Carbon Removals

The Council of the EU (the Council) and the European Parliament reached a provisional political agreement (the Agreement) earlier this week on a regulation to establish the Carbon Removals Certification Framework (CRCF), the first EU-level certification framework for permanent carbon removals. The CRCF is a voluntary framework intended to facilitate deployment of high-quality carbon removal and soil emission reduction activities in the EU, in support of net-zero by 2050. The Agreement follows the European Commission’s (the Commission’s) regulatory proposal for the CRCF (released December 2, 2022) and the Council’s mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament (released November 17, 2023). The European Parliament and Council now need to formally approve the Agreement. Once this process is completed, the new legislation will be published in the Official Journal and enter into force. We anticipate that the CRCF will facilitate integration of carbon dioxide removals into the EU’s broader package of climate policies and eventually allow for market-based trading of CRCF-certified units. CRCF certification may also serve as an integrity benchmark for CDRs developed for the voluntary carbon market. This bulletin briefly summarizes the main elements of the Agreement. Scope of activities. The CRCF will use an “open definition” of carbon removals, in line with the IPCC and which only covers atmospheric or biogenic carbon removals. It will cover the following carbon removal and emission reduction activities and differentiate between four corresponding unit types: 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) of a duration of at least 5 years; and soil emission reduction (from…

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released its final installment of the Sixth Assessment Report, Working Group III’s report on the global assessment of climate change mitigation progress and pledges “Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change” (the Report). It also released an accompanying Summary for Policymakers and Technical Summary. The Report considers and documents the scientific, technological, environmental, economic, and social aspects of mitigation of climate change and notes the growing role of non-state and sub-national actors including cities, businesses, Indigenous Peoples, citizens, transnational initiatives, and public-private entities in addressing the impacts and causes of climate change. The Report has been highly anticipated and is the first mitigation report that the IPCC has published since 2014. It provides an unprecedented level of scientific analysis on the options to mitigate climate change, including a significant focus on carbon dioxide removals and the costs of emissions reductions. This bulletin briefly highlights key findings of the Report. Recent developments and current trends. The Report notes that: Total greenhouse (GHG) emissions continued to rise during the period 2010–2019, largely attributed to urban areas, and that the average annual GHG emissions during 2010–2019 were higher than in any previous decade. Reduced emissions from industrial processes and fossil fuels have been more than offset by increased emissions from rising global activity levels in industry, energy supply, transport, agriculture, and buildings. Global GHG emissions in 2030 associated with the implementation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) announced prior to COP26 make it likely that warming will exceed 1.5°C during this century. Policy, cost, deployment of low-emission technologies and finance. The Report notes that: The cost of low-emission technologies such as photovoltaics, onshore and offshore wind, concentrating solar power, and batteries for passenger electric vehicles (EVs) has continued to decrease since 2010, as demonstrated by an over…

Council of EU and European Parliament Agree Deal on Carbon Removals Certification Framework

IPCC Releases Highly Anticipated Mitigation Report