One of the world’s busiest airports is backing an innovative climate change project near Dundee.
Heathrow marked today’s news that it has become one of the first major global aviation hubs to become carbon neutral by announcing an investment of £1.8 million to kick-start UK nature-based carbon saving projects, including one at Arbuckle’s Fruit Farm in Invergowrie.
Fruit grower Stuart Arbuckle set up Agricarbon, a commercial venture, in 2018 to work alongside nearby James Hutton Institute (JHI) to find a way of measuring soil carbon and developing a cost-effective commercial tool to help UK farmers tap into the carbon credits market.
He said: “Companies who are looking to become carbon neutral but can’t decarbonise internally have to offset, so we’re trying to build the tools which measure soil carbon and how that changes over a period of time so we can generate soil carbon credits that can be sold to companies to bring revenue to farmers.”
Heathrow bosses revealed they are succeeding in their climate change targets by offsetting emissions through tree-planting projects in Indonesia and Mexico. However, the airport is also investing in UK-based projects.
Mr Arbuckle said the cost of measuring carbon was a big barrier to farmers being able to quantify how much was in their soils, but he said Agricarbon was aiming to develop a product this year.
“We have applied for funding support grants and if we get that it means we can prototype our measurement tool, but to do that we will also need further investment,” he said.
His farm is trialling sustainable practices such as multi-species cover crop and mob grazing techniques. He said: “They are common things in farming, but the key is we’re measuring the soil over a three-year period to find out how they fix carbon so we can work out what’s possible on a bigger scale.
“No one has worked out how to do those measurements yet, and we’re one of the few companies trying to do that. It could lead to big opportunities for farmers.”
Dr Helaina Black, a senior soil scientist at JHI, said: “We are pleased to be able to support initiatives like Heathrow’s. It is vital that this carbon benefit is realised in the short term to address the climate crisis.”
