Methodological guidelines to collect data and assess the costs of Carbon Farming practices and associated MRV

This report, a deliverable of the MARVIC project, provides methodological guidelines for collecting data and assessing the costs of carbon farming (CF) practices and the associated Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) methodologies. The data collected using these guidelines will serve as critical inputs for economic analyses conducted in Work Package 5 (WP5), supporting tasks such as i) assessing the economic impacts and cost-effectiveness of CF practices and schemes, accounting for MRV costs, ii) informing workshops on MRV systems in Test Cases (TCs), and iii) the evaluation of cost-effective regulatory schemes. They will also provide insight into the trade-offs between the cost and accuracy of the MRV methodologies that will be developed in MARVIC (WP2).

This document is intended for scientists and experts in charge of the 26 MARVIC Test Cases across Europe, covering a wide range of Land-Uses and Soil Types (LUSTs), i.e., arable land on mineral soils, grassland on mineral soils, managed peatland, and agroforestry/woody crops. It provides practical guidance for standardized data collection, ensuring consistency and comparability of results. It addresses the definition and assessment of various cost (and revenue) categories induced by the adoption of a carbon farming practice and the implementation of an MRV methodology: operational costs (e.g., fertilizers, seeds, labor), opportunity costs (e.g., foregone revenues), and transaction costs (e.g., time spent to gather information on carbon farming schemes and MRV expenses). MRV costs, as a subset of transaction costs, depend on the type of policy, the precision required by the latter, and the methodology used. The report provides practical examples of CF practice costs calculation (e.g., cover /catch crops agroforestry, and peatland rewetting) and an example of MRV cost (for the French Label Bas Carbon certification framework). These are illustrative examples only, and serve to demonstrate data collection and calculation methodologies.

Several options for MRV methodologies will be designed in the frame of the MARVIC project, for the different land use and soil types. Once they are available, WP1 will provide a list and a detailed description of the major MARVIC MRV methodologies, including a breakdown into main steps and potential cost items. This information will be used to draft a simple “MRV cost” spreadsheet to help Test Cases collect data and assess the costs of the relevant MRV methodologies for their specific context. WP2, WP3, and Test Cases will also provide information on the accuracy and uncertainty associated with the measurements, models, and operational processing chain tools used to assess carbon removals. This information will be used in Task 5.1 economic models to assess the present and future economic impacts and cost-effectiveness of CF policies, accounting for MRV costs.