EU to Establish a Carbon Removals Certification Regime to Tackle Quality Issues

Companies involved in carbon faming projects, industrial carbon removal technologies and binding carbon in long-lasting products and materials will be able to have their products or services certified under the first EU-wide voluntary framework for the certification of high-quality carbon removals.

The Carbon Removals Certification Framework, the first of its kind in the world, has been agreed upon in discussions between the EU’s two key legislative bodies, the European Parliament and the Council.

The scheme sets criteria and rules to recognise various certification schemes that can show compliance with the broader EU framework, which itself seeks to ensure a level of high quality in carbon removals processes in the EU, as well as a level of transparency and credibility for such processes. 

The regulation includes an open definition of carbon removals, in line with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and which only covers atmospheric or biogenic carbon removals. It defines carbon removals as activities that store atmospheric or biogenic carbon for “several centuries”.

It will cover the following carbon removal and emission reduction activities and differentiate between four corresponding types of units:

* permanent carbon removal (storing atmospheric or biogenic carbon for several centuries)

* temporary carbon storage in long-lasting products (such as wood-based construction products) of a duration of at least 35 years and that can be monitored on-site during the entire monitoring period

* temporary carbon storage from carbon farming (e.g. restoring forests and soil, wetland management, seagrass meadows)

* soil emission reduction (from carbon farming) which includes carbon and nitrous oxide reductions from soil management, and activities that must overall reduce the carbon emissions of soils or increase carbon removals from biological matter (examples of activities are wetland management, no tilling and cover crop practices, reduced use of fertiliser combined with soil management practices etc.)

However, enhanced hydrocarbon recovery will not be covered in the list of permanent carbon removal activities, but operators in marine environments are in scope. An EU registry will be established to create transparency about certified carbon removals. This will be put in place within four years. 

At this point, the European Commission will develop specific certification methodologies for different types of carbon removal activities, assisted by an expert group. It’s not been revealed how long this will take. The Commission is also likely to include clear liability mechanisms when developing the certification methodologies. These should include recourse for operators’ non-compliance with certification schemes.

The legislation, which as a regulation will become law throughout the EU once it is in force, is the first step towards introducing a comprehensive carbon removal and soil emission reduction framework. Designed to tackle greenwashing and to create new business opportunities, it aims to improve the EU's capacity to quantify, monitor and verify the authenticity of all these forms of carbon removals. It should encourage the use of long-lasting bio-based building products to keep carbon bound over several decades or longer, stimulating new sustainable building techniques. 

A number of carbon removal projects are funded by various EU programmes, including the Innovation Fund, Common Agricultural Policy, Regional Development Fund, LIFE programme and Horizon Europe programme (including the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’).