From farms to financial markets: how an Aussie startup is helping companies meet growing demand for high-quality carbon credits – Microsoft Australia News Centre
Summary
Ian Jones and Hamish Macdonald first met through their joint passion for developing startups into fully fledged companies. In 2018, they teamed up with software engineer Sara Saeidi to tackle what they saw as the next big shift in capital markets – climate action. They knew that more companies were seeking ways to improve sustainability and accurately report on their efforts, in line with environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards. “We’d seen a report revealing that almost 20 per cent of global CO emissions were caused by agricultural practices such as tilling and ploughing soil. It’s completely natural and all powered by sunlight.” The problem was that farmers weren’t being incentivised enough to regenerate their land and turn sustainability efforts into high-integrity carbon credits, according to Jones.