MRV4SOC project
Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Soil Organic Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Balance
This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 101112754. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or REA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
MRV4SOC is a project co-funded by the European Union with a clear objective: to monitor Carbon farming through its three-pillar method of standardization, reporting and verification.
MRV4SOC aims to account for changes in as many Carbon pools as possible, estimate Green House Gases (GHG) and full Carbon budgets, couple Carbon and Nitrogen cycles, quantify Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) accumulation, and assess the results of traditional management practices and Carbon farming.
Project’s Challenges
MRV4SOC faces important challenges:
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The first one is the monitoring of SOC accumulation changes triggered by climate change and socio-economic pressures. High-quality in-situ and remote sensing data collection is crucial for an effective testing.
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The second challenge is to develop a solid scientific methodology valid at different geographical scale. At the same time, MRV4SOC will guarantee that its monitoring reporting, and verification schemes are transparent, robust, and cost-effective.
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The third challenge faced by MRV4SOC is to increase people’s trust in the Voluntary Carbon Market, a method to reduce and regulate the GHG emissions.
Project’s Objectives
MRV4SOC has 6 objectives:
- Measure long-term soil organic carbon accumulation in 9 EU representative land use/land cover classes.
- Assess how carbon farming practices drive carbon flux dynamics in the 9 classes.
- Evaluate the impact of climate change on soil organic carbon accumulation.
- Develop a robust, transparent, standard, and cost-effective monitoring, reporting, and verification system to facilitate results-based payments associated with farming practices.
- Identify revenue opportunities to unlock results-based payments.
- Increase stakeholders’ confidence in voluntary carbon markets.
