Cen e
Île-de-F ance - Ve sailles-G ignon
den He de M1, Lawson G2, De anja D3, Kay S4, Be omeu Ga cia M5, Machine
A6, Rønn-Ande sen K7, Gosme M8, Ne alainen M1, Palma J9, Tomás A9
1Eu opean Fo es Ins i u e, Joensuu, Finland, 2Eu opean Ag o o es y Fede a ion, Mon pellie , F ance, 3Plane Labs, Ljubljana, Slo enia,
4Ag oscope, Zu ich, Swi ze land, 5Uni e si y o Ex emadu a, Plasencia, Spain, 6Uni e si y o Leices e , Uni ed Kingdom, 7Regen Fa me ,
Odense, Denma k, 8INRAE, Mon pellie , F ance, 9MVARC, Mé ola, Po ugal
Es ima ing ag o o es y a ea and
g eenhouse gas mi iga ion
po en ial in Eu ope
In oduc ion Reliable es ima es o he ex en o ag o o es y a e impo an o help design na ional land use policies. Pa icula ly in he con ex o he EU
De o es a ion Regula ion ag o o es y land mus be clea ly dis inguished om o es land. A i s a emp o es ima e he global a ea o ag o o es y was
made by Zome e al. (2009)1who sugges ed ha ag o o es y co e s abou 46%(>10% ee co e ) o he ag icul u al land globally. Fo Eu ope, hey
es ima ed an imp essi e 40% (91 million ha) o ag icul u al land co e ed by ag o o es y. La e s udies, using a pan-Eu opean da abase called LUCAS
(Land Use and Land Co e Da a)2, de i ed a wide ange o es ima es anging om 11.4 Mha3 o 15.4 Mha4 o 20.3 Mha5o e en 40.8 Mha6. Me hods
using LUCAS in Eu ope he e o e ha e accu acy and me hodological issues7, which can bes be esol ed by open access na ional a ming s a is ics8.
Ag o o es y has signi ican clima e change mi iga ion po en ial because i s o es ca bon in biomass and soil. O all man-made sys ems which also
con ibu e o ood p oduc ion, ag o o es y s o es he highes amoun s o ca bon9,10,11. Tempe a e ag o o es y sys ems s o e less ca bon compa ed o
opical sys ems, bu as a la ge pa o Eu ope is co e ed by ag icul u e (abou 40%o he o al land a ea), gi ing a la ge po en ial o addi ional ca bon
s o age.
The Digi AF p ojec is explo ing di e en me hods o es ima e he ex en o ag o o es y and T ees ou side he Fo es .
This p ojec has ecei ed unding
om he Eu opean Union’s
Ho izon Eu ope esea ch and
inno a ion p og amme.
G an ag eemen : 101059794
Re e ences
1Zome e al. 2009. T ees on Fa ms. ICRAF Wo king Pape no.89.2Eu os a , 2015. LUCAS Land Use
and Land Co e Su ey. Eu os a S a is ics explained, a ailable online a :
h p://ec.eu opa.eu/eu os a /s a is ics-explained/index.php/LUCAS_-
_Land_use_and_land_co e _su ey.3Rubio-Delgado, J. e al. 2023. F on . En i on. Sci. 11.4den
He de , M. e al. 2017. Ag icul u e, Ecosys ems & En i onmen 241, 121–132. 5Plieninge , T. e al.,
2015. Biological conse a ion, 190,70–79.6Rubio-Delgado, J. e al. 2025. Ag icul u al Sys ems 229.
7Machine, A. e al. 2025. En i on. Res. Le . 20.8Lawson e al. 2025. A ailabili y and use o IACS
geospa ial da a in he EU (Ve sion 1). Zenodo. h ps://doi.o g/10.5281/zenodo.15712678.
9Kuma , B.M., Nai , P.K.R. (Eds.). 2011. Ca bon Seques a ion Po en ial o Ag o o es y Sys ems:
Oppo uni ies and Challenges, Ad ances in Ag o o es y. Sp inge Ne he lands, Do d ech .
10Toensmeie , E. 2016. The Ca bon Fa ming Solu ion: A Global Toolki o Pe ennial C ops and
Regene a i e Ag icul u e P ac ices o Clima e Change Mi iga ion and Food Secu i y. Chelsea G een
Publishing. 11Nai , P.K.R., Kuma , B.M., Nai , V.D. 2021. An In oduc ion o Ag o o es y: Fou
Decades o Scien i ic De elopmen s. Sp inge In e na ional Publishing. 12Lawson, G. e al. 2025.
Chap e 10 - Ag o o es y and ne -ze o in he Eu opean ag icul u e, o es y and land use sec o ,
in: Sandeep Kuma , Ram Swa oop Meena, Ag icul u e Towa d Ne Ze o Emissions, Academic P ess.
13Lawson, G.J. e al., 2023. Ag o o es y and he 2040 AFOLU ne -ze o a ge , Eu opean
Ag o o es y Fede a ion. A ailable a : h ps://zenodo.o g/ eco ds/8075187
The Digi AF p ojec has mapped ee co e in ag icul u al land. Cu en ly
he e a e 108.9 million hec a es o ag icul u al land (59%o he
ag icul u al a ea) wi hou any ees. The e is much o be done o imp o e
his es ima e a EU le el, and Digi AF in ends o eplace he 100m
Cope nicus T ee Co e Densi y p oduc wi h he 10m e sion and o use
LPIS da a a he han Co ine. An "in eg a ed u al land-pa cel- egis y"
would g ea ly acili a e his mo e o land-di e si y mapping and po en ial
CAP "paymen by esul s" schemes.
Figu e 1. T ee co e densi y (% ee co e in 100 m pixels) in
c opland/g assland in he 39 EEA coun ies12. The deep ed a eas a e
p io i y plan ing a eas whe e ee co e densi y is pa icula ly low. They
a e usually on mine al soils whe e ag o o es y will make he g ea es
con ibu ion o ca bon seques a ion. Cope nicus ee co e densi y 2018
supe imposed on CORINE ag icul u al land 2018. Each pixel in his map
co e s 1ha.
Table 1. Ze o- ee-index anking o EU Membe S a es (i.e. % ag icul u al hec a es wi h ze o ees)13
MT
CY
RO
LT
BG
HU
EL
NL
SK
HR
CZ PL ES
DK
IT BE EE LU
DE
FR AT LV FI IE SI SE PT
Ze o- ee
index 95 88 82 82 79 78 76 75 71 71 71 70 70 70 67 65 65 65 64 62 62 62 60 59 54 49 48
#12345678910 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
The Land Pa cel Iden i ica ion Sys em
gi es access o public ag icul u al
adminis a i e uni s, c op and land-use
codes and pa cel geome ies o se e al
EU Membe S a es, bu in di e en
o ma s. The LPIS in eg a o
homogenizes his da a and allows pan-
Eu opean que y and iewing.
A ha monized and be e accessible LPIS
egis y could o m he ounda ional
basis o es ima ing ag o o es y a ea
and a "geospa ial ca bon emo als
egis y“.
www.digi a .eu
Scan o download his
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