Rabobank Acorn

Carbon Credits

The market for Carbon Credits is diffuse. There is no unambiguous quality standard and the risk of greenwashing is therefore present among credit providers. Acorn makes Carbon Credits available in a fair way; transparent, traceable and with correct data. In addition, the credits are only offered to vetted companies that have made every effort to minimize their emissions.

With agroforestry (land use system), farmers grow trees on land used for crops or livestock. As trees grow, carbon is stored from the atmosphere. Land quality improves, farmer income increases and biodiversity is restored. Acorn uses satellite technology to measure tree growth annually. This growth is converted by an in-house developed mathematical model into stored CO2, and only this already stored CO2 is offered as Carbon Credit.

To get the right result from the calculation model, correct data as input is essential. How big is the farmer's area, what shape is it and what type of crops are growing there. We have developed a data collection tool for Rabobank Acorn that works in an area with no or poor data connection and is well suited for a target group that has a low digital knowledge level. With this, Acorn has the tool in-house to monitor optimal security of valuable data and is thus not dependent on third parties. A logical desire given the nature of the client. In view of the total size of Smallholder Farmers (500 million worldwide), the tool is easily scalable. And essential in fulfilling the ambition of connecting 15 million Smallholder Farmers.

Native Android app and web environment

Move developed a native Android app for Rabobank in which data is collected and a web environment in which the data is reviewed and forwarded to the computational model.

The choice of native was easy, as the data collection tool must work without a data connection. The data collector walks with the app along the outer edge of the farmland and collects data consistently. Once there is a connection, the data is sent to the web environment. Here the project coordinator can assess whether the data is valid, what conflicts there are and suggests a solution.

Essential inputs gathered through field research

The users only have Android devices. Through field research in Kenya, we collected essential input that changed the User Interface. Bas, UX designer at Move, experienced the erratic terrains in Kenya when he tested the first version with data collectors. We also found that the User flows had to be adapted to the knowledge level of the users. We created a foolproof design to overcome the low digital skills of the data collectors. Field research in Kenya was thus the way to optimize the app.

In January 2023, the data collector app and web environment were released. This ensures the right quality of data and realizes ownership for Rabobank. It is being actively used in Africa, in a number of initial pilots with several tens of thousands of farmers. Scaling up to India and South America, among others, is planned in the short term. There is enormous demand for the tool from project coordinators worldwide.