It's not only about carbon: the importance of a holistic approach and co-benefits

As many of the keynote speakers highlighted in the first European Carbon Farming Summit held in Valencia in March 2024, carbon farming is not only about carbon; rather, carbon farming should be seen as a mechanism to provide incentives for land managers to kick start in Europe a transition towards farming systems that better support a variety of ecosystem services.

Carbon farming should emerge as a tool to catalyse the transformation of land management systems towards integrated production models that deliver climate, environmental and social benefits.

In this sense, Giulia Stellari (Director at Fall Line Capital) maintained that it is important to identify and scale the practices which provide multiple benefits. Similarly, Christian Holzleitner (Head of Unit for Land Economy and Carbon Removals at DG Clima) observed that it is crucial to avoid a tunnel vision on carbon, and instead privilege land management approaches that are win-win solutions for climate, biodiversity and farmers, fostering mitigation and adaptation to climate change. In this context, carbon farming must be evaluated within the framework of environmental services, including soil health, biodiversity, the rural cultural heritage, the water cycle and food production. Building-up soil organic carbon can reduce losses due to droughts as well as unhealthy soil microbiomes, thus reducing yield fluctuation over time and reinforcing eco- nomic resilience and global farm profitability.

In turn, Commonland founder Willem Ferwerda argued that carbon farming is not a panacea for achieving climate neutrality; it is a core component of the wider regeneration of landscapes and the transfor- mation of land management, but this can only happen if the benefits for farmers, communities, and ecology are prioritised. According to Ferwerda, regenerative carbon farming must act as a tool to reverse landscape degradation through a long-term holistic restoration approach that addresses landscapes’ social, ecological, and economic aspects and ensures their sustainability and resilience for the future.

One of the key challenges in the promotion of soil carbon removals is that different land uses, soil properties and climatic conditions make it difficult to identify practices that work well in all contexts. Instead, focusing on farming system change, rather than individual practices, might simplify this challenge and generate higher carbon sequestration rates. To achieve this goal, the messages presented to farmers need to be clear to avoid confu- sion, while encompassing a comprehensive approach. As summarised by Stellari in her presentation, the ultimate benefit of increa- sing carbon in the soil should be to foster soil fertility and farming system resilience.

According to Policy Officer Valeria Forlin (European Commission), one of the reasons why farmers show resistance in taking up carbon farming is that they lack advisory services, underscoring the need for affordable and qualified support. Robust methodologies are needed, yet allowing the flexibility required to adapt the driving principles to the specific local conditions – practices should be tailored at the local scale and responding to specific needs, building up the future with farmers and not for them.

As captured by Stellari in her concluding speech, from a farm perspective, a significant driver for carbon farming is assessing the return on investment of the co-benefits, particularly in relation to the productivity of the farm. Consequently, there is a need to understand the trade-offs between the biologi- cal utility of soil organic matter to the farmer and the long-term need of storage in the soil. Specific indicators are needed, and they must have a demonstrable scientific basis and be defined in a measurable and quantifiable way.

Ferwerda also highlighted the challenges of uniting people towards a holistic landscape restoration approach and in building trust among stakeholders and local communities. From his perspective, the focus should not be only on returns on investment, but on restoring ecological functionality. Carbon finance, such as carbon credits, should therefore be seen as complementary financing within the broader goal of accelerating Europe's landscape resto- ration and ecological functionality, and should be harnessed to that effect. Overall, ambitious aspirations are needed for funnelling climate finance toward projects that restore rural hope and foster thriving communities capable of stewardshipping flourishing ecosystems.

Download the magazine Voices from the First European Carbon Farming Summit prepared by Project Credible’s coordinator SAE INNOVA to learn more about the outcomes of the Summit or read the following articles: