MRV4SOC

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.

MRV4SOC aims at designing a comprehensive Tier 3 approach, accounting for changes in as many C pools as possible, to estimate GHG and 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; ii) accounting for C and N cycles in full C budgets; iii) development of scientifically sound, standard, and transparent Tier 3 methodology; iv) implementation of high-quality in-situ and RS data; iv) standardisation of Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification schemes; and v) a lack of trust in Voluntary Carbon Markets. 

To overcome these challenges, MRV4SOC will develop six specific objectives, which will be measurable, verifiable, and monitored through KPIs pointing at particular 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 to different spatiotemporal scales and climate change scenarios and validated for various 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.