A new EU- funded project aims to improve our understanding of the European greenhouse gas budget through innovative modelling of the land-based carbon cycle. The new models created by the project will support land management policy decisions to reduce emissions.
The project, led by Professor Rubén Valbuena from SLU, has a budget of € 12 million over five years and involves 22 European partners.
The EU has set ambitious emission reduction targets that include land-based carbon sources and sinks. To meet these targets and to monitor progress, there is a strong need for reliable data that can be updated frequently and adapted to land management policies for reducing fossil fuel emissions.
Over the next five years, the NextGenCarbon* project aims to respond to these needs by combining earth observation data from remote sensors and incorporating them into different carbon modelling approaches, something that has never been done before. The project, funded by Horizon Europe, will benefit from the expertise of 22 European partners.
“NextGenCarbon aims to harness the potential of remote sensors onboard satellites and other types of forest information sources to improve our knowledge of how forest landscapes and their management can benefit our climate targets and provide prompt updates of carbon sequestration”, says Rubén Valbuena, Professor of Forest Remote Sensing at the Department of Forest Resource Management at SLU Umeå and coordinator of NextGenCarbon.
The next generation of global carbon models that will be developed in the project offers the opportunity to provide reliable and rapidly updated data on European carbon stocks. This will serve multiple policy fronts, including European greenhouse gas budgeting.
“We are very excited to bring our expertise in remote sensing to the project and look forward to working with world-renowned climate scientists on this important topic”, Rubén Valbuena continues.
SLU also involves internal collaboration with Professor Matthias Peichl from the Department of Forest Ecology and Management and Professor Göran Ståhl from the Department of Forest Resource Management, who contribute their expertise to the project. Professor Peichl expects the project to deliver a milestone advance in our understanding of the global carbon cycle by connecting a wealth of ground-based measurements with cutting-edge remote sensing information, bringing together also two key research fields within SLU Umeå.
“I find it exciting that the data from the European ICOS network, to which SLU contributes within ICOS Sweden, will be of central support to this project”, Peichl comments.
“A key to success for this project will be to effectively combine all this data. In this effort, novel methods for data assimilation will be instrumental. The project brings together several leading European groups from this field,” concludes Professor Ståhl.
*NextGenCarbon - Next Generation Modelling of Terrestrial Carbon Cycle by assimilation of in situ campaigns and Earth Observations. Project duration: 2025-2030.
Rubén Valbuena, Professor
Department of Forest Resource Management, Division of Forest Remote Sensing, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Ruben.valbuena@slu.se, +460907868396, +46730629327
Sanna-Kaisa Riihimäki, Research assistant
Department of Forest Resource Management, Division of Forest Remote Sensing, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Sanna.kaisa.riihimaki@slu.se, +46907868577, +46761098618
Funded by the European Union. However, the views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.