Earth Observation (EO) for Monitoring, Reporting, and Verifi cation (MRV) of Carbon Farming (CF) - Uncertainty and Benchmarking

The report explores the role of Earth Observation (EO) in enhancing Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems for carbon farming across the EU, highlighting its potential to support climate neutrality goals through scalable, cost-effective, and data-driven approaches. EO technologies—such as satellite imagery, LiDAR, SAR—offer valuable insights into land use, vegetation, and biomass, but must be combined with ground-truth data and models to estimate soil organic carbon (SOC) accurately. The document stresses the importance of data integration, methodological harmonization, and managing uncertainties in carbon stock estimates, particularly when using models for certification and market mechanisms. It proposes the development of an EU-wide benchmarking platform to validate and compare MRV methodologies across diverse pedoclimatic regions and farming systems. The report also emphasizes the need for improved data governance, open access to land parcel information, and consistent protocols to ensure transparency, trust, and interoperability. Ensuring stakeholder confidence—from farmers to policymakers—requires reducing uncertainty, aligning MRV tools with certification standards, and making monitoring frameworks both robust and operational at scale.