(MRV4SOC) Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Soil Organic Carbon and greenhouse gas balance

MRV4SOC, Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Soil Organic Carbon and greenhouse gas balance

Project funded by European Union – Horizon Europe Programme
Grant Agreement n. 101112754
Duration: 36 months
Start date: 01/06/2023
The project official website

Soil can store more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits, acting as a sink. Unfortunately, climate change and socio-economic pressures have contributed to land degradation and a loss of biomass, ultimately reducing its sink capability. The result is a rise in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and risks for food production. Sustainable land management practices can turn carbon sources into carbon sinks.

MRV4SOC aims to account for changes in as many Carbon pools as possible, estimate Green House Gases (GHG) and full Carbon budgets, couple Carbon and Nitrogen cycles, quantify Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) accumulation, and assess the results of traditional management practices and Carbon farming. The results of this project will contribute building a Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification framework for the EU land sector.

In view of its aim, MRV4SOC has the following specific objectives: measure long-term soil organic carbon accumulation in 9 EU representative land use/land cover classes; assess how carbon farming practices drive carbon flux dynamics in the 9 classes; evaluate the impact of climate change on soil organic carbon accumulation; develop a robust, transparent, standard, and cost-effective monitoring, reporting, and verification system to facilitate results-based payments associated with farming practices; identify revenue opportunities to unlock results-based payments; Increase stakeholders’ trust in voluntary carbon market.

The MRV4SOC consortium consists of 21 partners, led by the GMV Aerospace and Defence SA, from 8 European countries and 2 associated countries. Within this project, K&I is leading T1.2, which focuses on the monitoring and assessment of key “research ethics, gender, legal and societal aspects”, and T4.1, which aims to map hindering and enabling factors shaping the adoption of carbon farming practices by farmers and relevant stakeholders.

News

MRV4SOC’s Final General Assembly

From 11 to 13 May 2026, Seville hosted the final General Assembly of MRV4SOC, organised and co-hosted by Evenor-Tech in collaboration with the Regional Government of Andalucía. As the project approaches its conclusion in November, partners gathered to review key outcomes, align on final harmonisation activities, and reinforce collaboration for the closing phase. The General Assembly, attended by Claudia Colonnello (K&I), provided an opportunity to review the project’s major outcomes and highlight the significant progress achieved through the partners’ efforts. Discussions also focused on coordinated harmonisation activities aimed at consolidating the results achieved so far and maximising the project’s lasting ...

Eight focus groups on the socio-economic impacts of Carbon Farming at landscape level

Between February and March 2026, eight focus groups were conducted across five European landscapes to validate and refine the initial programme theory and assess the relevance and likelihood of the identified socio-economic impacts of Carbon Farming schemes. The activities involved 50 participants (58% men and 42% women), including farmers, intermediaries, carbon credit buyers and researchers. In particular, on 23 March 2026, K&I organised and facilitated the focus group in Lombardy, Italy, bringing together 11 stakeholders to discuss the potential impacts of Carbon Farming and the conditions under which they may occur. The results will contribute to refining the understanding of ...

Map of Factors Hindering or Enabling Stakeholders’ and Farmers’ Adoption of C Farming

As part of the activities carried out under WP4, the Map of Factors Hindering/Enabling Stakeholders’ and Farmers’ Adoption of C Farming was produced by Andrea Declich and Claudia Colonnello. The document, presented in September 2024, is the outcome of a three-phase research process. The first phase involved an analysis of the existing literature on the topic, which led to the compilation of a preliminary map comprising 134 individual factors, organised into 12 different categories. In the second phase, the map was validated through consultation with a panel of 18 European experts – including university researchers and researchers working for public ...

Multi-actor territorial dialogue workshops

Between March and June 2024, K&I organised five multi-actor dialogue workshops in four of the European countries involved in the MRV4SOC project. The workshops were organised as part of the project’s broader “multiplier events” initiative, which aimed to present the project’s objectives and activities in the local context and to engage an initial group of stakeholders interested in Carbon Farming (CF) and related agricultural policies. The main objective of the workshops was to discuss and validate the preliminary map of factors hindering or facilitating the adoption of Carbon Farming. Each workshop focused on three thematic areas relevant to the validation ...

Research Ethics, Gender, Legal and Societal Aspects Report

On 30 March 2024, Deliverable D1.2, “Report on Research Ethics, Gender Issues, and Legal and Social Aspects”, was submitted. The Report collected, analysed and presented the theoretical framework related to the main ethical, legal and social challenges of the research, as well as the key risk indicators in these areas. In its practical section, the Deliverable presented an analysis of the potential risks encountered by the different Work Packages of the MRV4SOC project during the first ten months of activities, the procedures adopted to monitor and manage these risks, and, finally, an assessment of the effectiveness of the measures implemented ...

MRV4SOC Project Kick-off Meeting

The MRV4SOC project held its kick-off meeting on June 7, 2023, at GMV’s headquarters in Tres Cantos (Madrid). Approximately 70 participants attended the meeting, including representatives from the project's partner organizations, local invitees, and representatives from the European Commission. Claudia Colonnello and Andrea Declich attended on behalf of Knowledge and Innovation. The discussion focused on the objectives to be pursued, the methodologies, and the expected results, as well as the coordination of initial activities ...