Lawmakers from the European Parliament and the Council announced today that they have reached a provisional agreement on a new regulation establishing a certification framework for the quantification, monitoring and verification of carbon removals.
The agreement marks a significant step towards launching a comprehensive carbon removal and soil emissions reduction framework in EU legislation, aimed at increasing the use of carbon removals, whilst addressing greenwashing concerns and building trust. , as well as encouraging the development of carbon removal technologies. and create revenue opportunities for industries and land managers that implement carbon removal solutions and engage in innovative carbon farming practices.
Carbon removal is emerging as a key tool in the fight against climate change, although most technologies and solutions for capturing and storing carbon from the atmosphere remain at a very early stage. According to the IPCC's landmark Climate Change Mitigation Study released in 2022, scenarios that limit warming to 1.5°C include carbon dioxide removal (CDR) methods, which could reach billions of tonnes of removal annually over the next few decades.
Carbon removal solutions range from industrial technologies, such as direct air capture projects, to natural carbon sinks. Funding for carbon removal projects can come from a variety of sources, such as carbon credits or government incentives, creating the need for a system to verify and quantify the impact and quality of projects.
The initial proposal for the certification framework was announced by the European Commission in 2022, forming part of the European Green Deal, the EU's strategy to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. While the strategy is primarily based on the absolute reduction of greenhouse gas emissions greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), emissions that cannot be eliminated will need to be offset with carbon removals.
The Commission's certification proposal detailed a series of criteria to ensure the quality and comparability of carbon removals, including the need to accurately measure climate benefits and for activities to be complementary to current practices, a requirement for certificates to be linked to the duration of carbon storage and for the carbon removal activity to preserve or contribute to sustainability objectives, such as adaptation to climate change, the circular economy, water and marine resources and biodiversity.
The initial proposal, however, was criticized by groups focused on environmental sustainability, who argued that the new rules were too vague and susceptible to greenwashing.
One of the key aspects of the new agreement is extending the scope of the regulation to soil emissions reductions and maintaining an open definition of carbon removals in line with the IPCC, rather than favoring certain types.
The agreed framework also differentiates categories of carbon removal and emissions reduction activities, including permanent carbon removals that store atmospheric or biogenic carbon for several centuries, temporary storage of carbon in durable products lasting at least 35 years, temporary carbon emissions from carbon agriculture, such as forest and soil restoration, and wetland management, and reducing soil emissions from carbon agriculture.
The agreement maintained the Commission's criteria of quantification, additionality, long-term storage and sustainability for certification, with the Commission, assisted by a group of experts, required to develop customized certification methodologies for different types of carbon removal activities.
Furthermore, the agreement calls on the Commission to include accountability mechanisms, such as advance insurance mechanisms, when developing certification methodologies in order to address reversal cases, where carbon is released back into the atmosphere during the period monitoring.
With the provisional agreement reached, the new rules will have to be formally adopted by the Council and the EU Parliament before they come into force.
