Initial approach to monitoring reporting and verification (MRV) of agroforestry carbon farming in the EU Policy Briefing #20 (v4)

Policy Briefing #20 (v4) is much shortened from version 3 (17.9.24) and responds to the draft carbon farming MRV methodologies made available in April/May 2025 to members of the Carbon Removals Expert Group.  These outline proposed methodologies to monitor practices involving: a) agriculture and agroforestry on mineral soils, b) tree planting and c) rewetting of peatlands.

EURAF is in broad agreement with the proposals apart from the pressing need to reword the “tree planting” methodology as “afforestation, reforestation and settlement tree planting”. This will avoid confusion with the tree planting in agroforestry systems. 

This Briefing provides comment on definitions, scope, baselines, additionality, sustainability, monitoring tools, permanence, parcel geolocation datasets and a typology of agroforestry.  

It also suggests a “standard” typology of 30 carbon farming practices, based on LULUCF land use categories, with an additional section for animal husbandry.  

It is important that CRCF methodologies match those used by Member States in their annual reporting of greenhouse gas emissions to the UNFCCC, and use the most accurate parcel-based reporting possible.   The Commission is therefore asked to urge  Member States to meet their commitments to provide open access to anonymised IACS geospatial information on agricultural parcels and land use, and in particular to comply with the open API requirements of the High Values Dataset Implementing Regulation (2023).  Member States should also move their GHG reporting to true “wall to wall” identification of both agricultural and forestry parcels: facilitating future exchange of information between LULUCF and CRCF carbon farming reporting.

Backround and justification for the “Standard List of Carbon Farming Practices” is provided here as Annex 1.