Project Credible opens public consultation on its report on “An effective policy mix for scaling up carbon farming”

The Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Regulation aims to generate a framework that delivers on environmental objectives while creating an attractive business model to pull private funds, in the hope of enabling a transition in the land sector. However, policy environments are complex ecosystems, and special attention must be placed to the potential interactions, synergies, and tensions between the different policies and frameworks. In this context, Project Credible has recently published the report “An effective policy mix for scaling up carbon farming”, authored by Mathieu Mal with the contribution of many experts on the field, which is available here and open for public consultation.

The report aims to address how the CRCF Regulation fits in with the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the Soil Monitoring Law (SML), and the Nature Restoration Law, and where public and private funding meet to support its uptake. Specifically, the overarching question was what the CRCF and these other policy elements can learn from each other and how they can, maximising synergies, lead to a conducive policy environment for robust carbon farming at scale that also tackles challenges across environment, climate, and society in a holistic manner.

While there is a consensus regarding the need for action and the importance of considerations such as permanence, environmental integrity, liability, additionality, and economic viability, it is unlikely for the CRCF to satisfy all these aspects without using the synergies with other policy instruments. Moreover, many questions still remain to be addressed.

Overall, the report provides guidance in this path, discussing issues such as suitable soil biodiversity indicators, balance between robustness and practical accessibility of certification schemes, leveraging already existing data, and compliance mechanisms, among others. Don’t miss the opportunity to participate in this public consultation, which is funded by the European Union and monitored closely by the Expert Group on Carbon Removals that supports the Commission in its efforts to develop the CRCF Certification Framework.