Lessons learned from existing carbon removal methodologies for agricultural soils to drive European Union policies

IF 4 2区 农林科学 Q2 SOIL SCIENCE
Irene Criscuoli, Andrea Martelli, Ilaria Falconi, Francesco Galioto, Maria Valentina Lasorella, Stefania Maurino, Avion Phillips, Guido Bonati, Giovanni Dara Guccione
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Abstract

Soil plays a central role in the global carbon (C) cycle and the fight against climate change as it contains the largest existing organic C stock on earth. Natural processes exacerbated by climate change and unsustainable agricultural soil management practices are contributing to the steady decrease in organic C stocks in farmland. Carbon farming practices, underpinned by various incentives, can be used to maintain and increase C stocks in agricultural soils. Carbon credit mechanisms, that is, tradable credits each corresponding to one tonne of CO2eq, are one such incentive. Carbon credits are issued upon the demonstration of increased soil C stocks over time through the application of C accounting methodologies for each agroecosystem and farming practice. This study presents a detailed and critical analysis of carbon credit methodologies, focusing on agricultural soil C in temperate zones, by comparing the European Commission proposal for a regulation on carbon removals with relevant certification frameworks implemented in extra-European Union industrialized countries (Australia, Alberta in Canada, United States). Based on this, we recommend strengthening the European Commission proposal by (i) expanding the list of eligible agricultural practices, (ii) setting a minimum maintenance time frame for each agricultural practice and incentivizing longer duration, (iii) setting the Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions of the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as a regulatory baseline, (iv) beyond the regulatory baseline, defining a farm level baseline in terms of carbon farming practices applied that can be monitored through the Integrated Administration and Control System of the CAP, (v) clarifying the interaction between the European Commission proposal of regulation and the CAP, the Soil Monitoring Law, and Land Use/Cover Area Frame Survey inventory, (vi) retaining a portion of unsold carbon credits as a buffer against the risk of reversal and (vii) applying a default discount to account for leakage risk if yield reductions are observed. We propose these recommendations to guarantee effective environmental protection, technical and bureaucratic feasibility as well as economic affordability for farmers.

从现有农业土壤碳清除方法中汲取经验教训,推动欧盟政策的制定
土壤在全球碳(C)循环和应对气候变化方面发挥着核心作用,因为它含有地球上最大的现有有机碳储量。气候变化和不可持续的农业土壤管理方法加剧了自然过程,导致农田中的有机碳储量持续减少。在各种激励措施的支持下,碳耕作方法可用于保持和增加农田土壤中的碳储量。碳信用机制,即每吨二氧化碳当量可交易的信用额度,就是这样一种激励机制。通过对每种农业生态系统和耕作方式采用碳核算方法,如果证明土壤中的碳储量随着时间的推移有所增加,就会发放碳信用额。本研究通过比较欧盟委员会碳清除法规提案与欧盟外工业化国家(澳大利亚、加拿大艾伯塔省、美国)实施的相关认证框架,对碳信用方法进行了详细的批判性分析,重点关注温带农业土壤碳。在此基础上,我们建议通过以下方式加强欧盟委员会的提案:(i) 扩大符合条件的农业实践清单;(ii) 为每种农业实践设定最低维持时间框架,并鼓励延长维持时间;(iii) 将欧洲共同农业政策(CAP)的良好农业和环境条件设定为监管基线;(iv) 超出监管基线、(v) 明确欧盟委员会的监管建议与 CAP、《土壤监测法》和《土地利用/覆盖面积框架调查》清单之间的相互关系,(vi) 保留部分未售出的碳信用额度,作为应对逆转风险的缓冲,(vii) 采用默认折扣,以在观察到减产的情况下考虑泄漏风险。我们提出这些建议是为了保证有效的环境保护、技术和官僚可行性以及农民的经济承受能力。
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来源期刊
European Journal of Soil Science
European Journal of Soil Science 农林科学-土壤科学
CiteScore
8.20
自引率
4.80%
发文量
117
审稿时长
5 months
期刊介绍: The EJSS is an international journal that publishes outstanding papers in soil science that advance the theoretical and mechanistic understanding of physical, chemical and biological processes and their interactions in soils acting from molecular to continental scales in natural and managed environments.
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