California Dairies Inc. (CDI), the largest dairy farmer-owned cooperative in California and second largest in the United States, invested in Athian, which purports to be the world's first carbon marketplace for the livestock sector.
DSM Venturing, the corporate venture arm of Royal DSM, a global, purpose-led company in Health, Nutrition & Bioscience, also invested in Athian.
Athian provides livestock producers with economic incentives for on-farm sustainability practices, while helping improve global food system sustainability and reducing climate warming. "CDI's membership has been leading the way in sustainable dairy farming investments, and we continue to move as fast as technology and on-farm economics allow," said Simon Vander Woude, chairman of the board at CDI. "This is an opportunity to showcase that hard work while doubling down to drive innovation and further improve our environmental footprint, ensuring that our farms produce some of the most sustainable milk in the world, across all the various pillars of sustainability."
"We are excited by CDI and DSM Venturing's enthusiasm for our innovative carbon marketplace platform. The groundswell of support has been tremendous" said Paul Myer, CEO of Athian. "This announcement not only expedites our reach into international markets but also accelerates practical environmental solutions that give farmers new revenue streams and helps companies deliver on their sustainability commitments throughout the value chain."
Athian's carbon credit insetting platform will enable livestock farmers who implement sustainable practices the ability to earn revenue to fund those initiatives. Athian's key mission is to help the beef and dairy value chains capture and claim carbon credits earned through sustainability efforts. Athian aggregates, validates, and certifies, greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, and monetizes those reductions through the sale of carbon credits which offer value to the supply chain as important carbon assets related to Scope 3 emissions.
