Verra has published an innovative digital soil mapping (DSM) tool that facilitates the robust and verifiable quantification of greenhouse gas emission reductions and carbon dioxide removals in agricultural land management (ALM) carbon projects. VT0014 Estimating organic carbon stocks using digital soil mapping, version 1.0 provides guidance for the development, calibration, and validation of data-driven modeling methods to estimate soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in a spatially explicit manner, including model uncertainty estimations. Because the tool is based on robust, up-to-date science and novel technologies, such as remote sensing, it enables ALM projects to generate high-integrity carbon credits.
Compared with traditional soil sampling methods, digital soil mapping allows for broader spatial coverage, improved spatial resolution and precision, and increased cost-effectiveness. It is also versatile and easy to access, effectively lowering certain barriers to ALM project implementation. As a result, this technology makes the development of ALM projects more accessible to a wide range of proponents, scaling up impactful climate action while also improving the lives of affected communities.
The tool is currently approved for use under VM0042 Methodology for Improved Agricultural Land Management, and VM0032 Methodology for the Adoption of Sustainable Grasslands through Adjustment of Fire and Grazing. Verra will soon issue a corrections and clarifications document to outline the procedures for applying VT0014 under the current and upcoming versions of these methodologies.
ALM projects have the potential to significantly contribute to mitigating the impacts of climate change. Crop and livestock activities, together with agroforestry systems, could potentially achieve annual emission reductions and removals of up to 9.6 GtCO2e per year, assuming widespread adoption and scaling by 2050.* In addition, these projects provide other ecosystem benefits by helping to improve soil health and building ecosystem resilience to climate change through practices like crop rotation and agroforestry. They also impact the well-being of communities by increasing crop yields and long-term agricultural productivity, thus enhancing food security.
The development of VT0014 was led by Perennial (external) and Verra, with support from TerraCarbon (external) and significant contributions from a multidisciplinary working group with expertise in DSM. It also underwent Independent Expert review.
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*Note: This projection is based on the 2019 IPCC special report Climate Change and Land (external).