Towards climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soils : Deliverable 2.3 Synthesis on estimates of achievable soil carbon sequestration on agricutural land across Europe

Abstract

This synthesis identifies the available knowledge of achievable carbon sequestration in mineral soils and GHGs mitigation in organic soils in agricultural land, including pasture/grassland across Europe.The inventory of past and current studies on carbon sequestration and GHGs mitigation measures in agricultural soils and the methodology used for the assessment were considered from 25 Member states (MS) across Europe. The stocktake shows that availability of datasets concerning soil carbon sequestration (SCS) is variable among Europe. While northern Europe and central Europe is relatively well studied, there is a lack of studies comprising parts of Southern, Southeaster and Western Europe.Further, it can be concluded that at present country-based knowledge and engagement is still poor; very few countries have an idea on their national-wide achievable carbon sequestration potential. The presented national SCS potentials (MS n=13) do however point towards important contributions to mitigate climate change by covering considerable shares of national greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector in the range of of 0.1-27 %, underpinning the importance of further investigations. In contrast to mineral soils, effective mitigation measures for organic soils while maintaining industrial agricultural production are still in its infancy. Very few mitigation options exist to mitigate GHG emissions without compromising agricultural production. Most GHG mitigation practices reported by the MS involve the restoration of organic soils, which means a complete abandonment of land from any agricultural use. Only one contribution (NL) reports possible mitigation potentials, which are based on specific water management measures (water level fixation).Nevertheless, there is an increasing awareness of the need of mitigation measures reflected by the several ongoing research projects on peatland management.Deliverable 2.3 Synthesis on estimates of achievable soil carbon sequestration on agricutural land across Europe

European agricultural soil management: Towards climate‐smart and sustainability, knowledge needs and research approaches

“…The capacity of a range of agricultural practices to store additional carbon in soils and mitigate GHG emissions has been assessed and is used for national or international assessments (Bamière et al, 2023; Lugato et al, 2014; Pellerin et al, 2017; Smith et al, 2008). However, robust estimates of the technical, economic, and achievable potential to store C at the scale of landscapes, regions, or countries are lacking and the methodology needs to be standardized (Rodrigues, Fohrafellner, et al, 2021; Rodrigues, Hardy, et al, 2021) (Table 1). Innovative practices affecting the biological functioning of soils are yet to be developed.…”

“…Through this consultation, the existing knowledge needs were identified according to the EJP SOIL Knowledge framework (reported in a deliverable 2.4 of the EJP SOIL: Keesstra et al, 2020), hence needs for knowledge development (new research, knowledge synthesis), for knowledge sharing and transfer, knowledge harmonization and knowledge application across partner organizations and member states. In addition, five EU‐wide stocktakes were completed: (i) The impacts of sustainable soil management practices (Paz et al, 2021); (ii) Soil quality indicators and associated decision support tools, including Information and Communication Technology (ICT) (Pavlů et al, 2021) tools; (iii) Estimates of achievable soil carbon sequestration on agricultural land in the EU (Rodrigues, Fohrafellner, et al, 2021; Rodrigues, Hardy, et al, 2021); (iv) Inventory of the use of models for accounting and policy support (Astover et al, 2021); and (v) Stocktake study and recommendations for harmonizing methodologies for fertilization guidelines across regions (Higgins et al, 2021).…”