Newsletter

Good report but it seems to have an overlap with FG3.1 (at least in its title). It may be better to include "LTM" and "Living Labs" in the title. Maybe there shoudl be a separation between Public Data and research / private data. Discussion and recommendations seem sound. Multiple datasets for different purposes are mentioned – the NRR is an example of the need to coordinate and harmonise definitions (e.g. DGENV has proposed a different definition for landscape features to that which has been used by DGAGRI for the past 20 years. There is scope for the EU Q4 simplification of rural legislation to harmonise requirements across a range of legislations and initiatives - not just the CAP (e.g. the Farm Sustainability Data Network does not currently use existing CAP or FSS data .. it should).

Dear Credible team, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Credible 2025 consultation. Our feedback reflects hands-on implementation across markets and aims to inform how digital infrastructure can accelerate traceable, cost-effective carbon farming aligned with the CRCF. The following feedback is based on our work designing digital infrastructure for credit-level traceability, automated sustainability reporting, and integration with emerging standards. In the attached letter, we provide reflections and recommendations in response to the following five expert reports:

1. Barriers and incentives for sharing input data needed in carbon farming and MRV systems in Europe; 2.Earth Observation (EO) for MRV of Carbon Farming; 3. Unlocking data for MRV: Data sharing for effective carbon farming; Ensuring carbon farming delivers sustainability benefits and 5. An effective policy mix for scaling up carbon farming We share our input based on practical implementation experience and with the aim of supporting the development of effective, transparent, and farmer-accessible carbon farming and MRV systems across Europe. Our experience building MRV infrastructure aligns closely with the data architecture envisioned under the EU Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF). In this submission, we provide actionable suggestions to support CRCF-compatible implementation, especially as it relates to credit traceability, automated disclosures, and co-benefit accounting.

You want to encourage data sharing by “private actors” (read : private companies) but at the same time you are reluctant to cooperate with them given that they might “misuse” (sic) research data. In my view, data sharing should be two part ; (i) between farmers & consultants (private actors) – proprietary in sort, and (ii) opensource. The latter is presently ensured by a slew of existing publicly funded efforts such as Esdac (soil), Cordex (climate) and many others. LTM & LTE (long term experiments) are great but few. The LTE cropping schedules are also very different from site to site and barely comparable. The exception being the 0 N-fertilizer treatment, obviously. One way of getting around the proprietary aspect of farmer & “private actor” agronomic data is to develop self-learning AI-like algorithms than can do without. Polyor SAS (www.polyor.fr) is actively working on the subject. Time will tell.

I consider worth exploring public-partner partnerships with corporates that could finance data sharing infrastructure and systems, which could be used for Scope 3 reporting within the voluntary carbon market.

The mandatory step towards interoperability of data in this sector is to use international standards for dataoperability implemented as an open source solution. We have successfully demonstrated such a solution recently for EUDR in Honduras: https://cgspace.cgiar.org/items/c129b79f-0c26-48a5-8a74-d6fd3d03873e. The digital MRV was implemented open source using Asset Registry from AgStack and FAO-WHISP as deforestation monitoring tools, including key elements for interoperability, data ownership, and confidentiality. It could be a good example for a solution in the carbon farming field. As a standard, we could use the DIN SPEC 3609 recently released by Germany - including our work for secure digital MRV.