How to identify and promote best carbon farming practices.
There are many land uses, edaphic properties and climatic conditions. Determining the right set of practices in each context and estimating its carbon sequestration potential is challenging. This document explores the barriers and opportunitiesfor developing a common approach to compare the impact of carbon farming activities and to present the information in a format that land managers can understand.
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Supporting positive synergies between carbon farming, food production and biodiversity.
It has been speculated that carbon farming could cause production losses of more than 20%, which might put food security in the EU at stake. The work of this focus group suggests that this idea, however, is underpinned on misinterpretations. Similarly, most agricultural systems capable of increasing soil carbon capture and storage have generally positive synergies with biodiversity. This report summarises key elements that should be considered when addressing the issue.
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Developing fit-for-region carbon farming approaches.
The integration of carbon farming in productive agriculture and forestry requires regional and site-specific adaptation and supportive structures (including advisory services, monitoring tools, value chain integrations etc.). The development of regional schemes, recognised under the EU framework, could represent the best option for taking into account local specificities. This document summarises the expert conversation on how such an approach could be operationalised.
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Minimum requirements to ensure carbon delivers sustainability benefits.
The reduction of carbon markets to the commercialisation of carbon dioxide removals carries the risk of reducing the value of agro-ecosystems while neglecting or even damaging other ecosystem services, which needs to be avoided. To align with the following hypothesis, the CRCF regulation stresses that removals must also generate co-benefits. A number of options to ensure sustainability outcomes are presented in this document.
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The issue of scale for the carbon certification framework.
A centralised European CRCF can provide greater clarity for funders, reduce transaction costs and ensure the same level of requirements for everyone. Conversely, a decentralised approach can be better tailored to local circumstances and easier to use for local operators. This document summarises the expert recommendation on how to best deal with the issue of scale for the certification framework.
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An effective policy mix for scaling up carbon farming.
The large-scale uptake of carbon farming in the EU will require significant changes in practices and investment by land managers, which must be supported by a conducive policy environment and appropriate economic signals. It is unlikely that private sector investment alone can support the required transition. This document presents the key elements that should be taken into consideration for safeguarding market integrity and building a conductive policy landscape
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How to harmonise public and private datasets for mapping and monitoring soil carbon dynamics.
In order to have a coherent carbon Monitoring Reporting and Verification system which could apply at different scales, there is the need for standardisation and harmonisation procedures. Insights from several international research projects and other initiatives, both at national and international scale, are ongoing on the topic (e.g. JRC-EUSO, EJPSOIL, ICOS, eLTER, EUROSOLAN, SOILWISE, BONARES etc.) and have been consulted to generate these key messages.
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Proximal sensing and digitalisation for carbon farming.
The successful implementation of the monitoring component of MRV presents a major challenge in terms of balancing accuracy with cost-effectiveness. Emerging proximal sensing and digital methods have been proposed as potential solutions to this challenge. However, we highlight here several concerns and open questions that need to be answered before proximal sensing and digitalisation can be integrated in EU-wide MRV systems.
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Earth observation for the monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon farming.
Satellite-derived data and services show promise in mapping and evaluating carbon farming but require further research and development, testing, and validation along with in-situ and ground truth data, in line with user needs. This report highlights the barriers and opportunities for the widespread implementation of earth observation application in deploying robust carbon farming projects in the EU.
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How long-term monitoring sites could support robust MRV systems.
This document consolidates experiences from various networks in managing long-term monitoring sites (LTMs) that effectively support regional carbon schemes. This report focuses on three major aspects: 1) the potential role of LTMs in MRV development and harmonisation, 2) identifying the major challenges and barriers to effective use of LTMs data, and 3) the potential solutions and recommendations.