Used by NASA (U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in robots to explore soil information on Mars, the LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) technique has just received another international recognition, with a direct impact on Brazilian farmers. Embrapa Instrumentation and the company Agrorobótica (both located in São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil), which have maintained a technical cooperation agreement for the use of technology in the assessment of tropical soils since 2016, took part in a public consultation with Verra – a world reference in carbon credits certification –, which made a review throughout the certification methodology. Four emerging technologies were approved by the certifier, which guarantees the origin of carbon credits in the voluntary market, through a global registration platform that takes custody of the credits. Verra has created the Voluntary Carbon Standards (VCS), which are a global reference in generating verifiable carbon units with a high quality standard. Measurement, Reporting and Verification "From a scientific point of view, choosing the LIBS technique, with inelastic neutron scattering (INS), mid-infrared spectrometers (MIR) and visible near infrared spectroscopy (VIS-NIR), endorses the study we have been developing for almost two decades. This study resulted, in 2018, in the launch of the AGLIBS technology, during Agrishow, in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil", Débora Milori, researcher from Embrapa Instrumentation and coordinator of the National Laboratory of Agri-Photonics (Lanaf), explains. "This technological innovation allowed the large-scale measurement of soil carbon (C), texture (sand, silt and clay contents) and pH quickly, economically and precisely, without generating waste. In addition, international certification can also boost the adoption of technology in new projects in carbon, one of the huge corporate research themes", she adds. "Our goal is to solve one of the main problems for the elaboration of carbon credit projects in agriculture, which is the MRV (Measurement, Reporting and Verification) of the carbon stored in the soil, in an economically viable way", says Aida Magalhães, CTO of Agrorobótica, who was a postdoctoral scholar advised by Débora Milori at Embrapa. Billionaire market In order to meet the Brazilian agriculture's global demand for carbon credits, Agrorobótica launched, in 2022, the artificial intelligence platform AGLIBS, which allows carbon certification in agricultural areas through the quantification of soil organic carbon supplies that result from the implementation of management practices in the agricultural area. The platform also allows users to simultaneously assess soil fertility and provide sustainable agronomic recommendations with the aim of improving productivity and contributing to food security. "The generation and commercialization of carbon credits in internationally certified Brazilian agricultural areas should impact the country, both financially and environmentally", Débora Milori says. For Fábio Angelis, CEO of Agrorobótica, "the approval of LIBS in Verra opens an immediate opportunity for Brazilian farmers to access the global voluntary carbon credit market that in 2021 closed with an approximate value of US$ 2 billion”. "In addition, it opens the opportunity for Brazil to consolidate itself as the world's biggest carbon credit market by 2030, with an expected turnover of more than US$ 100 billion, with the assistance of Embrapa's technology in certifying this carbon market", Angelis concludes.