Irish sustainability experts ConnectGreen (connectgreen.ie) has launched its innovative biodiversity and carbon offsetting platform, connecting farmers and landowners with companies who are looking for guaranteed, certified and verified biodiversity and carbon offsetting initiatives.
By leveraging the new EU carbon framework, ConnectGreen makes it possible for ordinary landowners, including farmers, to participate in the carbon and biodiversity credits global marketplace and maximise the financial benefits of carbon farming.
John Kelleher, CEO of ConnectGreen commented: “We are calling on farmers and landowners across Ireland to see the revenue potential in the evolving biodiversity credits and carbon offsetting sector. We come from a farming background ourselves and we understand the pressures that farmers are currently under. With Ireland’s biodiversity plans that aim to rewild and rewet 20 percent of the country’s land, we are partnering with farmers and landowners helping them unlock the potential and opportunity of realising a dependable, long-term income stream from carbon and biodiversity assets on their own land”.
Kelleher added: “We are also highlighting to Irish-based companies the option of securing their biodiversity and carbon credits here in Ireland – why invest in projects in Africa or South America, when our platform offers a wide range of biodiversity and carbon offset initiatives available across Ireland. Your customers and shareholders will appreciate your action in ensuring your ESG investments are helping to improve the environment right here at home rather than in a project half way round the globe”.
Cattle and sheep farmers Mike Cremins and his Uncle Pat Cremins who are fourth and fifth generation farmers from Meenganaire, Knocknagoshel, Co. Kerry, said: “We have been saying for years that someone has to pay farmers for the great work they do in managing the landscape, in particular, for farmers who own what could be termed poorer land in peatland and mountain areas like ourselves where economic viability is always difficult. ConnectGreen’s platform with its biodiversity credits and carbon offsetting opportunities is a great way of compensating small farmers and landowners like ourselves for the work we do day in and day out in nurturing the Irish countryside”.
From the outset, ConnectGreen has focussed on providing an opportunity for companies and landowners to collaborate in carbon offsetting in a thoroughly verifiable and certified way, guaranteeing that a reliable and quantifiable level of offsetting is taking place.
Mr. Kelleher concluded: “That is the essence of our ‘triple-lock’: verified, certified and guaranteed. We offer an unwavering commitment to authenticity and integrity, so every carbon credit purchased through our platform has been rigorously verified by our expert team.
“The carbon market is evolving rapidly and we’re excited to be at the forefront of this new movement in Ireland and across the EU. ConnectGreen is already engaged with a number of biodiversity and carbon offsetting projects across Ireland, and we have ambitious targets to oversee deals that will facilitate the removal of 250k tons of carbon from the atmosphere by the end of 2024.”
Full details on how the ConnectGreen platform works can be found on the company’s website: ConnectGreen.ie. The site also features tailored content for both landowners, including farmers, who are looking to maximise income from their holdings. ConnectGreen also offers a “Software as a Service” platform for companies looking to engage in carbon accounting including the monitoring, reporting and verification of biodiversity and carbon assets.