Carbon Farming network meeting: opportunities, bottlenecks, and prerequisites for scaling up
During the concluding network meeting of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Carbon Farming project, together with the EU project MARVIC, held in Kamerik, it became clear that carbon farming in the Netherlands enjoys broad interest, but that large-scale implementation is still hampered by a number of fundamental challenges. The policy framework is still under development and largely leaves further elaboration to market actors. At the same time, uncertainty remains around dilemmas such as additionality, permanent carbon sequestration, and the relationship with existing policies, such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
A major bottleneck is monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV). Current systems are perceived as complex and costly, while the reliability of models and data is still insufficient. Fragmented data sources, limited standardisation, and concerns about data use undermine trust among both farmers and buyers. Essential steps still need to be taken in this area to enable scaling up.
From an economic perspective, carbon farming is still unattractive for many farmers. Financial incentives often do not outweigh the investments, risks and long contract durations involved in projects. High MRV and transaction costs play a major role. There is a need for fairer remuneration, risk sharing and public support.
On the market side, the supply of high-quality certificates is limited, and buyers experience legal and policy uncertainty. Discussions around insetting and offsetting (should carbon removals only be attributed within the agricultural sector, or can credits also be purchased for use outside the sector) restrict farmer participation in voluntary carbon markets. At the same time, interest in carbon removal is growing, although costs and complexity remain high.
Finally, it was emphasised that carbon farming should preferably be linked to broader objectives, such as biodiversity and soil quality. This offers opportunities, but requires clear agreements, simplicity, transparency, trust, and a clearly defined facilitating role for government.
A summary of the PPS Carbon Farming project was handed over to LVVN (the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature), and further distributed during this meeting. The summary can be found here (Dutch only).