ICAR-IISS, Bhopal and Core CarbonX Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Organize National Workshop on Agricultural Voluntary Carbon Market Projects

29-30 August 2026, New Delhi

A two-day national workshop on ‘Designing and Implementing Agricultural Voluntary Carbon Market Projects’ was organized on 29–30 August in New Delhi.

The workshop was organized by Core CarbonX Solutions Pvt. Ltd., in association with ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal and GIZ India, under the Climate Adaptation, Resilience and Climate Finance in Rural India (CAFRI-II) project.

Scientists from 16 agricultural research institutions participated in the programme, which focused on strengthening technical capacity to design scientifically robust, transparent and farmer-centred agricultural carbon projects.

Dr Amaresh Kumar Nayak, Deputy Director General (Natural Resource Management), ICAR, graced the inaugural session as Chief Guest and emphasized the role of scientific institutions and an enabling policy framework in developing a credible and transparent voluntary carbon market in India.

Dr Monoranjan Mohanty, Director, ICAR-IISS, highlighted the importance of integrating relevant national missions with carbon-market initiatives to achieve coordinated climate and sustainable-development outcomes.

The objectives and expected outcomes of the workshop were outlined, with emphasis on the role of climate finance in supporting scalable and inclusive agricultural carbon projects. Scientifically robust approaches for quantifying carbon removals and avoided greenhouse gas emissions in agricultural systems were also discussed.

Technical and group sessions covered the complete carbon-project cycle, including baseline setting, methodology selection, greenhouse-gas accounting, Project Design Document preparation, stakeholder consultation, safeguards, monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV), validation and independent verification.

Participants also deliberated on practical issues such as engaging smallholder farmers, digital MRV, reducing measurement costs, project finance, market linkages, transparent contracts and equitable benefit-sharing, particularly for women and small and marginal farmers.

The workshop concluded with an action-planning exercise to advance pilot carbon-project designs. The initiative seeks to strengthen the role of ICAR institutes and State Agricultural Universities as technical partners in India’s emerging agricultural carbon market, connecting credible science with farmers’ livelihoods and climate action.

(Source: ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal)