As Europe moves towards implementing the Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Regulation, reliable digital infrastructure will be essential to ensure transparency, traceability and trust in certified carbon farming activities and the resulting carbon credits. This includes systems capable of recording certified activities, tracking carbon units and preventing double counting.

A new CAFAMORE report, authored by Rob Lokers (Wageningen Research), Nikoleta Kalitsou (AgroApps), Panagiotis Papadimitriou (AgroApps), Esther Van Parys (ILVO), Wim Van Renterghem (Howest) and Scott Vermast (Howest), presents the initial design of a digital infrastructure combining a CRCF registry and a marketplace for carbon farming credits. Developed through a co-design process involving project partners and relevant stakeholders, the proposed architecture lays the groundwork for the development and testing of these interconnected systems.

At the centre of the infrastructure is a registry designed to serve as a single source of reliable information on CRCF-certified carbon farming activities and their associated units. By connecting with existing certification schemes and registries, it will support the registration of activities, verification of compliance requirements and tracking of carbon units throughout their lifecycle, helping prevent double issuance and double counting.

Alongside the registry, CAFAMORE is designing a marketplace to demonstrate how certified carbon farming units can be made available, traded and used for sustainability claims. The connection between both systems is intended to strengthen traceability and transparency while facilitating interactions between certification schemes, market participants and regulators.

The report outlines the functional and technical requirements of the proposed infrastructure, including data management, interoperability and security. It also presents interactive mock-ups of the registry and marketplace, offering an initial view of how these systems could operate in practice.

This first design marks an important step towards developing CAFAMORE’s digital infrastructure, which will be further refined and tested throughout the project. The results will also contribute to discussions on the future implementation of the EU’s Union Registry, helping identify practical solutions for a transparent, interoperable and trustworthy European carbon farming market. Find the full report here.