The European Parliament adopted the provisional agreement on the Carbon Removals Certification Framework (CRCF)
The Regulation aims to promote the development
of carbon removal technologies and sustainable carbon farming practices, and
presents important changes compared to the original proposal from late 2022.
Now, there is an ongoing debate on how to successfully implement it that includes
experts from Farms4Climate partners.
The road to achieving climate neutrality by 2050 at the EU level requires not only reducing greenhouse gas emissions but also scaling up carbon removals from the atmosphere. In this sense, in late 2022, the European Commission proposed the creation of a voluntary framework to certify high-quality carbon removals within the land use and forestry sectors in the EU. After almost a year and a half of deliberations, last April the European Parliament finally adopted the provisional agreement on the Carbon Removals Certification Framework (CRCF) Regulation, aimed at encouraging the development of carbon removal technologies and sustainable carbon farming approaches.
The approved regulation, which still needs to be revised by lawyer-linguists before it can be published in the EU's Official Journal and enter into force, presents significant modifications compared to the original proposal. Most importantly, these changes imply a broadening of the scope of the regulation to include soil emission reductions, and a distinction between four types of carbon units and their temporary or permanent nature: permanent carbon removal (storing atmospheric or biogenic carbon for several centuries), temporary carbon storage in long-lasting products (such as wood-based construction products), temporary carbon storage from carbon farming (e.g., restoring forests and soil), and soil emission reduction from carbon farming (e.g., no tilling and cover crop practices, and reduced use of fertiliser combined with soil management practices).
Alongside the political agreement, the Commission is now discussing, with the assistance of experts in the field, how to implement transparent, harmonised, and cost-effective certification methodologies for carbon removals that meet the overarching criteria of quantification, additionality, long-term storage, monitoring, liability, and sustainability. In this context, Tristano Bacchetti de Gregoris, from Farms4Climate partner Soluciones Agrícolas Ecoinnovadoras (SAE), presented the outcomes of the first European Carbon Farming Summit at the 4th EU Carbon Removals Expert Group Meeting, which took place online and in person in Brussels in April.
Bacchetti de Gregoris highlighted the need to develop carbon standards that are adequate for the characteristics of biogenic carbon and the agricultural sector, such as the non-permanence of carbon farming. Additionally, he supported the creation of projects that focus on broader sustainability benefits with a more holistic perspective, rather than on carbon alone. He also underscored the need to embrace a vision of carbon farming as a tool for agricultural transformation, extending beyond the financial view to the ambition of building more sustainable and resilient food systems and rural communities.
Overall, the CRCF Regulation seeks to foster new business models and investments in innovative carbon removal technologies and practices, bringing benefits for the climate and farmers while addressing greenwashing. This new set of rules will apply to activities carried out in the EU, but in future revisions the Commission should consider the possibility of allowing geological carbon storage in neighbouring countries, as long as they align with EU environmental and safety standards.
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