Eternal Group has expanded its 'Greening India' initiative to 19 districts, helping over 10,000 farmers adopt agro-forestry to earn carbon credits. The company plans to plant 2.5 million trees this fiscal year to offset its operational emissions while aiming to increase farmer income through fruit and timber yields.
Detailed Coverage
The Eternal Group is scaling its agro-forestry initiative, an effort designed to balance corporate carbon offsetting with rural income generation. By encouraging farmers to plant fruit and timber trees alongside their traditional seasonal crops, the company seeks to create a sustainable supply of carbon removal credits. The program is currently active in 19 districts across six states, including Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh.
Scaling the Agro-Forestry Model
The initiative has seen rapid growth since its inception, moving from approximately 6,981 participating farmers last year to over 10,000 registrations for the current period. The model operates by providing farmers with free inputs, such as saplings sourced from National Horticulture Board-certified nurseries. In exchange, the farmers grant the carbon rights associated with the CO2 sequestered by the trees to the Eternal Group. The group plans to distribute 2.5 million trees across 10,000 acres by the end of the fiscal year, a target designed to support its commitment to achieving net-zero emissions.
Impact on Farm Economics
For farmers, the appeal lies in the potential for diversified income. During the initial three to four years of tree growth, farmers can continue their existing crop cultivation without interruption. As the trees mature, the secondary income stream begins to materialize through fruit production, followed by the eventual sale of timber after 20 to 25 years. The company projects that this integrated model could increase participating farmers' income by 50% to 200% over the long term. To facilitate this, the company has established support structures, including a collection center in Tiruchirapalli to assist with logistics and market information.
Monitoring and Integrity
To ensure the reliability of its carbon credits, the Eternal Group employs a verification framework that includes land record checks, direct farmer KYC, and satellite imagery analysis. This is essential for maintaining the integrity of 'removal credits,' which differ from other forms of carbon offsets by actively extracting CO2 from the atmosphere. Because the program relies on long-term biological sequestration, the company intentionally selects native, long-living species for their carbon-absorbing capacity.
Investors may monitor the project's execution, particularly the survival rate of the saplings and the company's ability to maintain these verification standards as the scale increases. The financial impact of such sustainability initiatives typically flows into the company’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting, which is increasingly scrutinized by institutional investors and global stakeholders assessing the group's long-term sustainability strategy.