CAFAMORE Project starts its journey to boost carbon farming and soil health in Europe

The CAFAMORE Project (Carbon Farming Monitoring and Registry) started officially on July 1^st, 2025, with the ambition of becoming a key driver in advancing sustainable agriculture and improving soil health across Europe. The four-year project, funded by the EU under the Mission Soil, will set the standard for carbon farming while strengthening confidence in European carbon markets.

As the European Commission introduces the first EU-wide voluntary framework for certifying Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF), the need for effective monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems, along with a detailed registry, has become increasingly urgent. In this context, CAFAMORE will address the demand for transparency and accuracy by developing an EU-wide parcel-level monitoring system, a spatially explicit registry, and a robust marketplace.

With this in mind, CAFAMORE will develop the digital infrastructure, tools, and knowledge required for accurate and cost-effective MRV and secure carbon certification. To achieve this goal, the project will map the carbon farming ecosystem, build comprehensive data catalogues, standardise baseline methodologies, and test and validate results in seven pilot countries. The project will also work on reducing the uncertainty and improving the cost-efficiency of monitoring approaches through advanced modelling, improved remote sensing, optimised soil sampling strategies, and studies on the permanence of sequestered carbon.

A central mission of CAFAMORE is to drive change by unearthing, understanding, and addressing the needs, barriers, interests, and priorities of the different actors in carbon farming and carbon markets. This will be achieved by establishing a series of working groups, where project experts will engage directly with policymakers, market players, farmers, carbon farming scheme developers, and other stakeholders.

The CAFAMORE consortium follows a multi-actor approach, bringing together expertise from research (soil science, remote sensing, agronomy, economics, cybersecurity), industry (Earth Observation service providers, carbon farming scheme developers, soil sampling and analysis, ICT solutions), and farmer organisations. The team, which already includes nearly 100 members from 22 organisations across 10 European countries, is deeply involved in carbon farming research and policy development, supporting the European Commission in the development of the carbon farming methodologies for the CRCF.

The project is funded by Horizon Europe under the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe ’ (Mission Soil), which aims to protect and restore soils and promote sustainable management practices in urban and rural areas. Within this framework, CAFAMORE will contribute to strengthening transparency and accuracy in the certification of carbon removals and carbon farming, supporting companies and member states in achieving secure carbon certification, boosting trust in carbon markets, and combating greenwashing.