Last week, the FCM consortium had the opportunity to participate in the ‘Second Forum on Earth Observation for Carbon Markets’. This year, the forum was held in conjunction with the ‘EO for improving LULUCF Monitoring, reporting and verification’ meeting. The twin-event called the ‘EO for Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification of Carbon Removals’ was jointly organized by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) in the city of Copenhagen, Denmark.
In the midst of the ongoing quest to mitigate climate change, the European Union has recognized the important role of carbon sequestration with the implementation of the Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) regulation and the EU carbon removal certification framework. These frameworks aim to ensure that land-use practices contribute effectively to the EU's climate goals by accurately tracking carbon fluxes and promoting sustainable land management practices. Simultaneously, voluntary carbon markets are growing and looking for improved approaches for Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) that would be aligned with the methods used in compliance reporting.
The conference brought together around 200 experts representing key stakeholder categories, including 1) National inventory compilers, 2) Remote sensing community and 3) Businesses involved in the carbon markets. This interdisciplinary set-up allowed fruitful discussions on how Earth observation can be utilized to support the EU regulations with continuous, large-scale monitoring, offering timely and accurate data. Particular attention was given to the implementation of the LULUCF regulation and the forthcoming Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming Certification (CRCF) regulation.
The FCM project was well represented in the forum. Frank Martin Seifert from the ESA, who is also the project officer from ESA to our FCM project, and the FCM project team member Basanta Gautam from South Pole were part of the organizing committee of the conference. Both Mr. Seifert and Mr. Gautam also co-chaired a session on ‘Monitoring sustainability of CRCF’. Jukka Miettinen, the project manager from VTT, presented and participated in the panel in the ‘Data needs in Support of baseline definition’ session. This exposure not only gave a good opportunity to disseminate findings from the FCM project but also to gather information on stakeholder needs through direct discussions with representatives from different stakeholder groups.
At the general level, the conference provided a good overview of recent climate policy developments at the EU level in the land sector, covering LULUCF and the forthcoming Carbon Removals certification framework. The discussions helped to bridge gaps between stakeholder groups and increase understanding of their respective requirements and capabilities. There were several discussions on who the users of the products are and what is required by different user groups. The concept of sustainability of carbon projects and initiatives was also discussed.
Regarding the use of EO data in forest biomass and carbon monitoring, a few topics were raised repeatedly throughout the conference:
- EO has an unrivalled capability to support frequent monitoring and reporting for large geographical areas. Furthermore, archived EO data allows the creation of historical times series. These features make EO data a vital part of any forest carbon monitoring system.
- The greatest benefits from EO data can be achieved when it is integrated with ground reference and other data sources. Different types of data complement each other with their own strengths, together making the monitoring system more robust.
- Related to the above, availability, representativeness and quality of in-situ reference data is crucial for successful use of EO data in forest biomass and carbon monitoring.
- It is essential to provide uncertainty estimates for all EO-based (and other) products used in forest carbon monitoring. Derivation of confidence intervals for any estimates is a pre-requisite for meaningful use of any products for financial or regulatory monitoring.
Reflecting on these points, it is clear that the FCM project is focusing on highly relevant topics. As we not only develop improved methods with synergistic use of ground reference data and EO datasets but also focus on ecosystem modelling, data assimilation and uncertainty assessment, the project can make a significant impact on improving future forest biomass and carbon monitoring approaches.
Overall, the hectic few days spent in Copenhagen were highly rewarding, resulting in new network connections and an improved understanding of the status and challenges of using EO to support carbon markets. We want to thank the organizers for the excellent arrangements in a nice venue that created a constructive atmosphere for the event. The conference also confirmed that the FCM project is on the right path and focuses on important topics. We are very much hoping that our work will make a difference and advance the use of EO in support of forest biomass and carbon monitoring.