Research project Carbon Farming Monitoring and Registry
General introduction
By sequestering carbon in soil and woody vegetation on and surrounding agricultural fields, farmers contribute to climate change mitigation. Many of the measures that sequester carbon also lead to other benefits such as increased biodiversity and water storage capacity. Many private and public actors are interested to compensate farmers for these services. The term “carbon farming” is widely used to refer to the revenue model behind carbon accumulation. The European regulation for certifying “carbon removals and carbon farming” (CRCF), sets quality standards for monitoring, certifying and registering carbon removals and reduced soil emissions with the aim of avoiding double counting and greenwashing. Building on the MARVIC project, CAFAMORE supports the further development of this regulation by refining the monitoring of carbon removals and reduced emissions and making it more cost-efficient. CAFAMORE will also further elaborate the concept of standardised baselines and develop a prototype for an efficient data flow for monitoring, reporting and verification, the registration of the tradable carbon removal or emission reduction units and their final offer on the carbon market.
Research approach
Within CAFAMORE, ILVO will develop a Flemish pilot in which the monitoring of soil carbon stocks will be further refined and automated. To this end, we will link a soil carbon model to satellite data, calibrate and validate a model for estimating biomass of cover crops and woody vegetation in agroforestry systems based on satellite data, and work on automated processes and tools to make the model and model output available to users. ILVO is leading a work package on different approaches for calculating standardised baselines and the consequences for individual farmers (eligibility/ ineligibility for certificates), climate and policy objectives. Furthermore, ILVO will co-lead the development of a central, spatially explicit registry that enables the secure and compliant exchange of carbon certificates and metadata. This registry will act as a reference implementation according to the evolving CRCF regulation and will be tested and evaluated within real-world carbon farming pilots. The system will provide the necessary compliance checks to avoid double issuance and double counting, which is essential for a safe and reliable market. ILVO is also contributing to the development of a prototype marketplace that will demonstrate how the central registery can serve as a foundation for a carbon farming market.
Relevance/Valorization
By improving and automating the monitoring of carbon stocks and establishing a prototype for registering and trading carbon removal and emission reduction units, CAFAMORE will contribute to a reliable and robust carbon market enabling the scale-up of carbon farming. The revenue model of carbon farming should ultimately lead to further sustainability of agriculture through valorisation of the efforts made by land managers.
Financing
EU Horizon Europe
