2019 SWCS International Annual Conference July 28-31, 2019 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1. Land Stewardship as a Basis for an Agricultural Producer-Focused Ecosystem
Services Market
Bruce Knight, Strategic Conservation Solutions
SWCS July 30, 2019

2. To advance ecosystem service
markets that incentivize farmers and
ranchers to improve soil health
systems that benefit society
ESMC MISSION
2

3. 2017
NRI multi-stakeholder
convenings to assess
market-based
ecosystem service
opportunities for
agriculture
2018
ESM strategic &
infrastructure
development for
national ESM program
2019
ESM Consortium
formed to build ESM
market, invest in tech,
research for 2022
national market launch
33
ESMC Timeline: Highlights

4. 44
ESMC Timeline: Highlights
COMMISSIONED
  Business Plan
 Economic Market
Assessment
FFAR GRANT
Investments in ecosystem
service market RDD&D needs
OUTREACH
 Corporate / demand side
 Ag / supply side
PROTOCOL DEVELOPMENT
Carbon/GHG, Water Quality,
Water Quantity
2018

5. Consortium, Member Recruitment
• ESMC LLC
• ESMRC – FFAR RDD&D
Protocol Pilots
• 50,000 acres ranch & cropland in SGP
• Planning next phase pilots with Members
• Protocol refinements
Protocol Adaptation
• Major US Geographies
• Major production systems
Certification of Credits, Assets
55
ESMC Timeline: Highlights
2019
ESM Consortium
formed to build ESM
market in time for 2022
national market launch

6. ESMC Market:
Rules & Protocols Designed for Agriculture
• Supply & demand assessment: functioning, long-term market
• Tiered, modular protocols (multiple assets, multiple demand classes)
• No additionality, permanence redefined
• Systems-based, outcomes-based, practice agnostic
• Market design, development, refinement with entire value chain:
• farmers, ranchers, market ‘suppliers’
• Corporates, conservation ngo’s with specific demand side needs
• science-based, standards-based, certification process – reimagined with
advanced technological focus

7. ESM Demand: Corporate Scope 1, 2 & 3
GHG Inventories & Annual Reporting
7

8. Assessing Demand:
Informa Analytics Economic Assessment
Estimated Total Volume & Value of Carbon & Water Quality Markets
• A combined market for ecosystem service assets exists
• Credits can be stacked (supply) &/or disaggregated (demand)
• Benefits to agriculture & society can be measured, documented
• September 2019: Report Release, Roundtable
Volume Value ($bil)
Carbon (vol in MMt Co2e) 190 5.2
Water Quality (vol in bil pounds)
Nitrogen 1.58 4.8
Phosphorous 0.8 3.9
Total 13.9
Demand
Credit Type
8

9. ESMC/ESMRC Members
Founding Circle Members Legacy Partner Members
Tatanka
Resources

10. To advance ecosystem service markets that
incentivize farmers and ranchers to improve soil
health systems that benefit society
1. Quantification – more
accurate quantification of
economic & agricultural
management system impacts
on ag ecosystem services
2. Monitoring, Reporting and
Verification (MRV) –
technologies to cost-effectively
quantify, assess, monitor, &
verify systems-based impacts of
the operations of farmers &
ranchers
3. MRV Platform – user friendly
& secure platform enabled by
block chain technology to collect,
store & manage data inputs &
outputs for multiple users in the
market place
4. Land Ledger – a distributed
technology to confidentially
track ecosystem service
outcomes in a geospatial
manner tied to gridded ledger
of land plots
5. Quantifying Soil Ecosystem
Service Capacities – assess the
technical capacity of soils to
absorb & retain carbon &
contribute to improved water
quality & water use conservation
10
ESMRC RDD&D

11. Specify requirements to quantify, monitor,
report, verify & register for sale farm-&
ranch-based ecosystem service credits from
working agricultural lands
ESMC Protocols
11

12. • Modular protocol components quantify 3 ecosystem service attributes over 2 tiers
• Meet corporate Scope 1, 2 & 3 GHG & water risk accounting & reporting needs (to
be certified during piloting)
• Additional attributes, production systems, geographies easily adapted
Corporate Scopes
Addressed
Modular Environmental Assets (Credits) Generated by ESMC
Carbon Water Quality Water Quantity
3
(supply chain)
Carbon Insets
Agricultural Water Quality
Protection Certificates
Water Efficiency Credits
1, 2
(direct, indirect) Carbon Offsets Credits Water Quality Credits N/A
12
Tiered, Modular Protocol Design

13.  Goals
 Scale through partnerships
 Adapt protocols for additional production systems & geographies,
refine through pilots
 Process
 2019 Noble Land Stewardship Program (OK/TX) pilot 50k acres
 2019-2021: Protocol adaptations to expand into new production
systems & geographies: with members, collaborators
 Pilots can launch when protocol adaptations completed
13
Scaling ESMC: Pilot Projects

14. 14
Pilot Planning 2019 - 2021

15. 15
Thank you!
Bruce Knight: bknight@stratconserve.com
Debbie Reed: dreed@ecosystemservicesmarket.org
www.ecosystemservicesmarket.org