As the European Union moves to turn carbon farming into a pillar of its climate strategy, one remote region is emerging as a real-world test case, using soils, farms and forests to link EU climate ambition with rural development and emissions reduction. Galicia in northwestern Spain has become a focal region within the EU’s broader drive towards decarbonisation, specifically when it comes to preserving the carbon capture potential of the soils.
Galicia is one of the most important within the European Union for dairy farming; 42 per cent of the milk that is produced in Spain comes from Galicia. As such, dairy farming is a predominant aspect of any efforts to preserve Galicia’s unique carbon sinks, and to ensure that carbon farming can be a pillar of future EU policy.
Pros and cons of carbon farming
Galician soil is highly carbon-dependent, and that creates both an opportunity and a risk with respect to climate policy. Carbon farming practices can help create further soil carbon and increase the agricultural productivity of soil that is converted to farmland. However, abandoned land increases risks for soil erosion, which reduces the ability of regions like Galicia to retain carbon.
The risk factor associated with wildfires was a point that was repeatedly raised as potentially devastating to the carbon farm strategies that are being discussed by the EU. While 12.6 per cent of total global wildfire emissions originate in Europe, which is relatively small, extreme wildfire seasons can result in sudden releases of CO2 on a regional level. Studies of high severity wildfires indicated impacts on the quality of soil carbon material, and the long-term impact of those fires can hamper efforts for carbon farms to have a positive effect.
Linking carbon farming to depopulation
Another point, though lacking direct relevance to carbon farming efforts, was linked to the decoupling between rural depopulation and increased wildfire risk and lower carbon retention in soil. Essentially, there is a positive correlation between regions that have active farming efforts or grazing livestock and those that have a lower risk for wildfires and better carbon retention within the soil.
This has implications for local demographic schemes, as one of the main ways to combat depopulation is through creating economic incentives for residents to remain in rural areas. One potential economic incentive is one that applies specifically to carbon farming, and thus presents one of the ways that those living in affected regions will be enticed to remain.
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Standards difficult to set
On the European level, the European Commission’s Carbon Removals Certification Framework proposal aims to create standards that can be applied across the continent, with a focus on incentivising this through agricultural policy and pilot programmes. However, it is still a contentious issue, with a number of organisations opposing the notion of using soil carbon storage. Environmental groups, scientists and some farmers warn that soil carbon storage is reversible and difficult to measure, making it risky to rely on for climate targets. Critics fear it could be misused for greenwashing, shift climate responsibility onto farmers, or undermine biodiversity if poorly designed.
