The Global Stocktake, and the success of the Paris Agreement, hinges on the information nations provide about their emissions through National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (NGHGIs). Current methodologies laid-out by the IPCC for reporting emissions are generally built around the use of statistical data and emission factors. Although they are designed to be transparent, they can have significant uncertainties owing to incomplete or inaccurate information. The 2019 refinement of the IPCC Guidelines highlights the need for independent verification of NGHGIs especially using atmospheric observations. However, the technical complexity and the hitherto limited resolving power of atmospheric constraints makes it challenging for NGHGI compilers to adopt this type of verification. EYE-CLIMA will address this need for independent verification by developing observation-based methods (using both satellite remote sensing and ground-based observations) to a level of readiness where they can be used to determine emissions at national and sub-national scales and for verification of NGHGIs. The methodology involves using process-based and data-driven models to simulate GHG fluxes, first without atmospheric observations, then these fluxes are then combined with models of atmospheric transport and chemistry to assimilate atmospheric observations, which are used to correct the first flux estimates. Through engagement with stakeholders, i.e., NGHGI compilers, EYE-CLIMA, will develop flux data products for CO2 (LULUCF sector), CH4, N2O, and emissions data of F-gases (SF6, HFC-23, HFC-143a, HFC-125, HFC-134a, HFC-32) and black carbon (BC), which will be tailored to their needs. The fluxes will be attributed to natural versus anthropogenic sources, and for the latter, to source sectors that can be compared with groups of IPCC sectors in NGHGIs. The methodology for the atmospheric inversions and how to use these for verification of NGHGIs will be described in best practice guidelines.

Knowledge gaps on forest soil processes and lack of a harmonised soil monitoring limit the EU’s ability to maintain soil related ecosystem services and to reach climate policy targets. A better understanding of the soil processes and a harmonised approach to manage and integrate data to computational models that are used for decision making is urgently required in order to meet climate and sustainability goals, including the UN's Agenda 2030 SDGs, the Paris Agreement of Climate Convention, the EU Bioeconomy Strategy, the EU's LULUCF Regulation, the EU Forest Strategy (2018), and the European Green Deal. HoliSoils will develop a harmonised soil monitoring framework and identify and test soil management practices aiming to mitigate CC and sustain provision of various ecosystem services essential for human livelihoods and wellbeing. HoliSoils incorporates novel methodologies and expert knowledge on analytical techniques, data sharing, soil properties and biodiversity, and processes with model development, in order to develop tools for soil monitoring, refine GHG assessment of the LULUCF sector, enhance efficiency of GHG mitigation actions, and improve numerical forecasting of soil-based mitigation, adaptation, and ecosystem services. HoliSoils applies a collaborative multi-actor approach, in order to maximise its applicability and impact beyond its duration. The multidisciplinary consortium consists of universities and research institutes from across Europe, with leading expertise on soil analysis and databases, development of advanced analytical techniques, complex system modelling, digital soil mapping, soil ecology, disturbance ecology, forest and GHG inventories, social sciences, and communications. It also involves active engagement with diverse stakeholders, including forest owners and managers, industry actors, forest extension services, a certification body, forest and soil researchers, climate policy support and GHG inventory experts, and policymakers.

The IM4CA proposal unites leading European methane experts in a concerted effort to establish the scientific fundament needed to bring the climate forcing of methane under control. Specific objectives are to: 1) Strengthen methane mitigation policy world-wide with actionable information on local methane emissions and key driving processes, 2) Provide the EU with the measurement and modeling capacity needed to monitor its methane emissions and assess its progress towards the 30% emission reduction target of the European methane strategy and the global methane pledge, 3) Explore and understand climate feedbacks on natural methane sources and sinks, and 4) Improve the accuracy of climate scenarios by resolving the controversy about the causes for the recent growth rate variations in global methane. To achieve these objectives we address a selection of key uncertainties that have thus far limited the progress towards these goals by: i) building up critical new infrastructure for monitoring methane emissions in Europe and Tropical Africa, ii) developing methodology for efficient use of existing and upcoming satellites for measuring methane and the land surface properties needed for characterizing and attributing its emissions, and iii) translating the knowledge obtained into reliable projections of future methane and efficient emission mitigation scenarios. In doing so, the IM4CA project will enable a breakthrough in meeting the work program challenge of enhancing the quantification and understanding of natural and anthropogenic methane emissions and sinks. It will provide enhanced European assessment capacity of short- and long-term changes in methane sources and sinks integrating information from multi platforms and novel observations and transfer that capacity into actionable information needed to combat climate change.

The ability to evaluate EU's climate and sustainability targets is currently limited by challenges in monitoring ecosystem greenhouse gas (GHG) exchanges and other services in an accurate and timely manner. Important knowledge gaps concerning processes and drivers of GHG exchanges persist, that further hamper our predictive capabilities. The absence of coherent approaches to collect, interpret and integrate data on terrestrial GHG stocks and processes into predictive models limits the EU’s ability to monitor ecosystem services and thus to reach its climate ambitions, including the Paris Agreement of Climate Convention and European Green Deal. NextGenCarbon aims to develop a novel framework for advancing our understanding of the European GHG budget. To reach this goal, we will: 1) improve and enrich existing measurements on ecosystems; 2) assimilate these data into state-of-the-art modelling frameworks; 3) create seamless scenario prediction systems; and 4) provide guidance to policymakers on the magnitude, evolution of and future risks to GHG fluxes. Our exceptional multidisciplinary consortium links leading experts developing the next generation of ground and EO-driven observations, with several groups at the cutting edge of carbon cycle and land surface modelling, plus teams pushing the boundaries of data assimilation, complex system modelling, forest management and disturbance monitoring, land-use and GHG inventories, and communications. It also involves active engagement with diverse stakeholders, including landowners and managers, GHG exchange modelling community, international community related to environmental monitoring, climate policy support and GHG inventory experts, and policymakers. In doing so, NextGenCarbon will pave the way for high-accuracy and seamless estimates of national to continental and global GHG budgets from the recent past into the coming decades, making a vital contribution to EU's climate mitigation strategies.

As the negative impacts of rising global temperatures become increasingly evident, national governments, regional authorities and private stakeholders are enhancing efforts to curve down the emissions the greenhouse gases (GHG) responsible for global warming. Measuring the effectiveness of GHG emission reduction policies against agreed-upon international targets require accurate and precise estimates of emissions and their trends. These estimates need to be established and regularly updated using transparent methods, tracable to international standards. VERIFY proposes to quantify more accurately carbon stocks and the fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) across the EU based on independent observations in support of inventories that rely only on statistical data. The same approach will also be tested for US, China and Indonesia, in collaboration with foreign partnes. Accurate characterization of the space-time variations of GHG fluxes, separating their anthropogenic and natural components and their drivers, will be based on advanced modelling approaches using atmospheric GHG measurements, tracer transport inversions and various arrays of land observations, in-situ and from space. The improved knowledge of GHG budgets from VERIFY will be used to improve national inventories, in collaboration with national inventory agencies, and to deliver policy-relevant information to track progress of the EU mitigation efforts to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement on Climate, in line with international cooperation mechanisms promoted by the WMO, the IPCC and the UNFCCC.