IMPT's carbon offset: one verified tonne on every booking
Before analysing what a farm credit could pay, it is worth being clear about what IMPT actually does today — because it is the demand-side that any credit needs.
How this connects to what IMPT already does
IMPT is a hotel-booking platform that funds one tonne of verified carbon offset on every booking, with access to more than eight million hotels and apartments across 195 countries. It runs a one-partner-per-territory model in which each partner earns a share of IMPT's booking margin and every booking carries that tonne of offset. In other words, IMPT already puts corporate and consumer money behind verified carbon — the same demand-side that an Irish Tillage Credit would need. An officially-backed domestic removal credit for tillage is a natural extension of that thinking: local, traceable and measured, rather than a distant offset of uncertain quality.
That is why IMPT takes the concept seriously and has set out the numbers honestly. Building the buyer side is the hard part, and it is the part IMPT understands from its own work in the Catalonia framework.
Why a hotel platform thinks about tillage
IMPT already channels corporate and consumer money into verified carbon on every transaction. The gap it sees is on the supply side: buyers increasingly want local, traceable removals rather than distant offsets of uncertain quality. An officially-backed Irish tillage credit — measured by Teagasc, certified against the EU CRCF, sold through Bord Bia — would be exactly that kind of credit. That is why IMPT has set out the economics honestly rather than overselling them.
The Catalonia precedent
Catalonia's regional government, through its Climate Change Office (OCCC), has run a government-backed voluntary “climate credit” system since 2015. It certifies credits from nature-based activity within the region — explicitly including agriculture and soil management — and sells them to companies meeting voluntary climate and corporate-responsibility commitments, with the funding directed into rural areas. IMPT has direct experience of that framework: a business connected to IMPT was certified into it in July 2026. The lesson worth passing on is not about the science, which is well established, but about the market: building corporate demand is the slow part, and it is the part an Irish scheme would have to plan for from the outset.
The economics, per hectare
The value of a credit per hectare is the sequestration rate multiplied by the carbon price. Both need to be stated honestly. Teagasc work indicates minimum tillage on its own sequesters roughly 0.3–0.7 tonnes of CO₂ per hectare per year; reaching the upper end, or beyond, requires the full package of cover crops, residue retention and reduced nitrogen. The 2.86 t/ha/yr figure quoted in some international meta-analyses derives from other climates and cropping systems and is not replicable in Irish conditions; it appears below only as a ceiling, not an expectation. Agricultural credits currently trade at roughly €45–68/t, with European regenerative-agriculture projects around €49–60/t and some EU agricultural land-management projects higher again; €50/t is used here as a mid-range working figure, not a fixed price.
| Carbon sequestered (t CO₂/ha/yr) | @ €40/t | @ €50/t | @ €60/t | @ €70/t | @ €80/t |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.3 — min-till, low end | €12 | €15 | €18 | €21 | €24 |
| 0.5 — realistic core | €20 | €25 | €30 | €35 | €40 |
| 0.7 — min-till, upper | €28 | €35 | €42 | €49 | €56 |
| 1.0 — full package | €40 | €50 | €60 | €70 | €80 |
| 1.5 — strong, fully stacked | €60 | €75 | €90 | €105 | €120 |
| 2.86 — international ceiling (not for Irish planning) | €114 | €143 | €172 | €200 | €229 |
A realistic planning figure is €25–40 per hectare per year for a genuine minimum-till and cover-crop system at a €50 price, with €60–120 achievable only where practice is strong, soils respond and the price holds. Over a five-year contract the realistic band is €150–300 per hectare, before savings.
Questions & answers
How does IMPT's carbon offset work?
IMPT is a hotel-booking platform that funds one tonne of verified carbon offset on every booking, with access to more than eight million hotels and apartments across 195 countries. The offset is included at no extra cost to the traveller.
Is the IMPT carbon offset the same as an Irish tillage credit?
No. The per-booking offset is a live part of IMPT's product today. The Irish tillage carbon credit is a separate, proposed concept that IMPT analyses but does not sell.