Carbon Farming

Making agriculture fit for 2030

Publication: Report
Citation: McDonald, Hugh et. al. 2021: Carbon farming. Making agriculture fit for 2030. Brussels: European Parliament.

As the source of 10% of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions and a major carbon sink, agriculture offers significant potential to mitigate climate change. This on-farm agricultural climate mitigation is referred to as carbon farming. On behalf of the European Parliament, Ecologic Institute with support from IEEP investigate the potential of carbon farming to mitigate emissions in the EU and how to effectively incentivise farmers to act. Ahead of two key EU Commission policy proposals in December 2021 (the 'Carbon Farming Initiative' and 'Carbon Removals Certification Mechanism'), this study summarises existing knowledge on carbon farming options, business models, challenges, and evaluates funding and policy opportunities to support its uptake. The report is available to download.

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Presentation:Panel discussion

Carbon farming refers to a range of agricultural techniques that increase the ability of the soil to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. This is crucial to achieving the European Green Deal goal of becoming CO₂-neutral by 2050. However, there are still many political and technical issues. Ecologic Institute's panel discussions included input on the report "Carbon farming. Making agriculture fit for 2030" and presented further thinking on carbon farming.

Carbon Farming

23 June 2022
Aaron Scheid

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Project

On behalf of the European Parliament, Ecologic Institute with support from IEEP investigate the potential of carbon farming to mitigate emissions in the EU and how to effectively increase carbon farming action. Ahead of two key EU Commission policy proposals in December 2021 (the 'Carbon Farming Initiative' and 'Carbon Removals Certification Mechanism'), the study summarises existing knowledge on carbon farming options, business models, and challenges. It also evaluates funding and policy opportunities to support its uptake.

Carbon Farming: Making agriculture fit for 2030

Study for the EU Parliament

Sep 2021 - Feb 2022

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Language: English
Authorship: Hugh McDonald

Dr. Ana Frelih-Larsen

Laurens Duin

Anna Lóránt (IEEP)

Sarah Pyndt Andersen (IEEP)

Giulia Costa (IEEP)

Harriet Bradley (IEEP)
Credits: Acknowledgments: the authors wish to thank Antonia RIEDEL, Benjamin GÖRLACH (Ecologic Institute) and Clunie KEENLEYSIDE, Gabrielle AUBERT, Nora HILLER (IEEP) for their help.
Funding: European Parliament (EP), International
Published by: European Parliament (EP), International
Year: 2021
Dimension: 65 pp.
ISBN: 978-92-846-8750-3 (print)

978-92-846-8751-0 (pdf)
DOI: 10.2861/78289 (print)

10.2861/099822 (pdf)
Project: Carbon Farming: Making agriculture fit for 2030
Project ID: 70301
Table of contents: Click to show full table of contents

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. INTRODUCTION
2. CARBON FARMING: OPTIONS AND MITIGATION POTENTIAL
2.1. Carbon farming options
2.1.1. Managing peatlands
2.1.2. Agroforestry
2.1.3. Maintain and enhance SOC on mineral soils
2.1.4. Livestock and manure management
2.1.5. Nutrient management on croplands and grasslands
2.2. Mitigation potential of carbon farming in the EU and key considerations
2.2.1. EU mitigation potential and sources of uncertainty
2.2.2. Distribution of carbon farming potential
2.3. Cross-cutting challenges for carbon farming
2.3.1. Monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV)
2.3.2. Permanence
2.3.3. Additionality
2.3.4. Co-benefits and risks of carbon farming
3. CARBON FARMING AS A BUSINESS MODEL
3.1. Models for carbon farming payments and mechanisms
3.1.1. Carbon farming payment types
3.1.2. Models for carbon farming mechanisms
3.2. Advantages and disadvantages of different carbon farming mechanism models
4. COSTS, FUNDING OPTIONS AND INCENTIVES
4.1. Carbon farming costs and barriers
4.1.1. Financial costs
4.1.2. Non-financial barriers to carbon farming uptake
4.2. Funding availability for carbon farming: public and private options
4.2.1. Private sources of finance for carbon farming - market-based and corporate supply chain mechanisms
4.2.2. Public sources of finance for carbon-farming
4.2.3. Contribution of EU research funding to carbon farming
4.3. Additional requirements for carbon farming uptake and effectiveness
5. CARBON FARMING AND ITS LINKS TO KEY EU POLICY AREAS
5.1. EU climate policy
5.1.1. Agriculture in the EU 2030 climate and energy policy framework
5.1.2. The Fit for 55 package
5.2. EU biodiversity policy
5.2.1. Legal obligations of Member States/regions for the conservation of farmland habitats and species under the EU Nature Directives
5.2.2. Implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Plan
5.3. EU Common Agricultural Policy
5.3.1. The new CAP delivery model for 2023-27
5.3.2. Member States’ choices on how to support carbon farming in their CSPs
5.3.3. Other CAP support for trans-national sharing of best practices and innovation in carbon farming
6. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
REFERENCES
Keywords: Agriculture

Climate

Source URL: https://www.ecologic.eu/18394