Agriculture is one of the sectors most affected by climate change, and at the same time an open frontier for innovation in new sustainable practices and in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This will be the topic of discussion on Tuesday 21 July in Ravenna, together with Member of the European Parliament Stefano Bonaccini, on the occasion of the closing event of GECO 2.2, a project funded by the Interreg Italy-Croatia Programme that promotes the creation of a regional voluntary carbon market dedicated to the agricultural sector. The goal is to develop innovative techniques to increase carbon sequestration in soil and biomass and to foster the development of a market model that can be replicated at European level.
"La terra che rigenera la terra" ("The land that regenerates the land"), the title of the initiative, will take place at the Antichi Chiostri Francescani starting at 9 a.m. Following the opening remarks by the Mayor of Ravenna, Alessandro Barattoni, and by the President of Legacoop Nazionale, Simone Gamberini, the proceedings will open with a presentation by the scientific coordinator of GECO 2.2, Antonio Cinti. The certification scheme model and the operational tools will be presented by Ivana Dević, Deputy Director of the Zadar County Rural Development Agency, and by Vincenzo Verrastro, agronomist and Scientific Administrator at CIHEAM Bari. At 10.10 a.m., Stefano Bonaccini, Member of the European Parliament and member of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, will speak. This will be followed by a round table moderated by the President of Promosagri, Stefano Patrizi, with the participation of Giampaolo Sarno (Head of the Sustainable Agriculture Area of the Emilia-Romagna Region), Pierpaolo Pallara (Senior Researcher at CREA) and Vitantonio Priore (Puglia Region). The discussion will focus on the new Common Agricultural Policy and the European legislative framework on the market for so-called "carbon farming" – that is, the set of agricultural and forestry practices designed to increase the capacity of soil to absorb CO2 or to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. After the break, there will be a session with the project partners on the benefits observed and on future developments of the shared certification schemes, moderated by technical expert Leonardo Marotta. The morning will conclude with Helena Brčić, Project Manager of the Interreg VI-A Italy-Croatia 2021-2027 Joint Secretariat.
Funded by the Interreg Italy-Croatia programme, GECO 2.2 builds on the path that established the first experimental voluntary market for carbon credits in agriculture. In practice, this is a system in which companies, organisations and individuals voluntarily purchase carbon credits to offset their own greenhouse gas emissions. The underlying idea is that practices linked to sustainable agriculture and soil carbon conservation can be given value: those who invest in sustainability can support farmers who actively protect soil health, biodiversity and the climate through responsible land management. To make this possible, the project is developing a system that ensures transparent carbon credit registries, digital monitoring and verification tools, carbon accounting systems and certification approaches aligned with EU regulatory standards. The project ran for two years between Italy and Croatia, involving the following partners: CIHEAM Bari (International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies) - associated partner Puglia Region -, Legacoop Romagna – associated partner Emilia-Romagna Region –, Coldiretti Molise, Legacoop Marche, the Zadar County Rural Development Agency – associated partner the Croatian Ministry of Agriculture –, the Dubrovnik-Neretva Region, and OGAM (Mastrinka Olive Growers' Association).
More information about the GECO 2.2 Project is available here.
