Unlocking data for MRV: Data sharing for effective carbon farming

Insights from 2nd European Carbon Farming Summit and Credible Focus Group 3.4

Building on insights from Credible Focus Group 3.4 (FG 3.4) discussions, we emphasize the critical role of long-term monitoring (LTM) data in i) calibration, validation, and simplification of models, ii) validation of MRV approach, iii) upscaling results from local to regional level, and iv) support for digitalization. One major challenge highlighted in our earlier analysis was the limited access to open data and the lack of effective data-sharing mechanisms. Similar issues were observed from the 1st European Carbon Farming Summit (ECFS) that soil databases are not shared. This highlights the urgent need for greater inter-sector transparency and collaboration. During the 2nd European Carbon Farming Summit, we expanded the scope of discussion beyond LTM data to include both public and private datasets. The key messages from this report are: - Robust data collection and sharing across the value chain are essential for accurate MRV in carbon farming. - LTM data is invaluable for model calibration and MRV validation, yet greater trust and clear incentives are needed to encourage data sharing between the public and private sectors. - “Collect once, use many times” principles can reduce the reporting burden on farmers and streamline compliance with multiple purposes. - User-friendly digital tools and data-sharing platforms—supported by clear licensing agreements and federated learning approaches—can balance privacy, competition, and openness.

HUI Xu;  D’HOSE Tommy;  DEROO Ella;  LANCKRIET Edouard;  FANTAPPIÈ Maria;  MONHONVAL Arthur;  ASCHONITIS Vassilis;  SCHULZ Wiebke;  SADOWSKI Shauna;  RUYSSCHAERT Greet;  MOLLENHAUER Hannes;  TZIACHRIS Panagiotis;  JUHL MUNKHOLM Lars;  BIFFI Sofia;  COOLS Nathalie;  CESCHIA Eric;  PERUGINI Lucia;  ARIAS NAVARRO Cristina;  WOHNER Christoph;  DONMEZ Cenk;  OSTLER Richard;  TORRES Judit;  HERNANDEZ MATEO Laura;  SALGADO Mariana;  MALLAST Ulf; 

2025-08-13

Zenodo

JRC142810

https://zenodo.org/records/15102057,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC142810,   

10.5281/zenodo.15102057 (online),