Farm Gai Kaisa 159 in Grootfontein, Namibia, has received a Sylvera Rating of A, one of the highest recognitions awarded to carbon removal projects worldwide.
The rating, announced on 1 September 2025, affirms the project’s credibility, operational resilience, and contribution to climate mitigation and community development.
Sylvera evaluates projects on carbon reductions, additionality, permanence, and co-benefits to verify that their climate impact claims are accurate.
“We are happy to share that the Farm Gai Kaisa 159 Biochar Project in Namibia has been assigned a Sylvera Rating of A as of 1/9/2025. This recognition is a huge milestone in our journey of demonstrating that high-integrity biochar carbon removal in the Tropic is not only possible, but already happening at scale,” Planboo, which partners on the project, said.
Carbon Capital (Pty) Ltd Director, Colin Malan Lindeque, said the recognition enhances the project’s credibility in the carbon market.
“It just goes to show. As a third party rating agency gives the project more validity and more credibility. So I think those are important signals for the market to effectively show the market that we are producing very high quality carbon credit,” he said.
Lindeque stressed that integrity is central to carbon credit trading.
“In the carbon credit market, integrity is one of the most important factors and quality metrics for every project that goes a long way. So hopefully the rating will lead to more sales and give our current buyers some peace of mind that they are supporting a high integrity carbon project,” he said.
The project tackles the spread of invasive Acacia bush across Namibia’s savannah by converting it into biochar and applying it to soils. This process sequesters carbon, restores degraded ecosystems, and improves grazing land for livestock and wildlife.
Farm Gai Kaisa 159 is one of Africa’s largest Puro.earth biochar carbon removal projects. The site has been operational since June 2022.
It currently harvests biomass from 35,000 hectares and applies biochar to 300 hectares annually. The project has broader potential across 45 million hectares of bush-encroached land containing an estimated 1.6 billion tonnes of biomass.
“Through combining nature’s solution and our technology, we remove carbon from the atmosphere at scale. Your climate action makes this possible,” Planboo said.
