The project GHG AFOLU
To accomplish its institutional role within the European Community GHG Monitoring Mechanism, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission has a specific Project within the Climate Change Unit of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability (Ispra, Italy), named "GHG AFOLU" (GreenHouse Gases in Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses). Being involved in both European policy support and research projects, GHG AFOLU aims at:
Provide scientific and technical support for implementing the European Community GHG inventory system in the AFOLU Sector. This include the check of Member States' inventories and the contribution to the EC Inventory Report, as well as efforts for harmonizing, improving and simplifying the measuring and reporting of GHG emissions and sinks in the AFOLU sector in Europe, e.g. through several activities with Member States and the creation of EU-wide reference datasets;
Perform research activities in order to understand and quantify better the role agriculture and forestry in climate change mitigation, as well as the impact of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. This is done through experimental sites for the measurement of GHG fluxes (mainly CO2 sequestration in forestry and CH4 and N2O emissions from agriculture) and modeling activities, in the frame of the European projects Carboeurope and Nitroeurope.
The
mission of the JRC is to provide customer-driven scientific and
technical support for the conception, development, implementation and
monitoring of EU policies. As a service of the European Commission, the
JRC functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the
Union. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common
interest of the Member States, while being independent of special
interests, whether private or national. 
