Brussels writes the technical rules for what counts as carbon farming
The European Commission adopted the first certification methodologies under its Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming framework, turning a regulation that has existed on paper since 2024 into something a farm or forestry project can actually get certified against.
July 2026 · Europe
Retrospective analysis of July 2026. Published August 2026.
On 10 July 2026, the European Commission adopted a delegated act setting out the first three certification methodologies under the Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Regulation, which entered into force in December 2024 but had, until this point, no operational way for a project to actually get certified under it. The three methodologies cover agriculture and agroforestry on mineral soils, the rewetting and restoration of peatlands and other organic soils, and afforestation. Under the CRCF's design, certification requires more than a carbon outcome: every certified project must also demonstrate an improvement to soil health or biodiversity, not carbon removal alone. Once the delegated regulation takes effect, certification schemes can apply to have their own standards recognized as compliant with these methodologies and the minimum requirements set out in a related 2025 implementing regulation.
The Signal
The European Commission adopted the first three CRCF certification methodologies, covering mineral-soil agriculture and agroforestry, peatland rewetting, and afforestation, on 10 July 2026, giving the EU's carbon farming regulation its first operational path to project certification since it entered into force in December 2024.
Why It Matters
A carbon farming market without an operational, government-backed certification standard has been the EU's own structural gap, buyers and financiers have had carbon farming claims to evaluate but no common technical yardstick to evaluate them against. This delegated act is the concrete mechanism that closes that gap, and its requirement that certified projects also demonstrate soil health or biodiversity improvement, not carbon alone, is a real, regulatory-level instance of the same discipline this publication applies to the word 'regenerative': the mechanism has to be named and evidenced, not just the carbon number.
Capital Implication
Land and agroforestry projects in the EU pursuing carbon finance now have an actual government-recognized certification path to underwrite against, rather than relying solely on voluntary market standards, which should over time reduce diligence uncertainty for capital allocating into EU carbon farming projects specifically.
Development Implication
Projects combining mineral-soil agriculture, peatland restoration, or afforestation with a carbon finance component should track their design against these specific methodologies now, since certification scheme recognition will be evaluated against them once the delegated act takes effect.
What We Are Watching
- Which certification schemes apply for recognition under the new methodologies, and how long the Commission's recognition process takes in practice.
- Whether the European Parliament and Council raise objections during their scrutiny period, which could still amend or delay the delegated act.
- Whether voluntary carbon farming standards already operating in the EU market adapt toward the CRCF methodologies or continue operating in parallel.
