Project description
Assessing reliable soil organic carbon accumulation for carbon farming
Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays a crucial role in regulating ecosystem services, particularly in terms of managing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to mitigate climate change. The EU-funded MRV4SOC project aims to develop an inclusive, robust, transparent, and cost-effective approach to assess GHG emissions, estimate full carbon budgets, measure the accumulation of SOC, and evaluate the outcomes of conventional management practices and carbon farming. The project’s primary objective is to monitor changes in SOC accumulation within the context of both climate change and socio-economic pressures. Additionally, it seeks to standardise monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) schemes for the EU land sector. Ultimately, the project aims to establish a methodological MRV framework that increases the faith of stakeholders in voluntary carbon markets.
Objective
MRV4SOC aims at designing a comprehensive, robust, and cost-effective Tier 3 approach, accounting for changes in as many C pools as possible, to estimate GHG and full C budgets, coupling C and N cycles, quantify Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) accumulation, and assess the results of traditional management practices and C farming. The main challenges addressed in MRV4SOC are: i) monitoring changes in SOC accumulation due to climate change and socio-economic pressures; ii) accounting for C and N cycles in full C budgets; iii) development of scientifically-sound, standard, and transparent Tier 3 methodology at different scales, iv) implementation of high-quality in-situ and RS data for testing methods and scale-up purposes; iv) standardisation of Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification schemes to ensure transparency, robustness, and cost-effectiveness; and v) a lack of trust in Voluntary Carbon Markets. To overcome these challenges, MRV4SOC will develop 6 specific objectives, which will be measurable, verifiable, and monitored through KPIs pointing at specific targets. MRV4SOC proposes a comprehensive 3-year work plan that ranges from the assessment of C pools in 9 land use/ land cover classes located in 14 Demonstration Sites (DS); to the potential integration of the approach. MRV4SOC aims at designing a comprehensive and robust Tier 3 approach accounting for changes in as many C pools as possible (above-ground biomass, below ground-biomass, litter, dead wood, soil organic carbon, and harvested wood products) fully aligned with national GHG reporting. MRV4SOC seeks to develop solutions applicable for different spatio- temporal scales and climate change scenarios and validated for a wide variety of ecosystems in arid, temperate, and continental climate zones in collaboration with local stakeholders. The proposed approach will help establish reliable and transparent C farming credits within a cost-effective monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) methodological framework.
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata science
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologylandscape ecology
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturesustainable agriculture
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwaresoftware development
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencemachine learning
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
28760 Tres Cantos
Spain
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Participants (20)
1348 Louvain La Neuve
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546 36 THESSALONIKI
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69978 Tel Aviv
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165 00 Praha
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6708 PB Wageningen
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00184 Roma
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Legal entity other than a subcontractor which is affiliated or legally linked to a participant. The entity carries out work under the conditions laid down in the Grant Agreement, supplies goods or provides services for the action, but did not sign the Grant Agreement. A third party abides by the rules applicable to its related participant under the Grant Agreement with regard to eligibility of costs and control of expenditure.
20124 Milano
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2000 Antwerpen
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51147 Koln
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75794 Paris
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28006 Madrid
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26900 Lodi
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1360 Perwez
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
41092 Sevilla
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
00196 Roma
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
36310 Vigo Pontevedra
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1430 Aas
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4000 Liege
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14473 POTSDAM
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17489 Greifswald
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