 million hectares by the end of 2026.

 

Key Carbon also invested 3.7 million euros in the development of the InSoil program by acquiring the right to a part of the carbon credits it generates.

 

In 2024, Multitude Bank began investing in the company's loans to small and medium-sized farms with a guarantee from the European Investment Fund.”

 

1. InSoil (formerly HeavyFinance) is a climate finance and environmental technology company that facilitates the transition to regenerative agriculture across Europe. By combining financial solutions, agronomic guidance, and carbon sequestration monitoring, they enable farmers to adopt sustainable practices and generate high-integrity carbon credits.

 

Core Offerings & Solutions

•           Financing: Provides medium-term financing and collateralized loans to help farmers de-risk their transition to practices like no-till farming, cover cropping, and mixed crop rotation.

•           Carbon Credits: Equips farmers with the tools to generate and sell verified soil carbon credits, creating valuable new revenue streams.

•           Monitoring: Utilizes advanced soil and emissions tracking technologies to ensure carbon sequestration meets verification standards (verified by SCS Global under the Verra VM0042 methodology).

Key Operations & Reach

•           Target Regions: Operates across major European farming regions, including Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria.

•           Scale: Enrolls nearly 800,000 hectares of European cropland and partners with thousands of farmers.

•           Strategic Partnerships: Backed by massive scaling initiatives, including a €100 million agreement with Key Carbon and collaborations with organizations like Anew Climate to market hundreds of thousands of verified soil carbon removals.