R8: Soils & Biochar

What this route does.

Route 8 pays for measured removals from two lanes:

• (A) soil organic carbon (SOC) increases driven by practice change (no-till, cover crops, better grazing) and

• (B) biochar (stable carbon from pyrolysis applied to soils or locked in long-lived products).

Evidence is bound into a GRO packet (a tamper-evident, non-transferable measurement record), a verifier signs, EDMA issues tons ex-post, then trades settle on-chain in $EDM. No evidence → no ton → no settlement.

PoV in Action

1

Capture & Sign

• Soils: stratified coring (e.g., 0–30 cm with deeper horizons if justified), bulk density, TOC/LOI (or Dumas) in certified labs; time/geo-stamped logs. Each event mints a GRO packet with coordinates, timestamps, and lab/instrument IDs. GRO is evidence, not a credit.

• Biochar: feedstock attestations, reactor logs (time/temperature/yield), lab assays (C%, H/Corg), contaminants, chain-of-custody, and end-use proof. Each batch mints a GRO packet the same way.

2

Verify

Accredited verifiers review the same GRO hash—checking additionality, baselines, leakage, QA/uncertainty, and permanence design—then sign or reject. Weak stories are rerouted (e.g., to ARR or Blue Carbon) rather than stretched. 

3

Gate

The PoV Gate enforces three tests before any state change:

1. Quorum present

2. Equality of evidence (every counted verification references the same GRO hash),

3. One-Claim exclusivity (the route-agnostic claimId hasn’t finalized on EDMA). If any rule fails, no mint, no issue, no settle.

4

Lock the accounting

• Soils formula: Saleable t = (Gross ΔSOC − baseline) × (1 − uncertainty) × (1 − buffer) (buffers higher for soils).

• Biochar formula: Saleable t = (Biochar_t × Carbon_fraction × 3.667) × (1 − uncertainty) × (1 − buffer) (3.667 = C→CO₂e) (buffers lower but non-zero).

5

Issue → Sell → settle

On verifier approval, EDMA issues removal tons for that vintage, lists/executes forwards or spot, and pays in stablecoins. Fees are 4% per sale—2% seller (at claim), 2% buyer (at settlement)—paid in EDM, with 50% of every fee burned on-chain. If a wallet lacks EDM, the action reverts cleanly. A $0.50/EDM denomination floor is used only to compute tokens owed; it is not a price peg. 

6

One-claim law, enforced.

Any instrument that could claim the same benefit must be retired/immobilized first and its IDs recorded on-chain. For biochar, energy co-products are accounted outside carbon and can monetize in energy routes—but never inside the carbon issuance here. Consumed GRO is locked and non-transferable. 

Outcome: monitor → verify → PoV gate → issue → sell → EDM settlement → 50% burn → immutable lineage (GRO consumed and locked). 

Market

Who buys.

Corporates with explicit removal targets building audit-proof portfolios. EDMA’s edge is GRO-anchored MRV, conservative math, and registry-anchored retirements.

Price reality

• Soils (practice-based): typically $10–$30/t for programs with strong sampling and QA.

• Biochar (durable removals): typically $80–$200+/t where QA and end-use proof are clean.

Worked scenarios

A) Soils — 2,000 ha, no-till + cover crops

Conservative accrual 0.50 tCO₂/ha/yr ⇒ Gross 1,000 t/yr.

Deductions 20% (baseline+uncertainty), buffer 20% ⇒ multiplier 0.64 ⇒ Saleable 640 t/yr.

At $20/t ⇒ $12,800 gross / $12,544 net after 2% seller fee in EDM.

B) Biochar — 1,000 t/yr at 80% C

Gross CO₂e = 1,000 × 0.80 × 3.667 = 2,934 t.

Uncertainty 10%, buffer 5% ⇒ multiplier 0.855 ⇒ Saleable ≈ 2,508 t/yr.

At $120/t ⇒ $301,000 gross / $294,980 net after 2% seller fee in EDM.

EDM footing: the Admission Prefund is min(max(0.02 × projected 3-month gross, $20), $1,000) so claims never stall; the app shows a fuel gauge.

Integrity by design (why buyers accept your tons)

• Ex-post only. no hypotheticals. Issuance follows monitoring + verifier sign-off.

• GRO = audit spine. Every core, lab result, reactor run, and end-use record is time-synced and geo-anchored; GRO is consumed at issuance.

• Conservative math Baselines/leakage documented; uncertainty and permanence buffers published in advance (soils higher, biochar lower).

• No double counting. Overlaps must retire first; energy co-products kept out of carbon; registry-anchored retirements with on-chain references.

What you actually do (week 1 → first issuance)

• Day 1: KYC + whitelist payout wallet; additionality gate (fast yes/no) for your chosen lane.

• Connect data: oils → strata, depths, labs, cadence; biochar → feedstock, reactor, assays, CoC, end-use. GRO mints per event/batch as evidence lands.

• Admission prefund (EDM): buy a small buffer ($20–$40 typical); if short at claim, the tx reverts (no auto-swaps).

• Then: verify → issue → sell → claim. Cadence is typically annual early, semi-annual once the site stabilizes.

Fees & settlement (same canon as other routes)

EDM is gas and fee. 4% total per sale (2% seller at claim; 2% buyer at settlement), 50% of all fees burn, and the $0.50/EDM figure is a fee-denomination floor, not a market peg. If a wallet is short, the transaction reverts; we never auto-swap your payouts.

Bottom line

Route 8 makes soils and biochar finance-grade: GRO-anchored evidence, conservative accounting, one-claim enforced in code, and EDM-settled payouts that burn on-chain. Buyers get tons they can defend; you get cash you can plan on.