Objectives of the service
The Parcel Sustainability Passport addresses critical challenges in carbon farming verification. Following the 2023 South Pole carbon credit scandal, companies face eroded trust, excessive verification costs consuming 60–80% of certification expenses, and insufficient data accuracy for environmental claims. Farmers struggle with complex reporting requirements while certification bodies lack scalable validation methods.
The solution provides an auditable sustainability passport for agricultural parcels using geospatial analytics and remote sensing technology. The service detects farming practices including cover cropping duration, crop rotation cycles, tillage methods, deforestation, and biodiversity metrics through Copernicus satellite data and Galileo positioning. Results are delivered via application programming interface, web dashboard, or mobile application, enabling seamless integration into existing farm management systems.
The 3C – Carbon Claims Check activity developed this service through a six-month feasibility study. Objectives included finalising the technical architecture, validating algorithms with partner ground-truth data, and establishing commercial pathways for market deployment. This work transformed the existing AgKnowledge platform into a carbon-specific verification tool, reducing measurement costs while ensuring transparency and regulatory compliance under the Green Claims Directive and Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming Regulation.
Users and their needs
The Parcel Sustainability Passport targets agricultural project operators, certification bodies, food and textile companies, farm management systems, soil organic carbon modelling companies, and GHG consultancies.
User Needs:
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Independent verification of farming practices (cover crops, crop rotation, tillage)
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Cost-efficient validation reducing measurement costs by 60–80%
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Scalable monitoring across diverse agricultural landscapes
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Compliance with regulatory frameworks (Green Claims Directive, Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming Regulation, EUDR)
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Input for soil organic carbon modelling and carbon credit certification
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Transparency and auditability for environmental claims
Challenges for the Project:
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Ensuring data accuracy across diverse cropping systems
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Validating algorithms with sufficient ground-truth data
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Adapting methodologies to regional variations (EU, US, South America, India)
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Integrating seamlessly with existing farm management systems
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Maintaining operational quality at scale
Targeted Countries: Primary focus on European Union member states (Germany, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Poland, Italy), with expansion to United States, Brazil, and India.
Service/ system concept
The Parcel Sustainability Passport delivers auditable sustainability data for agricultural parcels. Users receive verified information on farming practices including cover cropping duration, crop rotation cycles, tillage methods, deforestation, and biodiversity metrics. The service provides application programming interface access, web dashboard visualiszation, and mobile application integration for seamless workflow incorporation.
How It Works: Farmers or project owners submit field boundaries. Satellite images from the Copernicus programme are analysed over multiple years. Advanced algorithms detect farming activities and environmental conditions. Results are compiled into a standardised sustainability passport that can be used for carbon credit certification or regulatory compliance.
System Architecture: The solution operates on the AgKnowledge platform, which processes satellite data through automated pipelines. Three main components deliver the service: data ingestion from Copernicus, AI-powered analysis engines, and output delivery via API or dashboard. This middleware design enables integration with existing farm management systems.
Space Added Value
The service utilises Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites for optical and radar imaging, alongside Galileo for precise geolocation. This combination enables continuous, all-weather monitoring of farming practices like cover cropping and tillage, overcoming cloud cover limitations of optical-only systems.
Unlike competitor methods relying on costly, sporadic ground visits, this space-based approach offers scalable, objective, and near-real-time verification across vast areas. Galileo ensures meter-level boundary accuracy, critical for preventing fraud. This synergy delivers superior data integrity, reduces verification costs by up to 80%, and ensures regulatory compliance under the Green Claims Directive, providing transparency and efficiency unattainable through traditional auditing alone.
Current Status
The 3C – Carbon Claims Check feasibility study concluded successfully in April 2026. Key achievements include completing the Parcel Sustainability Passport MVP with functional API and report. A strategic partnership was established with MyEasyFarm.
Current work focuses on commercial pathway definition. The AgKnowledge platform now supports carbon-specific service layers.
Upcoming activities include transitioning to commercial deployment, pursuing ESA Business Acceleration funding, and expanding integration with more farm management systems.
