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Scaling up carbon dioxide removals – Recommendations for navigating opportunities and risks in the EU
The report ‘Scaling up carbon dioxide removals – Recommendations for navigating opportunities and risks in the EU’ outlines key actions for the EU to accelerate the deployment of carbon dioxide removals, emphasising their potential to drive innovation, restore ecosystems and create economic opportunities, while ensuring environmental and social safeguards.
Climate change is already disrupting ecosystems, infrastructure, and food and energy security across Europe and the world. 2024 was the warmest year on record since 1850. Alongside deep emissions cuts, removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere is essential to halting global warming, stabilising the climate and curbing the most severe impacts of climate change.
The EU is committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 – and eventually net-negative emissions, where removals exceed emissions. With the ongoing decline in the EU’s carbon sink – the capacity of its natural systems, like forests and soils, to absorb and store CO2 – and the slow rollout of new removal methods, current trends underscore the urgent need for a strong policy response to scale up removals across the EU to counterbalance residual emissions from activities that currently have no or limited mitigation alternatives.
To achieve its climate targets, the EU must quickly scale up carbon dioxide removals while pursuing deep emissions cuts. With the right incentives, a dynamic policy mix can speed up innovation and strengthen the EU’s position in the global race for cleantech leadership.
Separate targets, stronger innovation support and environmental safeguards to accelerate carbon dioxide removals
The Advisory Board recommends setting separate legal targets for emissions, temporary removals from land and permanent removals from novel methods. This would provide clear investment signals and promote technological progress. It calls for increased innovation funding and market incentives to drive early demand for removals, while ensuring robust monitoring to manage risks and fostering social engagement to raise awareness.
Speeding up innovation and competitiveness is a key EU priority. For carbon dioxide removals, this requires clear guidance and substantial public investment to improve the technological and commercial readiness of various removal methods. Diversification, robust monitoring and public engagement can help ensure removals deliver intended climate benefits, maintain environmental integrity and address social concerns.
Integrating permanent removals into the EU carbon market over time for a cost-effective deployment
While public support is needed to overcome early-stage challenges, the Advisory Board recommends gradually integrating permanent removals into the EU Emissions Trading System. This would allow permanent removal projects to generate credits, under strict sustainability criteria, creating an innovative financing model for scaling up removals while limiting public budget dependency.
Once a robust certification framework is in place, integrating permanent removals into the EU Emissions Trading System will help balance reductions and removals in a cost-effective way. This process should be gradually phased in and carefully managed to account for technological readiness and environmental risks. Additionally, an intermediary institution should oversee the supply and demand of removal credits to ensure a robust and effective system.
The Advisory Board also recommends recognising an ‘extended emitter responsibility’ that would require today’s emitters to contribute to the future removal of the greenhouse gases they emit. Such approach would particularly contribute to reaching net-negative emissions in the EU.
Reversing the EU’s land sink decline through enhanced temporary removals
The Advisory Board warns of a critical decline in the EU’s carbon sink, a trend worsened by climate impacts such as wildfires, droughts and floods. To reverse this trend, the Advisory Board recommends new pricing instruments to reward land managers for removing carbon and to price emissions in the land sector.
Right now, EU policies on land use are insufficiently aligned with climate and sustainability goals. Smarter incentives rewarding removals in the land sector can generate funding to help restore the EU’s carbon sink and enhance ecosystems’ resilience to climate change.
Translations of press release
Čeština (Czech), Deutsch (German), Ελληνικά (Greek), Español (Spanish), Français (French), Italiano (Italian), Magyar (Hungarian), Nederlands (Dutch), Polski (Polish), Português (Portuguese), Română (Romanian), Svenska (Swedish)
