Europe’s regenerative agriculture revolution

This

agricultural land management project

demonstrates how regenerative agriculture can deliver measurable climate, nature and community benefits at scale across Europe - empowering farmers while helping businesses meet sustainability goals with high-integrity carbon certificates.

TL;DR

The mission of this project imagines the vast, rolling patchwork of input-intensive conventional farming transitioning to regenerative processes that nurture soil life, support wildlife and store carbon - all while sustaining farm productivity. But this is not a future vision - it’s happening now. As society searches for credible,

nature-based climate solutions

, this project offers a replicable blueprint for businesses and communities to co-create positive outcomes for climate, nature and rural livelihoods.

This climate change mitigation project for arable farming is

Europe’s first multinational, certified carbon payment programme

dedicated to regenerative agriculture. It operates across France, Belgium and the UK, supporting farmers to

adopt and maintain regenerative practices

over long-term crediting cycles.

Participants commit to five-year crediting cycles (renewable up to four times) followed by a ten-year retention period - ensuring durable, long-term climate and ecological benefits from soil carbon build-up and emissions reduction.

Conventional farming still dominates much of Europe’s agricultural landscape: in France and Belgium, over

88 %-92 % of farms are conventional systems

with only a small fraction practising regenerative agriculture. The UK shows slightly higher regenerative uptake - yet still under 10 % in total.

These figures underscore a huge opportunity: transitioning mainstream agriculture toward regenerative systems can restore degraded soils, increase biodiversity, improve water retention, and reduce dependency on chemical inputs - while also creating new revenue streams for farmers.

Earthly are delighted to welcome this project to our marketplace, thanks to its measurable benefits verified through our assessment:

These outcomes highlight that regenerative agriculture can deliver real, verifiable climate mitigation while strengthening resilience across landscapes that are central to Europe’s food system.

The project promotes a suite of science-backed agronomic approaches, like:

These practices rebuild soil organic carbon (SOC), improve water retention, reduce synthetic input use and generate a cascade of ecosystem benefits - from supporting beneficial insects to strengthening drought resilience.

Beyond emissions and ecosystems, this project embodies climate-aligned rural development. Participating farmers receive tailored agronomic support that reduces risk during transition, lowers long-term production costs and opens new income via the sale of high-integrity carbon certificates.

This model strengthens farm livelihoods, reduces reliance on external inputs, and fosters community capacity - all of which are critical elements of sustainable land management and rural resilience.

This project is exemplary on several fronts. Firstly, its multinational scale is uniting actions across three major European farming regions and its long-term commitment is securing multi-decade crediting and retention to ensure durability of the project across the regions.

The project demonstrated strong, holistic performance across Earthly’s carbon, biodiversity and people pillars, achieving an overall score of 6.8.

Specifically, we love how farmer-centric this project it: rooted in practical, economically viable farm system redesign that is appealing to farming communities who are stewards of the land.

This combination of feature makes it a high-integrity, scalable example of how agriculture can transition toward regenerative models that benefit climate and communities alike.

For sustainability leaders responsible for businesses that want to support biodiversity and the economy of an international scale, this project offers:

In a context where stakeholders increasingly demand credible climate action, this project represents a meaningful way for companies to scale impact beyond internal abatement efforts.

At Earthly, we believe the Improved Agricultural Land Management project exemplifies what high-integrity, nature-based action looks like: measurable climate benefits, strengthened biodiversity, and real, lasting support for rural communities.

We’re excited to introduce this project to our

marketplace

and to partner with businesses seeking to amplify their impact.

Whether you’re exploring carbon certificate investments or shaping a wider climate and nature strategy, we’d love to talk about how this initiative - and others like it - can help you achieve your goals.

Get in touch

with our team to discuss supporting this project or building a bespoke portfolio that accelerates your sustainability journey.

What is regenerative agriculture?

Regenerative agriculture refers to farming practices that rebuild soil health, enhance biodiversity, improve water cycles and sequester carbon, moving beyond sustainability toward ecological regeneration.

How do regenerative practices reduce emissions

Practices like reduced tillage, cover cropping and diversified rotations increase soil organic carbon and lower greenhouse gas emissions by reducing synthetic input use and enhancing natural nutrient cycles.

Why is soil organic carbon important?

Soil organic carbon improves soil structure, water retention and fertility while storing carbon that would otherwise contribute to atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.

What makes this project high integrity?

This project combines certified methodologies and measurable outcomes reviewed against Earthly’s holistic assessment across carbon, biodiversity and social, ensuring robust, transparent results.

Who benefits beyond climate?

Farmers receive agronomic support and new revenue streams, landscapes gain ecological resilience, and communities benefit from strengthened rural economies.