Towards climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soils Deliverable 2.3 Synthesis on estimates of achievable soil carbon sequestration on agricutural land across Europe Due date of deliverable: M12 Actual submission date: 29.01.2021 This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N° 862695 Deliverable 2.3 Synthesis on estimates of achievable soil carbon sequestration on agricutural land across Europe GENERAL DATA Grant Agreement: 862695 Project acronym: EJP SOIL Project title: Towards climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soils Project website: www.ejpsoil.eu Start date of the project: February 1 st , 2020 Project duration: 60 months Name of lead contractor: INRAE Funding source: H2020-SFS-2018-2020 / H2020-SFS-2019-1 Type of action: European Joint Project COFUND DELIVERABLE NUMBER: 2.3 DELIVERABLE TITLE: Synthesis on estimates of achievable soil carbon sequestration on agricutural land across Europe DELIVERABLE TYPE: Report/ORDP/Website/Ethics WORK PACKAGE N: WP2 WORK PACKAGE TITLE: A roadmap for Agricultural Soil Management in Europe DELIVERABLE LEADER: Agroscope and CRA-W AUTHORS: Leonor Rodrigues, Julia Fohrafellner, Brieuc Hardy, Bruno Huyghebaert, Jens Leifeld CONTRIBUTORS OF DATA AND Alberto Sanz Cobeña ,Alice Budai, Andis Lazdiņš, CO-AUTHORES: Arezoo Taghizadeh, Axel Don, Bartosz Adamczyk, Benjamin Gimeno, Benjamin Sánchez, Bo Stenberg, Claudia Di Bene, Corina Carranca, Dalia Feiziene, Daniel Rasse, Daria Seitz, Dario Fornara, Eduardo Aguilera, Elena Rodriguez, Eloïse Mason, Erich Inselsbacher, Gabriela Barančíková, Grzegorz Siebielec, Heide Spiegel, Imants Kukuļs Jacek Niedźwiecki, Jan P. Lesschen, Karin Kauer, Kestutis Armolaitis, Lilian OSullivan, Lenka Pavlu, Maarten De Boever, Nils Kauer, Peter Kuikman, Peter Laszlo, Raquel Mano, Raimonds Kasparinskis, Rok Mihelič, Sevinc Madenoglu, Sophie Cornu, Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern, Stephan Glatzel Sylvain Pellerin, Teresa Gómez de la Bárcena, Thalisa Slier, Thomas Kätterer , Martin A. Bolinder, Kerstin Berglund, Toth Gergely COVER PICTURE: Agroscope, Gabriela Brändle DISSEMINATION LEVEL: CO/PU This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N° 862695 2 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 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. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N° 862695 3 Deliverable 2.3 Synthesis on estimates of achievable soil carbon sequestration on agricutural land across Europe Table of contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................ 3 Table of contents ..................................................................................................................................... 4 List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................ 5 List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................... 5 List of acronyms and abbreviations ......................................................................................................... 6 1. Executive summary ......................................................................................................................... 7 2. Introduction and goal of T2.4.3 ....................................................................................................... 8 3. Methodology and data source ........................................................................................................ 9 4. Results ............................................................................................................................................... 11 4.1 Data and data coverage .............................................................................................................. 11 4.2 Mineral soils ................................................................................................................................ 11 4.2.1 Question 1 (Q1): Are there any quantitative estimations of the achievable carbon sequestration under different soil management in your country (finished or ongoing studies)? 15 4.2.2 Measures and land use Q1 ................................................................................................... 21 4.2.3 Methods Q1: ......................................................................................................................... 21 4.2.4 Question 2 (Q2): Are there any estimated C sequestration rates for different management practices derived from field studies in your country (finished or ongoing studies)?.................... 24 4.2.5 Measures Q2 ........................................................................................................................ 24 4.2.6 Methods for quantifying changes in C stocks (Q2) .............................................................. 25 4.3 Organic soils ................................................................................................................................ 27 4.3.1 Question 3 (Q3): Are there any quantitative estimates for reducing GHG emissions (CO 2, CH 4, N 2O) from managed organic soils under different soil management in your country (finished or ongoing studies)? ...................................................................................................................... 28 4.3.2. Question 4: Are there any estimated GHG mitigation potentials for managed organic soils derived from field studies in your country? .................................................................................. 29 4.4 Knowledge gaps reported by MS ................................................................................................ 31 4.3.1 Knowledge gaps in C-Sequestration in mineral soils ............................................................ 31 4.3.2 Knowledge gaps in organic soils ........................................................................................... 38 4.5 General knowledge gaps and hot topics ..................................................................................... 42 4.5.1 GHG mitigation measure of organic soils: ............................................................................ 42 4.5.2 General methodological challenges: .................................................................................... 42 4.5.3 Socio-economic factors: ....................................................................................................... 42 4.5.4 SCS under climate change .................................................................................................... 43 4.5.5 Trade off C-Sequestration vs other GHG: ............................................................................. 43 4.5.6 Measures and alternatives: .................................................................................................. 44 4.5.7 Soil (bio-) chemical properties.............................................................................................. 44 4.5.8 Carbon use efficiency in differently managed systems ........................................................ 45 6 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................