5 lessons from Indigo as they scale to 1M credits

When I joined Indigo Agriculture as BD lead six years ago, paying growers for carbon sequestration seemed like a wild experiment.

Now, the Indigo team is closing in on one million tonnes of carbon stored and signing huge offtakes with Microsoft.

The process to get here was expensive, time-consuming, and incredibly complex – but it worked.

If you’re looking at your own carbon project and wondering how to scale to large volumes, you don’t have to go through all the trial and error we did.

In fact, I've pulled together some of the biggest lessons I learned from Indigo's scaling journey, so you can get your carbon credits faster and with less hassle.

Lesson #1: The need for carbon removal is massive, and now is the time to prepare.

When I first started at Indigo, the idea of paying growers for carbon sequestration raised a lot of eyebrows.

Six years later, the market looks quite different.

Not only are players like Indigo operating at a large scale, but removal credits are becoming more and more popular, as shown in Patch’s great report on the voluntary carbon market.

And just this March, Puro.earth hit one million total CORCs (carbon removal credits) issued, doubling in just a year.

The demand for carbon removal credits is still ramping up, but the ROI is real – especially for experienced project developers.

You’ll still need to do your due diligence and run the numbers on your specific project. I typically see economies of scale kick in around 5,000 carbon credits per year.

But carbon credit revenue is not some pipe dream. With high-quality credits, enough volume, and operational excellence, the opportunity is there for developers who are ready for it.

Lesson #2: Existing standards didn’t fit our project, but biochar has more straightforward methodologies than soil carbon.

The soil carbon sequestration standards available at the time weren’t robust enough for what we wanted to do at Indigo. So, in true Indigo fashion, we hired 50 people to write our own.

The result was VM0042 for Improved Land Management - a complex methodology, since soil carbon varies across crops, regions, practices, weather, and soil types.

The good news for today’s biochar developers is that biochar has multiple rigorous methodologies to choose from. The process of producing biochar is more consistent, the variables are more controlled, and the quantification of carbon removal is consistent from standard to standard.

Even if you’re not in biochar, you don’t need to write your own standard unless your technology is truly novel.

Instead, you can likely pursue one of two options:

• Option 1: Use a legacy registry like VERRA and Gold Standard - trusted by traditional buyers but slower and more expensive (around $50K upfront)
• Option 2: Choose a newer registry like Puro.earth, Isometric, or Rainbow (formerly Riverse) - faster but less established with traditional buyers

My big lesson here is that you may not need to reinvent the wheel like we did - it’ll be much cheaper (and more straightforward) if you go with an existing standard.

Lesson #3: Carbon credits are a data package – which means you need robust data management.

One thing I’ve learned across my time at Indigo, Patch, and now Offstream is that carbon removal credits are essentially a data package.

To build trust and command premium prices, you need:

• Life cycle assessments tracking carbon emissions in and out
• A methodology and registry your buyers trust
• Clear and precise communication at every step

Today, Indigo’s data system is highly sophisticated. They collect farm management data through their platform, use remote sensing algorithms to validate it at scale, and follow strict protocols for soil sampling, using NAPT-accredited labs.

But when we started, we were just focused on making a comprehensive list of all the data we needed and finding the most efficient way to collect, consolidate, and report it. We had a multi-year data strategy that has come to fruition now.

If you want to build a robust carbon credit program, you’ll also need a strong data strategy and the right systems in place. The best developers plan for this early on.

Lesson #4: Indigo's pioneering experience was long, but you can move faster.

We announced Indigo’s carbon program in May 2020. Our first credits were issued in June 2022 – more than two years later.

That may not sound that long, but remember: we had a 50-person team working on this project.

Now, with established methodologies and the right partners, you can move much faster.

For instance, one of our customers first met with us in April 2024 with just an idea and some funding, and they’re on track to receive their first carbon credits by November 2025.

That’s about 19 months from initial idea to purchasing equipment, commissioning, and then credit issuance – without needing to build an in-house carbon compliance team.

If you follow an existing methodology, secure funding early, and bring in the right partners, a 12-18 month timeline is realistic.

Lesson #5: Carbon credits alone won't sustain your business – you need diversified revenue streams.

Indigo had significant venture funding, which allowed us to build a large team and manage long development timelines.

But after working across the broader carbon ecosystem, it became clear to me that most developers don’t have that kind of cushion.

That’s why I always recommend having additional revenue streams in place.

EarthCare, a company we partner with, is a great example: They generate income through biomass waste disposal, selling biochar, and (in the future) renewable energy.

This kind of diversified model provides steady cash flow and helps buffer against market volatility.

Carbon credits can absolutely be an important piece of your revenue puzzle. But building other income sources will make your project more resilient.

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I’m incredibly proud of what we built at Indigo, and love seeing the team continue to blaze new trails.

The carbon credit landscape has come a long way since those early days - and that’s a good thing.

Carbon compliance still isn’t as simple as it should be. But I love working with my team, our customers, and our registry partners to make it a little easier for developers every day.

Varsha Ramesh Walsh is CEO and Co-founder of Offstream, a platform that streamlines carbon compliance for project developers.

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