Carbon Aggregation Programme
Connecting India's 146 million smallholder farmers to the Indian Carbon Market — making verified soil carbon sequestration a new, recurring income source for rural India.
Programme Summary
VELSTROM's Carbon Aggregation Programme is India's first technology-driven, satellite-verified agricultural carbon credit aggregation project registered under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), 2023, administered by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ministry of Power, Government of India.
The programme operates under the CCTS Offset Mechanism, enabling VELSTROM to enroll Indian smallholder farmers as grouped project participants, measure and verify the greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions their improved farming practices generate, and issue Carbon Credit Certificates (CCCs) on the ICM Registry — one CCC per verified tonne of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e) reduced or sequestered.
Verified CCCs are traded on CERC-approved power exchanges, with the majority of proceeds returned directly to enrolled farmers as annual income.
The Problem
India's agricultural sector covers approximately 140 million hectares of cultivable land and is managed overwhelmingly by smallholder farmers averaging 1.1 hectares each. These farmers collectively have an enormous, largely untapped capacity to sequester carbon through improved soil management practices.
Three barriers have historically prevented this capacity from reaching carbon markets:
Scale
No individual smallholder generates enough credits to justify the cost of independent verification.
Access
Regulatory frameworks, verification requirements, and power exchange trading are inaccessible to individual farmers without institutional support.
Measurement
Physical soil sampling of hundreds of thousands of farms annually is prohibitively expensive under conventional approaches.
VELSTROM exists to eliminate all three barriers simultaneously — through aggregation, regulatory expertise, and technology.
How It Works
The programme follows a five-phase annual cycle from farmer enrollment to CCC issuance and revenue distribution.
Farmer Enrollment
- · District selection
- · Community meetings
- · Agreement signing
- · Land record verification
Baseline Survey & Sampling
- · Soil sample per farm
- · GPS plot boundary registration
- · Lab analysis (baseline SOC)
12-Month Monitoring
- · Satellite monitoring year-round
- · Field agent visits ×2
- · Activity logging
- · Anomaly detection
Verification & Issuance
- · ACVA validation
- · Check-verifier
- · BEE review
- · CCC issuance on ICM Registry
Revenue to Farmers
- · CCC sale on IEX / PXIL
- · 70% Net Payment to farmer via UPI
- · Settlement statement
Farmer Enrollment
VELSTROM identifies target districts based on soil carbon potential and agricultural practice conditions. Field agents conduct open community meetings in the local language before any enrollment takes place. Individual consultations follow.
Eligible farmers — those with own or tenancy rights over at least 0.5 hectares of cultivable land and an Aadhaar-linked bank account — sign a Farmer Carbon Credit Enrollment Agreement that specifies:
- The exact practices to be adopted and maintained
- A minimum 2-year commitment term with annual auto-renewal
- The revenue share and floor payment guarantee
- Data collection consent under the DPDP Act, 2023
- Protections against clawback if land is sold or practices temporarily disrupted by force majeure
Farmers receive a printed copy of the Agreement in their regional language. For low-literacy farmers, key terms are read aloud and audio-recorded at the time of signing.
Baseline Soil Sampling
Before any practice change occurs, a physical soil sample is collected from every enrolled farm (0–30 cm depth, ISO 10381-1 protocol) and analysed at a NABL-accredited laboratory for soil organic carbon (SOC), bulk density, soil texture, and pH.
This baseline measurement is the foundation of the entire credit calculation. It establishes each farm's individual pre-programme SOC level against which all future verified improvements are measured.
No baseline sample = no credits for that farm. This rule is absolute and non-negotiable.
Each sample is linked by QR code to a digital chain-of-custody record from field collection through laboratory analysis, creating an unbroken, auditable trail.
Annual Satellite Monitoring
Throughout the 12-month monitoring year, VELSTROM's proprietary satellite monitoring platform continuously tracks each enrolled farm polygon using Sentinel-2 optical imagery and derived soil spectral indices, processed through Google Earth Engine. Monitoring runs at 5–12 day frequency throughout the year.
Key monitoring capabilities include:
- Tillage detection — surface disturbance signatures are detected within weeks of a ploughing event
- Residue retention verification — post-harvest surface coverage is quantified from spectral reflectance
- Vegetation productivity — growing season biomass acts as a proxy for soil organic matter inputs
- Fire detection — near-real-time crop residue burning alerts from NASA FIRMS satellite data, cross-referenced to enrolled plot boundaries within 24 hours
- Topographic context — elevation, slope, and aspect data inform regional carbon dynamics
Field agents visit each farm twice during the monitoring year — at sowing and at harvest — providing GPS-stamped photographic evidence of practice compliance that supplements the satellite record.
Farmers log key farming decisions (tillage, residue management, irrigation) through the VELSTROM platform, timestamped and GPS-tagged per entry.
Independent Verification and BEE Issuance
At the end of each monitoring year, VELSTROM's platform generates an Annual Monitoring Report integrating satellite evidence, field visit records, activity logs, soil sample results, and a soil carbon change estimate derived from VELSTROM's proprietary ensemble machine learning model, trained on physical soil samples from enrolled districts.
The credit quantity is calculated conservatively — VELSTROM's model produces a lower-bound uncertainty estimate and all credit claims are made at this conservative floor, not the central prediction. A portion of each farm's calculated credits is withheld to a non-tradeable Buffer Pool on the ICM Registry as insurance against future carbon reversal.
This Monitoring Report is then submitted to an independent BEE-accredited Carbon Verification Agency (ACVA), which independently accesses all underlying data — satellite records, lab reports, field photographs, and blockchain-anchored data hashes — without VELSTROM intermediation.
India's CCTS additionally requires a second, independent check-verifier to audit the primary ACVA's work before any CCC is issued. By the time a CCC appears in VELSTROM's ICM Registry account, it has been certified by two independent third parties against a tamper-evident data trail.
BEE issues 1 CCC per verified tCO₂e to VELSTROM's ICM Registry account.
CCC Trading and Farmer Payment
CCCs are listed for sale on IEX or PXIL (CERC-approved power exchanges) within the price band set by CERC on BEE's recommendation.
Each farmer's share of the sale proceeds is calculated pro-rata based on their verified carbon contribution to the total project batch — a proportion that is locked into VELSTROM's ledger at the point of BEE issuance and cannot be altered.
Farmers receive 70% of the gross sale proceeds
attributable to their farm. VELSTROM retains 30% as its aggregation and platform service fee.
Payments are made by UPI direct transfer to the farmer's Aadhaar-linked bank account within 45 days of CCC sale settlement. Each farmer receives an SMS confirmation and a printed Annual Settlement Statement in their regional language showing exactly how their payment was calculated.
Measurement Methodology
The Core Approach
Soil Organic Carbon exists in the top 30 centimetres of soil. No satellite sensor can directly measure it — satellites detect surface reflectance, not subsurface chemistry. VELSTROM bridges this gap by training a machine learning model on physical soil samples from enrolled districts that learns the statistical relationship between observable surface signals and underground SOC levels.
Once calibrated, this model predicts SOC at monitored farms using satellite-derived surface features — making annual monitoring scalable across thousands of farms without the cost of physically sampling every farm every year. Physical sampling continues on a rotating basis across the enrolled base, maintaining the model's accuracy and providing audit-grade ground truth.
What Is Measured
The SOC change that generates a carbon credit is calculated from three inputs that every ACVA reviewer can independently verify:
- Change in soil organic carbon (g/kg) — the difference between the farm's current monitoring year SOC estimate and its baseline SOC
- Soil physical properties — bulk density and depth (0–30 cm), determining how much carbon is held in a volume of soil
- Plot area — the GPS-verified enrolled polygon area in square metres
These inputs are combined through the standard geochemical conversion between soil carbon stock changes and CO₂ equivalent tonnes, then discounted by the conservative uncertainty estimate before the Buffer Pool deduction is applied.
Additionality
A carbon credit is only valid if the carbon sequestration it represents would not have occurred without the programme. VELSTROM demonstrates additionality through three tests required by BEE Offset Mechanism Procedure v1.0:
- Investment barrier test — the financial cost of changing farming practice exceeds the agronomy benefit without carbon revenue; carbon income is what makes the transition viable
- Prevalence test — target districts are selected where the enrolled practices are not already widely adopted, confirmed using Krishi Vigyan Kendra records and state agricultural census data
- Regulatory surplus test — no Indian regulation currently mandates the enrolled practices on smallholder farms; the practices are voluntary improvements
Permanence and the Buffer Pool
Carbon stored in soil can be released if farming practices are abandoned. VELSTROM manages this risk through a non-tradeable Buffer Pool — a percentage of each farm's calculated credits is withheld to a protected registry account rather than traded. If a farm exits the programme or carbon is reversed, credits are cancelled from this reserve. Farmers are never required to return cash payments already received.
Farming Practices Supported
The programme incentivises practices that increase soil organic carbon through any combination of the following:
| Practice | Mechanism | Primary Carbon Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Conservation / reduced tillage | Minimising soil disturbance during land preparation | Prevents oxidation of stored soil carbon; reduces CO₂ release from ploughed soils |
| Crop residue retention | Leaving harvest residue on the field surface rather than burning | Adds organic matter to soil surface; eliminates crop residue burning emissions |
| Cover cropping | Sowing a secondary crop between primary crop cycles | Increases organic matter inputs; protects soil from erosion |
| Integrated nutrient management | Reducing synthetic fertilisers; supplementing with organic matter | Reduces N₂O emissions from nitrogen fertiliser application |
| Alternate wetting and drying | Intermittent rather than continuous flooding (paddy only) | Significantly reduces CH₄ emissions from waterlogged paddy soils |
| Agroforestry boundary planting | Trees planted at plot boundaries | Above-ground carbon sequestration in addition to soil carbon |
Farmers select and commit to specific practices at enrollment. The commitment is documented in Schedule B of the Enrollment Agreement with individual initials per practice. Force majeure events — pest emergencies, floods, extreme weather — are treated as excused deviations, not violations, provided they are documented within 5 days.
Regulatory Framework
This programme is fully governed by and compliant with India's national carbon market framework:
| Layer | Instrument | VELSTROM's Role |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory authority | Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022 | Derives legal standing as non-obligated entity |
| Market framework | Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), 2023 | Registered Non-Obligated Entity (Project Developer) |
| Operational rules | BEE Offset Mechanism Procedure v1.0, March 2025 | Full compliance; agriculture is a Phase 1 approved sector |
| Trading regulations | CERC CCC Trading Regulations, 2026 | CCCs traded on CERC-approved exchanges only; no OTC |
| Registry | ICM Registry operated by Grid Controller of India (GCI) | CCC account holder; all issuances, transfers, and retirements through GCI |
| Data protection | Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 | Farmer data stored on Indian servers; explicit consent; right to erasure |
VELSTROM's agricultural offset project is registered as a grouped project — a structure explicitly permitted under the CCTS that allows a single project registration to cover hundreds of individual smallholder farms, each generating credits within one verified project boundary.
What You Receive
- A guaranteed minimum floor payment regardless of market CCC price, payable annually per enrolled hectare
- 70% of gross CCC sale proceeds attributed to your farm's verified carbon, paid within 45 days of each sale by UPI
- A printed Annual Settlement Statement in your regional language
- Agronomic support through the local KVK network during the transition
- No financial risk — you never owe money back if you exit the programme or if CCC prices fall
Your Obligations
- Maintain the specific farming practices you select and commit to in Schedule B
- Allow VELSTROM field agents to visit your farm twice per year (with advance notice)
- Permit a soil sample to be taken before practices change, and once every four years thereafter
- Log key farming decisions in the VELSTROM platform
Protections
- Early exit by VELSTROM is only permitted for cause — not for commercial convenience
- Force majeure events are treated as excused deviations, not violations
- If you sell your land, money already paid is unconditionally yours
- Your plot cannot be double-registered in any other carbon market without your knowledge
Credit Quality
Every CCC issued under this programme carries a complete, independently audited evidence chain:
- Physical soil laboratory results (Walkley-Black SOC, NABL-accredited lab)
- Satellite monitoring record across the full compliance year
- GPS-stamped field agent visit photographs
- Farmer activity logs linked to timestamped GPS entries
- Dual independent verification (ACVA primary + check-verifier) per BEE requirements
- Cryptographic data integrity anchors providing a tamper-evident audit trail
Credits are issued conservatively — all claims are made at the lower bound of the model's uncertainty estimate, not the central prediction.
Compliance and Voluntary Use
CCCs issued by BEE under the CCTS Offset Mechanism may be used by industrial entities to supplement their compliance position under the CCTS. Industrial buyers should confirm the current permissible offset percentage applicable to their sector.
Corporate buyers with Scope 3 net-zero targets and BRSR reporting obligations may use VELSTROM's agricultural CCCs as verified offset instruments with full provenance documentation. Supply chain emissions data from enrolled farms can be provided for EU CBAM compliance reporting.
Project Status
| Milestone | Status |
|---|---|
| CCTS regulatory framework (Energy Conservation Act 2022) | In effect |
| BEE Offset Mechanism Procedure v1.0 | Published March 2025 |
| CERC CCC Trading Regulations | Published March 2026 |
| ICM Portal live; non-obligated entity registration open | Open June 2025 |
| First sector compliance obligations (490 entities) | Active from Jan 2026 |
| First compliance deadline — FY 2025–26 | July 2026 |
| Compliance market trading expected to begin | October 2026 |
| VELSTROM first CCC issuance (projected) | Q1–Q2 2027 |
| Annual revenue cycle established | FY 2027–28 |
Join the Programme
Farmers
If you own or operate agricultural land in India and are interested in participating, contact your nearest VELSTROM field agent or reach out directly.
Industrial Buyers
For CCC procurement enquiries, ESG reporting data services, or Scope 3 offset documentation, contact our buyer relations team.
Investors & Partners
For programme documentation, regulatory framework briefings, or partnership discussions, a mutual NDA is required.
VELSTROM Private Limited is registered as a Non-Obligated Entity (Project Developer) on the Indian Carbon Market Portal. This programme operates under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, 2023, administered by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power, Government of India. Carbon Credit Certificates are not financial instruments. Nothing on this page constitutes financial, investment, or legal advice. Last updated: May 2026.