Coming back from the European Carbon Farming Summit in Padua on 17-19 March, one thing is clear: carbon farming and certification are entering a new phase. The conversation is shifting: from pilots and promises to systems, standards, and scalability.
Hajna Tijssen from Oncra noted down a few reflections of the summit:
Carbon farming as a catalyst for change
Beyond carbon, this space can drive broader transformation across food systems and landscapes. But this requires real collaboration, across farmers, tech, science, finance, and policy, and structures that work at farm level, not only at scale.
MRV is the bottleneck (and the opportunity)
Robust, cost-effective MRV is becoming the key enabler. Hybrid approaches (remote sensing, models, targeted field data) are gaining traction, but interoperability and trust remain challenges.
Source Photos: Carbon Farming Summit
Data fragmentation is holding the field back
There’s no shortage of tools, but a lack of shared standards and connected systems continues to create friction for scaling projects.
Finance is cautious but evolving
Blended finance is growing, yet credibility and transparency remain essential to unlock investment.
Standardisation vs. local reality
EU frameworks are emerging, but carbon farming remains inherently context-specific. The challenge is balancing consistency with flexibility.
For Oncra, this reinforces the need for:
- Open, interoperable data infrastructures
- Integrated carbon + co-benefits accounting
- Practical tools for project developers
- Continued alignment with CRCF
Hajna Tijssen represented Oncra at the summit. Feel free to reach out to her for further insights: hajna@climatecleanup.org.