To work towards climate neutrality, the EU has established a new target within the revised Regulation on land, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) aiming to achieve a net removal of 310 million tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030 through land-based actions.

Nevertheless, three primary challenges impede progress to achieving this target

• The alarming trend of declining net LULUCF removals observed in recent years poses a significant obstacle to climate mitigation efforts;
• LULUCF sector presents a rich tapestry of unexploited opportunities for enhancing climate action in an integrated manner, where leveraging the multifaceted nature of land use and management holds immense potential for holistic synergistic approaches that maximize carbon sequestration and ecosystem resilience;
• While the vision of harnessing the sector’s potential for climate mitigation is compelling, realizing this ambition is contingent upon overcoming persistent challenges in implementing robust accounting, monitoring, and reporting mechanisms.

In pursuit of these challenges, LandShift stands as a dynamic initiative that leverages data-processing and management innovation and New European Bauhaus-aligned (NEB-aligned) Nature-based solutions (NBS).

The unexploited opportunities for enhancing climate action in an integrative manner cover the following areas:

Carbon Removals: have significantly decreased in recent years, and the land sink function is in decline. To achieve climate neutrality by 2050, it is important to make profound and substantial reductions in Green House Gas (GHGs) emissions. Nonetheless, as it is not possible to eliminate GHGs emissions, the assistance of carbon removal measures is required to reverse the trend of diminishing carbon sinks.

Interconnected Dynamically Complex Challenges: Governments face multiple and overlapping challenges, including improving livelihoods, tackling climate change, mitigating biodiversity loss and addressing food insecurity, shortages, and waste. To address these interconnected challenges, governments would benefit from locally targeted/regional/national strategies, plans, and policies that provide coherence between these areas. Member States needed to reflect on the role of the land use sector when updating their National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) for the 2021-2030 period.

Policy Coordination: Several policy-related obstacles have been identified that hinder land use ability to address climate and biodiversity concerns effectively, encompassing:

• insufficient integration of land uses, climate, and biodiversity policies;
• a lack of adopting a “landscape approach” to land management;
• challenges in accurately assessing the actual value of ecosystem benefits and the need to strengthen policies that account for both positive and negative externalities;
• policy misalignments;
• influence of consumer behaviour, such as preferences for GHG-intensive food sources and
• insufficient integration of innovative processing and AI techniques into informed policy creation.

Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) of Emissions: : There are several barriers to MRV, including:

• a scarcity of country-specific data regarding the adoption of technology and the impact of mitigation measures;
• insufficient resources within inventory compilation teams;
• a lack of effective enforcement for monitoring measures’ impact on GHG emissions, coupled with the limited granularity of current LULUCF emissions and removals systems,
• inconsistent reporting practices among Member States and
• according to the “2nd Meeting of the Carbon Removals Expert Group”: Insufficient data availability undermines the reliability of model-based estimations in cropland MRV, whereas in forestry the requirement for enhanced data infrastructure for affordable and adaptable solutions is highlighted.

Rewards for Sustainable Land Management Practices: Engaging stakeholders through incentivizing land managers to adopt improved sustainability practices is essential. To ensure the certification of high-quality carbon removals within the EU, a regulatory framework has been established (Certification of Carbon Removals). Nevertheless, there is a need for a more transparent and credible governance framework. Scaling up new business models will encourage increased green investments, extending beyond carbon emissions reduction, and promoting their wider deployment to achieve sustainable land management.

Stakeholder Engagement: : In the realm of climate mitigation and adaptation, the involvement of all relative stakeholders is essential for effective, sustainable, and inclusive policymaking. Nonetheless, these stakeholders may not always possess the necessary information or be fully aware of the environmental consequences of their actions. Bridging this information gap and fostering a deeper understanding of the importance of sustainable practices are essential steps toward achieving a climate-neutral land use sector.

By establishing five living spaces (LS), LandShift will address the climate challenges of land use co-planning and -management, fostering improved co-governance for coordinated decision-making and policy creation at regional, national and EU levels

Climate change is a global issue, but real action starts locally.

LandShift helps bridge the gap between big climate goals and on-the-ground realities by giving communities the tools, data, and support they need to make a difference. It’s a fresh, forward-thinking approach to land use—one that puts people, planet, and progress at the center.

The project is at the forefront of Europe’s climate response, tackling the urgent decline in carbon removals from land and offering bold, forward-thinking solutions to restore the EU’s land sink function. While traditional policies have struggled to keep pace with environmental complexity, LandShift introduces an integrated and technology-driven approach that redefines how we manage, monitor, and plan land use for a climate-neutral future.

LandShift’s significance lies in its holistic approach, unfolding within five Living Spaces (LS) (FR, GR, IT, PL, and UA) across the EU and utilizing data-driven insights to address the multifaceted challenges posed by the intricate relationship between Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) and local/regional climates. The project will empower stakeholders with regional strategies to optimize the relationships between net removals from LULUCF and biogenic emissions from the agriculture sector, among others, at the local/regional level by leveraging advanced tools like Earth Observation (EO) services, AI, Data Cubes, regional-adaptive Multi-Criteria-Decision Analysis (MCDA) tool, and Living Earth frame work, aligning seamlessly with the EU’s climate policies and EU Green Deal.

The project recognizes the importance of community engagement, fostering a sense of co-ownership and co-governance among local communities, which has historically been lacking. By providing data-driven insights to policymakers and stakeholders, LandShift serves as a hallmark of innovation and inclusivity, catalyzing informed decision-making and developing regionally socio-economically and environmentally responsible strategies, all while embracing the principles of the New European Bauhaus (NEB) to drive sustainable change in land management.

In pursuing balanced objectives, LandShift will offer versatile digital toolkits that harmonize both approaches, recognizing their potential in reshaping land use policies and practices through a synergistic approach.

LandShift actively links the documented Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) with the principles of the NEB and enhances data-provider infrastructure to facilitate more efficient land use management, upgrading them into holistic solutions that encompass environmental sustainability, social relevance, and cultural significance while effectively bridging the gap between top-down policies and on-the-ground realities.

The project’s dedication to realizing sustainable, innovative, and inclusive land use planning and management, safeguarding ecological balance, extends to incorporating MRV frameworks supported by analysis-ready data (ARD) into

•  the design of environmentally responsible strategies, and
• accounting, monitoring, and reporting mechanisms for the impact of implemented solutions across diverse land uses, empowering stakeholders with data-driven policy creation and decision-making, respectively.

At its core, LandShift harnesses cutting-edge innovations—ranging from Earth Observation (EO) services and AI-powered analytics to advanced modelling and decision-support systems—to support data-driven policymaking. These tools are deployed across five regional LS each designed to test and adapt strategies suited to local biogeoclimatic realities. This regional adaptability, rooted in high-resolution environmental data, enables more precise, context-specific climate action, moving beyond one-size-fits-all solutions.

LandShift’s innovation also lies in its holistic framework that bridges policy, science, and society. The project addresses longstanding monitoring and reporting challenges by developing harmonized, open-access platforms and MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification) systems, improving the accuracy and transparency of carbon accounting. These advancements align with other EU initiatives, such as MRV4SOC and MARVIC (other EU-funded projects), and support more reliable estimations of soil and biogenic emissions at the landscape level.

Beyond technology, LandShift is revolutionizing governance and incentives. It introduces transparent co-governance models through Policy and Community Labs, enabling stakeholders to co-create strategies and incentive mechanisms tailored to local land-use realities. This includes novel pathways for green crowdfunding, carbon removal certification, and the implementation of New European Bauhaus-aligned Nature-Based Solutions that are environmentally sound, socially inclusive, and culturally relevant.

Ultimately, LandShift represents a paradigm shift in how land use is integrated into climate policy. By aligning ecological, social, and economic priorities through smart technologies and inclusive engagement, it paves the way for scalable, responsible land management across the EU—offering a robust model for regions aiming to meet 2030 climate targets and beyond.

LandShift will formulate the pathway for the transition to a climate-neutral and resilient EU land use sector.

Through the establishment of five Living Spaces (LS), LandShift employs a multifaceted approach to address the complex challenges of land use planning, management, and climate neutrality. LandShift’s methodology evolves through six interwoven steps by synthesizing tools and approaches from the collaborative methodology of Living Labs (LL) and the natural sciences domain.

LandShift aims to have continuous stakeholder engagement and a holistic co-creation approach throughout the implementation process to ensure a collaborative environment and align the designed user-oriented tools with user needs and expectations.

Following regional climate projections and gathering comprehensive data on Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF), state-of-the-art AI techniques are employed to simulate current and future LULUCF, identify complex interactions, and assess dependencies within land-use systems, complemented with food system modelling and landscape ecological approaches for assessing related impacts.

Multiple scenarios will be developed, considering various drivers and priorities. Through a holistic approach and integrating multiple data sources, LandShift will cross-reference land uses with net removals and biogenic emissions at the local and regional levels, providing critical insights into carbon stocks and emissions dynamics.

The project will design roadmaps and formulate regional strategies for achieving balanced objectives, supported by documented New European Bauhaus (NEB)-aligned Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) tailored to address specific challenges, incorporating input from local communities and regional authorities. A dedicated task on securing synergies will aim to broaden the incorporation of proven land management solutions.

A Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) tool will evaluate trade-offs among objectives and refine strategies, optimizing land-use planning while balancing diverse goals. To enable policymakers and researchers to make informed decisions, LandShift will develop five regional Living Earths, using Earth Observation (EO) infrastructure and satellite data and ingesting Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) frameworks, to support a further assessment of trade-offs and Smart Specialization Strategies and EU policy priorities.

The project will actively engage stakeholders, foster socio-behavioral changes, and promote sustainable practices. A comprehensive framework for assessing the impact of integrated Nature-Based Solutions solutions on projected LULUCF will be developed, focusing on biodiversity conservation, soil health, ecosystem resilience, and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

A mobile app will also facilitate data collection through crowdsourcing, enabling in-situ regional observations. LandShift will assist in translating the produced knowledge into comprehensive online training activities and materials for different target groups, strengthening knowledge transfer, and fostering advanced digital and management skills.

Finally, during the project, a strategic sustainability plan will be developed to transform Living Spaces and all their components into self-driving environments and upgrade them to serve as references for mirroring these regions across the EU.