A Carboneg credit represents one tonne of CO₂ that has been drawn out of the atmosphere by plants and stored underground as soil organic carbon. On average, our regenerative farms sequester around 4 tonnes of CO₂ per hectare per year — a figure we don't model or estimate, but measure directly in soil samples taken at fixed GPS points and analysed by an accredited laboratory.
That distinction matters more than it sounds. A large share of the soil carbon market runs on models: you assume a practice, apply a coefficient, and generate a number. Models have their place — they help extend measurements across fields you haven't physically sampled — but they aren't the same as knowing. Carboneg measures the baseline at the start of the project, then re-samples the same points every two years and credits only the difference. Physically, not by assumption.
Photosynthesis is only half the story. The other half is biology. Where the soil microbiome is alive, plants send an estimated 30–40% of the sugars they produce down through their roots to feed fungi and microbes, and in exchange those organisms supply nutrients and water. That underground trade is the pump that moves atmospheric carbon into stable soil compounds. Regenerative practices — keeping living roots in the ground for more of the year, minimising tillage, cutting synthetic inputs — keep the pump running and protect the carbon already stored, rather than oxidising it back into the air with the plough.
It sits at the higher end of the published range, and it's worth being straight about that. Reviews of soil carbon sequestration typically report rates from roughly 0.2 up to around 8 tonnes of CO₂ per hectare per year for well-managed systems, with the widespread driven by climate, soil type, baseline condition and — crucially — how many regenerative practices are stacked together (Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 2023; American University Center for Carbon Removal, 2020). Studies isolating a single practice tend to land low; those combining no-till, cover crops, diverse rotations and managed grazing land much higher. Our farms run the full stack, and because we measure rather than model, the number reflects what the soil actually did — not what a coefficient predicted it should.
A tonne only counts if it stays down. Each Carboneg credit is backed by a 10-year crediting period plus a further 10 years of monitoring — two decades of accountability — and 20 % of every issuance is held in a buffer pool to cover any reversals. If carbon is lost and later regained, it can't be credited twice.
This is also why we only ever sell removals. Our farmers cut emissions too — less fertiliser, less diesel — but we don't credit avoided emissions. Every Carboneg credit is carbon we've physically measured as removed from the atmosphere and stored in living soil. It's the one number we're willing to stake a BeZero rating on.
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