Description
ESTI, the ‘Ecosystem Services Trading Platform’ is a start up company. We want a fundamentally different model for the production of our food. An inclusive model in which managing the soil’s quality is as important as the production of our food and as such a source of income, an incentive for the farmer.
- Starting with CO2: we develop a market for ecosystem services and will start with trading CO2 – there already is a legal obligation (for big companies) to compensate their increased (or less reduced then obliged) CO2 emissions and there are already CO2 certificates. The carbon storage in the soil and related avoidance of emissions in farming activities reduces the CO2, in the earths atmosphere and with that reduces the greenhouse effect;
- Reforming the CO2-market: the CO2 market is currently hugely inefficient. Considerable costs are incurred with the development of control protocols and subsequent audits, leading to a situation in which only large projects for CO2 storage are financially feasible. ESTI is developing a simple, cheap yet reliable mechanism making it economically feasible to trade CO2 storage for small projects by local farmers. To do this we make use of available tooling, combined with agencies already supporting farmers, and the use of new technologies;
- Water storage and biodiversity: ESTI also aims to create a similar market for water storage and biodiversity. Why would companies or individuals not pay for their (excessive) use of water or their role in the reduction of biodiversity?
