Modelling tools to support carbon sequestration

policies in agricultural soils

E. Lugato1, A. Jones1 1 EU-JRC, IES, LRM

Global carbon balance (Pg)

Intensive tillage

Residue removal Low Productivity

Erosion

Soil organic

carbon

CO2

Carbon sequestration

Conservation tillage Conservation buffers

Cover crops Improved rotations

Soil organic

carbon

CO2

CRP

Large-scale SOC modelling application (1 km) at European level in agricultural soils

Process-based model

CENTURY,

Plant

growth

Carbon and

Nitrogen cycle

Water

cycle

OUTPUTS

2000 2006

CLC

1990

Crop rotation from

EUROSTAT

Climate ESDB Erosion

SIMULATION RESULTS

Top-soil (0-30 cm) organic carbon content (t C ha-1) in 2010

17.63 Gt of C

http

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usoi

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libra

ry/T

hem

es/S

OC/C

APR

ESE/

SOC sequestration scenarios

1)  Conversion from arable to grassland (LUC_AR_GR)

2)  Crop residue management (AR_RES): 100% incorporation of cereal straw

compared to 50 % of BAU scenario;

3) Reduced tillage scenario (AR_RT): substitution of the mouldboard plough

with a more superficial tillage;

4) Combined residue incorporation + reduced tillage (AR_RET);

5) Ley in rotation (AR_LEY): inclusion of two consecutive years of a fodder

crop (alfalfa) in the BAU rotation;

6) Cover crop (AR_CC): the insertion of cover crops in the rotation schemes,

which biomass was entirely incorporated (green manure). Lugato, E., Bampa, F., Panagos, P., Montanarella, L. and Jones, A. (2014), Potential carbon sequestration of European arable soils estimated by modelling a comprehensive set of management practices. Global Change Biology. doi: 10.1111/gcb.12551

Techical potential SOC sequestration

Full application of alternative

management practices to ‘arable’ land

category (120 Mha) from 2013

Cumulated SOC sequestration trends

2013

BAU

AMP

time SO

C

dSOC

Territorial SOC sequestration effect

Yearly C sequestration rates by 2020 and 2050. Red dots represent the C sequestration rates derived from LTE

SOC and policies in the EU

Proposed European policies are placing higher emphasis on

soil organic carbon (SOC)

•  Environment: EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection

(COM(2006)-231)

•  Agriculture: Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) - Good

Agricultural and Environmental Condition – GAEC

•  Climate: CO2 emission and removal should be accounted for the

cropland and grazing land management under the LULUCF

framework (Council and Parliament Decision on LULUCF (529/2013))

Modelling integration

Economy

Common Agricultural

Policy Regionalized

Impact (CAPRI) model

Bioenergy

Live cycle assessment

(LCA) of bioenergy

systems

Biophysical

processes

Effect of Good

Agricultural and

Environmental

Conditions on

erosion and soil

organic carbon

balance

Systematic review

Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (Mistra) http://www.eviem.se/en/projects/Soil-organic-carbon-stocks/

Systematic map

THANK FOR YOUR

ATTENTION

Emanuele Lugato – IES, Soil Action emanuele.lugato@jrc.ec.europa.eu