Isometric has certified the Grazing Lands Management Module, which supports projects that increase soil carbon through practices such as rotational grazing, improved forage species, brush management, and water management. This is Isometric’s second supporting module for the Improved Soil Management (ISM) Protocol, following the certification of the Cropland Management Module in July 2026.
Certification follows a 30-day public consultation that included feedback from buyers, suppliers, and academics. Full details on how Isometric addressed that feedback are available in the consultation summary.
Soils hold nearly 3 trillion tonnes of carbon, which can increase as plants capture carbon dioxide from the air and transfer it into the soil through their roots and as they decompose. Improving how land is managed can increase the amount of carbon removed from the atmosphere and stored in soils.
The module does not favor any particular approach, enabling project developers and land managers to use a variety of practices to increase soil carbon, such as:
- Rotational or adaptive grazing: moving livestock between pastures so plants can recover and regrow, enabling more carbon to be stored in the soil.
- Improved forage species: planting deep-rooted grasses or legumes to increase the carbon entering the soil.
- Water management: such as irrigating degraded soils to extend the growing season, or installing watering points to spread the impact of livestock across the land.
- Brush management: controlling encroaching trees or woody shrubs with managed fires or machinery to restore grassland health and root growth.
To generate certificates, projects must show that soil carbon has increased, either by re-sampling the same fixed locations over time or by using biogeochemical models that are independently validated and checked against soil measurements at least every five years. They must also demonstrate their approach was not already in place or common practice, and pass the ISM Protocol’s financial additionality test.
Any impact on agricultural productivity must be accounted for, based on a comparison against a regional benchmark, so the result is not affected by region-wide conditions such as droughts. Increases in emissions, such as from livestock methane and imported feed, must also be addressed when calculating net carbon removal.
Projects must implement robust environmental and social safeguards, including meaningful community engagement throughout the project lifetime and a minimum 20% revenue share for enrolled landowners, reflecting their role in maintaining the carbon stocks.
Grassroots Carbon and Cultivo are the first project developers to sign up to generate certificates under the module.
Grassroots Carbon works with more than 340 ranching families across 22 US states to improve grazing management on more than 1.2 million hectares. It has paid ranchers $40 million for increasing the carbon in their soils and expects total payments to pass $68 million by the end of 2026.
“The more than 260 million hectares of U.S. grazing lands represent an extraordinary opportunity to deliver measurable carbon removal at scale while strengthening ranching livelihoods, improving water outcomes, and supporting biodiversity. Isometric’s Grazing Lands Management Module recognizes that every ranch is different while grounding carbon removal in rigorous soil measurement. We’re excited to partner with Isometric to turn buyer confidence into sustained investment that supports working lands and sustains the ranching families who steward them,” said Brad Tipper, CEO of Grassroots Carbon.
Cultivo is regenerating US grasslands at scale, with more than 800,000 hectares contracted and backed by a $100 million capital deployment from Octopus Energy Generation.
“Soil carbon only works at scale if buyers can trust the numbers. The Grazing Lands Management Module requires soil carbon gains to be demonstrated through direct sampling or validated models, and issues certificates on a conservative basis. That gives us a rigorous framework we can apply across our grassland portfolio,” said Dr. Manuel Piñuela, CEO and co-founder of Cultivo.
The module was developed in line with the Isometric Standard, through collaboration between Isometric’s in-house Science Team and reviewers from the independent Science Network of more than 500 academic experts.
Interested in registering a project or purchasing certificates? Get in touch.
