Olive Council Advances Plan to Bring Olive Grove Carbon Credits to European Market

Carbon credits generated by olive groves under an International Olive Council scheme are expected to be sold across the European Union.

Following member countries’ approval of the second phase of its Carbon Balance Project, the International Olive Council confirmed to Olive Oil Times that the certification scheme is intended to be fully compatible with the European Union’s Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming Certification Framework.

Juan Antonio Polo Palomino, head of the IOC’s Olive Oil Technology and Environment Department, said the organization expects to begin the European recognition process in 2027. It aims to have the scheme fully operational and integrated with the E.U. registry by the end of 2028.

The second phase builds on a pilot project that generated 110 carbon balance assessments covering approximately 20,000 hectares of olive groves in 16 countries.

Each assessment compared greenhouse gas emissions from farming activities with the carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere and stored in olive trees and soil.

The resulting balance, expressed in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per hectare per year, indicates whether an olive grove is a net source of emissions or a net carbon sink.

These calculations provide the basis for determining how many carbon credits an olive-growing project may generate. Each credit generally represents one metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent removed from the atmosphere or prevented from being released after the result has been independently verified and certified.

According to Polo Palomino, the pilot confirmed the conclusions of earlier modeling studies conducted by the IOC, which estimated that olive groves could sequester an average of about 4.16 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per hectare annually.

“That figure has been confirmed through external validation and certification processes using the primary data provided by 110 reports registered on the platform,” he told Olive Oil Times.

Polo Palomino said the pilot also demonstrated widespread interest in carbon farming across the olive sector. It also showed that the IOC’s digital platform could provide “a robust and accurate carbon balance assessment across diverse olive-growing systems.”

The platform remains freely available to growers, cooperatives and other olive sector operators. Users can calculate the carbon balance of individual olive groves and simulate how changes in agricultural practices could improve their environmental performance.

While the pilot focused on measuring and validating carbon sequestration, the second phase will concentrate on building the institutional and technical infrastructure needed to certify and register voluntary carbon credits.

“Throughout the project, we will maintain a close dialogue with the European Commission with the aim of obtaining recognition under this regulation,” Polo Palomino said.

“Our objective is to ensure that the credits generated under the IOC scheme achieve the highest possible level of credibility and therefore the greatest value in the market,” he added.

The European Union has been an IOC member under the current International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives since 2017.

Blockchain technology is also expected to be incorporated into the registration process.

“The IOC is currently participating in a pilot project led by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Digital Services and Directorate-General for Climate Action, which explores the use of blockchain technology for issuing carbon farming credits alongside other use cases,” Polo Palomino said.

“Through this initiative, we are gaining first-hand experience of how certification schemes can generate digital tokens that are automatically recorded in a public registry running on the E.U. blockchain infrastructure,” he added.

The IOC expects the experience to allow it to incorporate blockchain into its certification scheme without developing a dedicated platform from scratch.

According to Polo Palomino, the IOC’s broader vision is to create a digital environment capable of managing the entire lifecycle of a carbon credit project.

“Our objective is to provide a technological environment that is simple to use, transparent, robust and reliable for both carbon credit generators and buyers,” he said.

The system is expected to cover operator registration, project data submission, certification, digital token generation and the registration of carbon credits in the E.U. public registry for European operators.

“For operators outside the E.U., or for European operators wishing to trade their credits on other marketplaces, the system will also enable registration on other recognized international carbon marketplaces,” Polo Palomino said.