The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, has proposed rules on Wednesday, November 30th, to set up a certification system for carbon removal so that it lives up to its promise of capturing emissions from the atmosphere. In the coming years, the EU will determine how solutions ranging from planting forests to extracting CO2 directly from the air qualify for the bloc’s gold stamp.
The initial proposal is light on details – setting broad quality criteria to ensure robust carbon removals. This includes how to accurately measure the amount of CO2 captured, ensure it is stored over a long period and that it is a greenhouse gas that would not otherwise be taken from the atmosphere.
“Cutting emissions will always be the core of our efforts, but it is impossible to bring all our emissions down to zero,” EU climate chief Frans Timmermans told a media conference. “The certification framework for carbon removal ensures that whenever we say one tonne of carbon has been taken out of the atmosphere, we can verify that claim.”
