The Athian Process, Explained

Athian’s platform funds on-farm sustainability through a five-step process known as the Athian Verified Sustainability Asset (AVSA) Lifecycle. Through this process, we benchmark, verify and monetize GHG reductions on-farm with a goal of ensuring that animal agriculture producers benefit from their sustainability efforts.

While carbon marketplaces are inherently complex, we provide intuitive requirements and a user-friendly platform that simplifies participation in the carbon marketplace for both producers and buyers alike.

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Step 1: Implement

The first step in our process involves livestock producers implementing sustainable practices on their farm or ranch.

Athian houses a library of approved on-farm solutions – or protocols – eligible for adoption within the Athian platform. Before they are deemed eligible for producer use, protocols must be rigorously reviewed by our Scientific Advisory Board and third-party auditors to ensure they are credible and in compliance with ISO Standards.

Producers use Athian’s platform to benchmark their operation’s emissions and assess the reduction potential of new practices or innovations outlined in a protocol, as well as the financial opportunity associated with implementing those practices.
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Step 2: Verify

Once a producer has implemented an approved practice on their farm or ranch, an independent Verification and Validation Body reviews the results to confirm there has been a quantified reduction in emissions on the operation. This step is essential for ensuring protocol compliance, data accuracy and precision. Our digital platform helps streamline this analysis while maintaining the highest compliance standards.
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Step 3: Certify

After verification, comes certification. During this step, Athian ensures the reported emissions reduction meets all requirements of our governance program. If requirements are met, we certify an Athian Verified Sustainability Asset (AVSA) – also known as credits.
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Step 4: Register

Next, certified Athian Verified Sustainability Assets (AVSAs) are registered in the Athian platform emissions ledger. The registry tracks the originator of the claim – the producer – and the ultimate purchasers of the claims within a specific value chain. The registration step is essential for supply chain traceability and helps ensure no inappropriate double counting of credits.

Our credit accounting ledger prohibits double issuance of claims, double-claiming of insets for the same emissions mitigation activity and boundary overlap between mitigation activities if those boundaries haven’t already been established in the protocol.  
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Step 5: Marketplace

The final step in the AVSA lifecycle is the Athian Marketplace. The marketplace enables livestock producers to sell their credits within the value chain. When an AVSA credit is purchased, 75% of the purchase price is allocated back to the producer who generated the credit on their farm or ranch, and the remaining 25% is collected by Athian to fund third party verification, as well as the operation and maintenance of the platform.

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Are you a food company interested in purchasing AVSA credits to help achieve your sustainability goals? A livestock producer who wants to learn more about how to monetize your sustainability efforts on-farm? Contact us to learn more about the Athian platform and opportunities for your business.

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