# Life C-Farms

The document **"STANDARD-CARBON-FARMING-STORAGE" (Carbon Farming Certification Scheme)** has the primary purpose of **establishing certification requirements to attest the net carbon removal benefits arising from "Carbon Farming" practices**.

The fundamental premise of this standard is to address the interconnected crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, recognising the central role of the intensification of agricultural land use as a factor contributing to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and biodiversity decline. The European Commission proposes "Carbon Farming" as a comprehensive agricultural strategy to improve carbon sequestration in landscapes.

Specifically, the objectives and scope of this standard include:

* **Definition of Carbon Farming**: Carbon Farming is defined as a carbon removal activity linked to land use and/or management that results in an increase of carbon storage in living biomass, dead organic matter and soils, improving carbon capture and/or reducing the release of carbon into the atmosphere.
* **Ensuring quality of carbon removals (QU.A.L.ITY)**: The carbon removal activity must respect four fundamental parameters:
  * **Quantification**: Must provide a net carbon removal benefit, quantified using the methodologies described in chapter 4 of the document.
  * **Additionality**: The activity must be additional, i.e. go beyond the legal requirements of the European Union and national requirements, and occur thanks to the incentivising effect of certification.
  * **Long-term storage (Permanence)**: Operators must demonstrate that the activity aims to ensure long-term carbon storage, monitoring and mitigating release risks and being subject to liability mechanisms. Carbon stored is considered released into the atmosphere at the end of the monitoring period.
  * **Sustainability**: The activity must have a neutral impact or generate co-benefits for sustainability objectives such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, sustainable use and protection of water resources, transition to a circular economy, pollution prevention and control, and protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems.
* **Scope of applicability**: The standard is applicable to all operators or groups of operators who wish to generate certified carbon removal units from carbon farming practices on land they own or have the legal right to operate. The defined monitoring period is 5–10 years.
* **Prevention of double payment**: The document establishes criteria to avoid double payment for the same certified net carbon removals. For example, Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funding that supports the adoption of practices does not constitute double payment if it is not directly intended to reward carbon removals.
* **Calculation methodologies**: The document provides detailed methodologies for calculating net carbon removal benefits, estimating CO2 removals obtained from increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and/or carbon stored in living biomass. Carbon removals in the reference scenario (baseline), total removals in the project and the increase of GHG emissions in the project scenario are considered. Methods for ex-ante estimation and for calculating CO2 removed in harvested wood products (HWP) are also provided.
* **Risk and buffer management**: The system includes a buffer (a percentage of absorbed carbon set aside) to cover any carbon losses due to natural or anthropogenic events, ensuring the permanence of credits generated.
* **Certification Process**: Describes the procedures for conformity assessment and certification by a third-party certification body, including requirements for annual and final monitoring.
* **Public Registry**: A public online registry is provided to ensure full traceability of carbon removal certificates, minimise the risk of double issuance and prevent fraud, providing information on projects and carbon removal units.
* **Promotion of sustainable practices**: Lists and defines practices eligible for carbon farming, such as the use of organic amendments, reduced soil tillage, cover crops, agroforestry practices and improved agronomic management, specifying applicability conditions and associated co-benefits. The standard aligns with the European Biodiversity, Soil and Farm to Fork strategies.

{% embed url="<https://c-farms.eu/>" %}


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