Payment for carbon farming: Towards an ambitious and pragmatic certification scheme

(EurActiv, 5 Jul 2022) The role of farmers and foresters contributing to carbon farming is crucial if Europe wants to reach the objective of climate neutrality. To encourage them, a robust certification system is essential, writes Adeline Favrel.

Adeline Favrel is project manager at I4CE, the Institute for Climate Economics. 

The European Commission will propose a ‘carbon certification’ by the end of the year as a first step towards remunerating farmers and foresters who contribute to carbon farming. This certification project raises debates and concerns.

For I4CE, the EU can respond and develop an ambitious certification by relying on the experience of the Member States in this field.

We need carbon certification to incentivise farmers and foresters to act

The European objective of carbon neutrality aims to balance greenhouse gas emissions and absorptions, by drastically reducing emissions on the one hand and increasing carbon sinks on the other.

Thus, it gives a decisive role to agriculture and forestry, which can capture carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the soil and biomass. But how can we encourage farmers and foresters to adopt practices that store more carbon, such as agroforestry? This can be achieved by paying them for the carbon removals, which is what the European Commission is planning.

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EurActiv, 5 Jul 2022: Payment for carbon farming: Towards an ambitious and pragmatic certification scheme