When Hajna talks about her work, two things come through quickly: she loves data, and she believes in frontrunners. As one of the people behind Oncra‘s (carbon credits certification platform, initiated by Climate Cleanup) Land Stored Carbon certification, she helps farmers, including food foresters and land stewards, quantify what their land is doing for the climate, and get rewarded for it.
Her path from seagrass to soil
Hajna’s path started with a high-school project on building a more sustainable world, ran through Future Planet Studies in Amsterdam, and a master’s at Wageningen with a thesis on seagrass, salt marshes and shellfish reefs. After that, she joined Climate Cleanup at the very start of Oncra. First to help with the Ocean Stored Carbon protocol, but as land project requests started to increase, she moved to this domain. Today she works mostly remotely from Hungary, where she partly grew up.
Built for small projects
Land Stored Carbon covers carbon stored in soil and biomass through nature-based projects: bamboo, miscanthus, paulownia, regenerative agriculture, food forests and so forth. Oncra’s land methodology — first sketched by Sven Jense and Bart van Beuzekom in a single Excel sheet — has grown with input from experts, and is now being extended to align with the EU’s new Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF).
What makes Oncra different is the threshold. No minimum hectares. A small fee (around €6 per ton) paid only when credits are sold. Affordable soil measurements. A methodology kept deliberately simple. “Other agencies are set up for large-scale projects, where more costs can be deducted and it’s more profitable for the certifier,” Hajna says. “We want small projects to be able to get certified too. Land is one of the biggest pieces of the climate puzzle, and smallholders steward a huge share of it. What they choose to do with it really matters.”
More than carbon
The biggest misconception? That land-stored carbon is permanent. It isn’t, and Oncra is open about that. “It’s temporary storage. But it’s still an important step, and honestly, the carbon part is only a piece of what’s happening.” Healthier soil, cleaner water, more biodiversity: arguably the bigger gains. Carbon quantification is what makes them financeable. And because Oncra’s Removers (project-operators) are frontrunners, their success pulls others along. That effect is definitely real.
“The Removers themselves are spread across the globe, incredibly knowledgeable and brave. They are true heroes, believing in something and taking risks. It’s a pleasure to work with these passionate pioneers.”
Food forests are her favourite: “the diversity is amazing, and there’s usually a whole network of people around them.”
The plan & what you can do to make it happen
Hajna’s hope for 2030: that projected storage actually lands in the ground, many more small projects get certified, and validation and credit sales become smoother for the projects that need it most.
“Everyone can join in this effort. You don’t need a farm. Tell people about Oncra. Start your own small project, no matter how modest. Visit a project nearby. Or buy carbon credits to back specific Removers directly.”
More about the Removers: visit the Oncra registry.