AGORO CARBON ALLIANCE AS
AGORO
We enable farmers to sequester carbon in their soils and simultaneously boost farm profitability through Farm Carbon Credits and certified climate-smart crops
ID: 062066444289-69
Lobbying Activity
Response to Carbon Removal Certification
2 May 2022
The Agoro Carbon Alliance supports the EU Commission's proposal to introduce a European Carbon Removal Certification. Implemented and leveraged appropriately, in combination with emissions reducing mechanisms, an outcome based and harmonised European certification for carbon removal, based on quality criteria, ensuring the highest environmental impact and thus also carbon market value, can act as a potent accelerator for the transition to carbon farming across more than just subsegments of the European farming sector. While a lot of debate has been focussed on the principles of carbon certifications schemes, Agoro would like to contribute its views on the certification design and implementation essentials, to facilitate the widest possible implementation/adoption, use of the certification and thus biggest impact on European farming and global climate. Please find Agoro's position paper enclosed.
Read full responseResponse to Restoring sustainable carbon cycles
6 Oct 2021
Public funding such as the CAP is a critical source of financing to drive the implementation of
conservation agriculture practices – the basis for agricultural carbon sequestration and emission
removal, and improved nitrogen use efficiency. Experience from current CAP grower financing schemes
have shown, however, that additional funding is necessary to accelerate wider penetration. So is also
the provision of adequate agronomical training and continuous support for growers throughout their
transition period towards conservation practices.
The complement of funding, grower risk management and agronomical transition advice from the
private carbon markets to the existing and future CAP subsidies will help to scale up and accelerate the
adoption of sustainable agricultural practices. Therefore any policy or carbon funding scheme should
explicitly allow and facilitate the combined use of funding from quality based voluntary carbon schemes,
projects developed under any EU carbon scheme and the CAP for the implementation of actions by the
farmers.
For the EU to harness market forces to achieve the greening of agriculture and maximize the role of
agricultural lands as carbon sinks, the following is proposed:
- Development of well-defined and clear additionality concepts and criteria for project
development under the EU carbon farming initiative based on two tests: barrier and
common practice tests.
- A clear EU Commission communication on the definition of “common practice” of more
than 50% adoption rate for the specific carbon conservation practice or set of
agricultural practices. This would significantly help carbon scheme
operators to accelerate European agricultural decarbonization under the existing quality
carbon certification standards – while awaiting the European one.
- Set up a framework for the flexible implementation of the various technology and
modelling approaches for the determination of soil organic carbon in the soils,
accepting (but compensating) reduced requirements to models’ accuracy in comparison
to the existing international carbon standards.
- Establish credit buffers for permanence based on fixed criteria, which are easier to scale
and implement than flexible ones.
- Establishment of MRV and Additionality technical working groups – to which the Agoro
Carbon Alliance actively can, and would like to, contribute its expertise as agricultural
quality carbon credit developer and European market actor
A deeper analysis and developed technical recommendation background from the Agoro Carbon Alliance can be found in the position paper uploaded together with this summary.
Read full response