On Wednesday, April 10, the European Parliament adopted an agreement with Member States to establish the world’s first carbon dioxide removal certification system.
EU carbon certificates in the final stretch
At the end of 2022, the European Commission published a draft regulation that would establish an EU-wide, voluntary certification system for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It would become one of the tools to achieve the EU’s climate neutrality goal by 2050.
After passing the next legislative stages, on April 10, 2024, a vote on this matter was held in the European Parliament. MEPs supported the so-called EU carbon certificates by majority vote: 441 for, 139 against, 41 abstentions. This still needs to be approved by the Council and the regulation will then be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and enter into force 20 days later.
After the vote, rapporteur Lidia Pereira expressed her satisfaction with Parliament’s decision:
– I am very pleased that the European Parliament has given the green light to the carbon dioxide removal certification framework. I look forward to the moment when those who remove and store carbon dioxide have the right incentive to do so. I am very happy that farmers will be able to gain an additional source of income for their efforts. Parliament is once again on the right side of history.
EU carbon certificates and agriculture
The carbon dioxide removal certification system will be addressed to entities that deal with:
- storing carbon dioxide in durable products, e.g. wood-based building materials and biochar;
- industrial removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, e.g. using BECCS technology (bioenergy with carbon capture and storage) or DACCS (direct capture and storage of carbon dioxide from the air);
- carbon farming.
Carbon farming practices that are particularly useful in terms of carbon dioxide removal include: afforestation, agroforestry, use of catch crops, conservation tillage, conversion of arable land to fallow land or fallow areas to permanent grassland, restoration of peat bogs and wetlands.
Farmers who, by applying the above practices, will absorb CO2 from the atmosphere or reduction of emissions from the soil and confirm it with an EU certificate will have the opportunity to obtain additional funds from private and public sources, e.g. through the Common Agricultural Policy or the Horizon Europe program.
As part of the certification system, it was also announced that a pilot certification of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from intestinal fermentation of farm animals and their excrement would be carried out.
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