The European Parliament voted yesterday (Wednesday, 10 April) in Brussels to approve a deal with national governments on a new carbon removal certification scheme.

The new rules establish a registry for certified units of carbon dioxide, which have been removed from the atmosphere via industrial or nature-based processes.

In time this could unlock a market for captured CO2 and incentive actors to remove and store atmospheric carbon.

Lead lawmaker on the file Lídia Pereira was “delighted” and said that she was “thrilled to see that farmers can have an extra revenue stream” from carbon capture.

The EU’s new carbon removal certification scheme in detail

European Union legislators reached a political agreement in the early hours of Tuesday (20 February) on a proposal to set up the world’s first registry for certified carbon dioxide removals obtained from eco-farming practices and industrial processes.

The European Commission has proposed a target to reduce 2040 greenhouse gas emissions by 90% relative to 1990 levels, and has estimated that 280 million tons of CO2 equivalent would need to be captured for this target to be reached.

Environmental NGOs’ reacted with scepticism.

Mathieu Mal, policy officer for Agriculture and Climate at the European Environmental Bureau highlighted the new law’s “question marks and red flags” and said that how the rules are implemented will determine whether the new law becomes “a tool for greenwashing, ultimately further delaying climate action”

Once approved by national ministers, the new rules will enter into EU law.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

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