Farmers Get $53M to Fight Climate Change with Biodigesters

Small farmers around the world just got a powerful new tool in the fight against climate change, and they're getting paid upfront to use it.

Sistema.bio launched FarmCarbon in May 2026 with $53 million in funding from major investors including BNP Paribas Asset Management, British International Investment, and Shell Foundation. The platform will help finance over 90,000 biodigesters on farms across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Biodigesters sound complicated, but the idea is beautifully simple. They capture methane from livestock manure and convert it into biogas that farmers can use for cooking, heating, and electricity. The process also creates organic fertilizer, reducing the need for expensive chemical alternatives.

The climate impact is massive. These 90,000 biodigesters are expected to prevent more than 9 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent emissions. That's critical because methane causes nearly 30 percent of global warming, and livestock alone contributes around 10 percent of global emissions.

Here's where FarmCarbon breaks the mold. Traditional carbon finance makes farmers wait years to receive payment for their emissions reductions. FarmCarbon flips that model by paying farmers the value of their future carbon credits upfront, giving them immediate cash to invest in their farms and families.

Alexander Eaton, CEO of Sistema.bio, has spent 15 years working directly with smallholder farmers. "FarmCarbon takes this proven solution and makes it accessible at an even larger scale, paying the economic benefits of carbon credits forward to farmers and empowering them to co-invest in energy, productivity, health and climate outcomes on their own farms," he explained.

The platform uses digital monitoring systems to ensure transparency and quality. FarmCarbon's first project already earned an AAe rating from BeZero Carbon and the Core Carbon Principles label, meeting high standards for carbon quality that institutional investors demand.

The Ripple Effect

The benefits extend far beyond emissions reduction. Farmers save money on energy costs and fertilizers while boosting their crop yields with organic alternatives. Families breathe cleaner air by replacing wood or coal fires with biogas for cooking. Rural communities gain economic resilience through new income streams.

Jonathan Dean from BNP Paribas Asset Management called it a demonstration of "how carbon markets can reach the level of high quality that institutional investors and stakeholders expect." Holger Rothenbusch from British International Investment emphasized their role in "strengthening resilience for communities most affected" by climate change.

The timing matters too. Agriculture has long been underfunded in climate finance despite its significant emissions footprint. FarmCarbon aims to mobilize over $1 billion in the next decade specifically for methane and CO₂ reduction in farming.

Sistema.bio has proven the technology works through years of on-the-ground experience, and now they're scaling a solution that helps both the planet and the people who feed it.