Groundwork BioAg has received a ‘BBB’ carbon rating from BeZero Carbon for its Rootella Carbon program, which utilizes mycorrhizal inoculants to drive carbon dioxide removal. This validation provides high-integrity carbon credits suitable for buyers with strict due diligence requirements, following the program’s initial credit issuance verified by SCS Global under Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard.

The major challenge addressed by the initiative is establishing verifiable proof and high credit quality in soil carbon sequestration, which has historically faced skepticism regarding measurement accuracy, additionality, and permanence. Traditional soil carbon efforts often rely heavily on modeling rather than direct physical measurement, creating barriers to market confidence and long-term buyer commitment.

To solve these challenges, the Rootella Carbon program implements direct measuring and remeasuring strategies, such as comprehensive control plot planning featuring physical sampling down to 30 centimeters. The approach incorporates conservative crediting with a 26.43 percent uncertainty deduction and aligns grower economics by distributing up to 70 percent of net project proceeds directly to enrolled farmers to mitigate reversal risks.

The outcomes include independent validation through a ‘BBB’ rating from BeZero, establishing a robust quality benchmark for voluntary carbon market participants. Program metrics indicate growing scale, with 19,568 tCO2e issued in June 2026, an estimated issuance of 245,000 tCO2e scheduled for Q1 2027, and a targeted volume of 500,000 tCO2e by Q4 2027.