Groundwork BioAg has secured a 'BBB' carbon rating from BeZero for Rootella Carbon®, its mycorrhizal inoculant program, with an estimated 245,000 tCO2e of credits set for issuance in the Q1 2027 verification cycle. The company forecasts 500,000 tCO2e by Q4 2027.

The rating places the soil carbon program at a level that BeZero's scale defines as investment grade territory for carbon removal buyers. Groundwork BioAg positions the score as a signal for purchasers applying strict due diligence standards to carbon dioxide removal.

"For years, the question about soil carbon wasn't whether it worked. It was whether anyone could prove it. Our growers' carbon has been measured in the field, independently verified, and now rated by BeZero at the level buyers actually commit to. BBB is where buyers sign," said Shawn Gagné, Chief Carbon Commercial Officer at Groundwork BioAg.

What does the rating follow?

The BeZero assessment arrives months after the company issued the first verified credits from Rootella Carbon®. SCS Global verified those credits independently under Verra's Verified Carbon Standard.

The June 2026 issuance totaled 19,568 tCO2e. The jump to an estimated 245,000 tCO2e in Q1 2027 represents a twelvefold increase in a single verification cycle, according to company figures.

How does the program measure carbon?

Rootella Carbon® rests on mycorrhizal inoculants applied to farmland. The approach sequesters 1.5–3.5 tCO2e per acre, or 4–9 tCO2e per hectare, annually, the company states.

The program passed review on three factors BeZero weighs in its evaluations:

• Carbon accounting based on measure-and-remeasure protocols rather than modeling
• Additionality
• Permanence, or durability, of the stored carbon

The measurement regime is dense. The 2023 cohort included 593 sampling points under comprehensive control plot planning, with physical soil sampling to a depth of 30 cm. The program applies conservative crediting, taking a 26.43% uncertainty deduction in the first monitoring period.

Why does durability matter here?

Mycorrhizae fungi catalyze the formation of mineral-associated organic matter, or MAOM. That soil carbon pool can persist for centuries to millennia, which addresses the permanence question that has dogged soil carbon methodologies in voluntary markets.

Reversal risk carries a financial structure as well. Up to 70% of net project proceeds go directly to the enrolled grower pool, aligning grower incentives with long-term soil management, according to Groundwork BioAg.

What drives scale?

Current adoption rates for biological soil inputs remain low. Groundwork BioAg argues that mycorrhizal carbon removal becomes highly scalable once carbon financing closes the pricing gap for farmers.

The program supports growers in implementing mycorrhizae on suitable land, building soil carbon and accessing the voluntary carbon market through credit sales.

Groundwork BioAg operates globally and has partnered with Syngenta to market mycorrhiza-based soil solutions, extending distribution reach for the inoculants that underpin the credit program.

What happens next?

The Q1 2027 verification cycle is the near-term milestone. Reaching the estimated 245,000 tCO2e issuance, and then the forecast 500,000 tCO2e by Q4 2027, will test whether the BeZero rating converts into buyer commitments at the volumes the company projects.