In the letter of intent accompanying the State of the Union 2021, the Commission announces key new initiatives for 2022. One of these initiatives is a legislative proposal on carbon removal certification, as part of the European Green Deal.

On 19 October the European Commission adopted its work programme for 2022. The legislative proposal for carbon removal certification is expected in the final quarter (Q4) of 2022. An impact assessment will accompany the proposal. The need to scale up sustainable carbon removals in view of climate targets drive the proposal, which according to the Commission aim to deliver a common EU standard and a reliable certification framework with high environmental integrity.

On 15 December 2021, the Commission adopted the communication on sustainable carbon cycles, which addresses the need for a regulatory framework for the certification of carbon removals.

In the short term the focus is on actions to;

• upscale carbon farming as a business model incentivising practices on ecosystems that increase carbon sequestration
• foster new industrial value chains for the sustainable capture, recycling, transport and storage of carbon.

The Commission launched a call for evidence on 7 February 2022, to further inform the process towards adoption of such a framework within the EU. The public consultation took place simultaneously and both processes closed on 2 May 2022.

The idea of a carbon removal certification scheme was first mentioned by the Commission in the 2020 New Circular Economy Action Plan (see separate file). In the LULUCF revision proposal (see separate file), carbon removal certification is proposed as a potential preamble to establishing a carbon trading system for land sector removals, from 2030.

References:

• European Commission, Communication on Sustainable Carbon Cycles, COM(2021)800
• European Commission, Commission work programme 2022, COM(2021)645
• European Commission, State of the Union 2021 - Letter of intent, September 2021
• European Commission, Communication on the European Green Deal, COM(2019)640
• European Commission, Have your say - Certification of carbon removals – EU rules, webpage
• European Commission, A New Circular Economy Action Plan for a Cleaner and More Competitive Europe, COM(2020)98

Further reading:

• European Parliament, EPRS, EU climate action policy: Responding to the global emergency , Study, March 2021
• European Parliament, EPRS, The von der Leyen Commission's six priorities: State of play in Autumn 2021, In-depth analysis, September 2021

Author: Liselotte Jensen, Members' Research Service, legislative-train@europarl.europa.eu

Visit the European Parliament pages on climate change.