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This week, we are diving into one of the European Union’s most ambitious climate initiatives - the Carbon Removals Certification Framework (CRCF). As part of the EU’s Green Deal, the CRCF aims to promote carbon farming and sustainable land management by establishing a voluntary certification system for carbon removals. In this post, we will explore how the CRCF encourages businesses and farmers to adopt climate-positive practices while driving innovation in carbon sequestration. We will also look at the challenges and debates surrounding its implementation and what it could mean for the future of carbon markets across the EU.
The CRCF provides an EU-wide system for certifying various types of carbon removal activities. These include carbon farming, which leverages agricultural and land-use practices to capture and store carbon, and carbon storage in products, such as bio-based construction materials that can lock away carbon over long periods. By creating a standard certification process, the CRCF aims to ensure the quality, transparency, and sustainability of these activities. This regulation sets out criteria for measuring, reporting, and verifying carbon removals to ensure that they contribute effectively to the EU’s climate goals.
Carbon farming is at the heart of the CRCF, offering farmers incentives to implement practices that both reduce emissions and sequester carbon. These methods range from improving soil management to afforestation and reforestation efforts. The CRCF certification allows farmers to quantify the carbon they remove from the atmosphere, which can then be marketed as carbon credits. This system supports the transition to more sustainable agricultural practices while providing a potential new income stream for farmers.
The CRCF includes a strict certification process to maintain integrity and transparency. Certification schemes must comply with the CRCF’s quality criteria, prioritizing permanent, additional, and verifiable carbon removals. Third-party certification bodies oversee the monitoring and verification of carbon removal activities, ensuring that all projects meet EU standards. Additionally, the CRCF will establish a Union-wide certification registry by 2028, providing a transparent record of all certified carbon removal activities.
Despite its ambitious goals, the CRCF has faced criticism from environmental groups and experts. A major concern is the reliance on temporary carbon storage methods, such as carbon farming and soil sequestration, which may not offer the long-term climate benefits needed. Critics argue that carbon stored in soils can easily be released back into the atmosphere by natural disasters or human activities, undermining the goal of permanent carbon removal. This could result in overestimated credits, potentially leading to greenwashing, where companies use short-lived carbon storage to offset emissions without meaningful reductions.
Additionally, some experts point out that the CRCF doesn't sufficiently distinguish between carbon removals and emission reductions, conflating their impacts. This could weaken the framework’s effectiveness, as emission reductions and carbon removals address climate change in distinct ways. There are also concerns about the robustness of the framework’s baseline assumptions and long-term monitoring, raising fears that inflated carbon removal claims may erode the CRCF's credibility.
Discussions during the 4th and latest 5th Carbon Removal Expert Group Meetings, significant strides have been made in shaping the EU’s climate action strategy, with a particular focus on long-term carbon removal and sequestration. These discussions have highlighted critical areas like biomass sustainability, funding mechanisms, and ongoing debates about carbon storage methodologies, especially in Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) and Biochar. These methodologies play a pivotal role in ensuring that carbon removals under the CRCF are permanent and verifiable, aligning with the EU’s climate goals.
A significant portion of the workshops highlighted the importance of biomass in carbon removal technologies. With around two-thirds of the initial methodologies relying on biomass for carbon capture, there were active discussions on ensuring biomass sourcing is sustainable and harmonized across different CRCF methodologies. The NGO sector has been pushing for higher sustainability standards than those outlined in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), while industries emphasize that sustainable biomass production methods already exist and should be integrated into the framework without overly stringent new regulations.
On the financing front, the EU Commission is prioritizing funding mechanisms for Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR), aiming to bridge companies with existing funding sources such as Horizon Europe and the Innovation Fund. Additionally, a dedicated workshop focusing on public-private partnerships to enhance funding for CDR projects is set for Q2 2025, which will be vital for scaling up these technologies across Europe.
One of the most contentious debates remains around the permanence of carbon storage. In particular, the durability of carbon stored in soil and biochar is under scrutiny, with disagreements over how long carbon can realistically stay sequestered. Although some progress has been made, consensus on methodologies like Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) and BECCS is still elusive. Despite scientific support for the long-term storage potential of biochar, stakeholders agree that more field studies are required to validate these claims.
Looking forward, key milestones for the CRCF include the finalization of methodologies for DACCS and BECCS by 2025, with the first certified CRCF units expected in 2026. A Union Registry for tracking certified carbon removal activities is scheduled to be launched by 2028, providing transparency and facilitating integration into broader EU climate strategies. These developments will be crucial in enabling a functioning carbon market and ensuring that certified removals contribute to the EU’s net-zero objectives.
The CRCF is a pioneering step towards building a sustainable carbon market in the EU, with the potential to significantly advance carbon removals and farming. By creating a certification system for carbon removal activities, it can help drive climate action. However, challenges remain, particularly regarding the reliability and permanence of carbon storage. Without addressing these issues, such as the risk of stored carbon being released back into the atmosphere, the CRCF may struggle to fully meet the EU’s climate objectives, and the public’s trust.
At Scature, we align with the CRCF's mission by supporting regenerative agriculture and carbon farming. We connect businesses with small-scale farmers using carbon sequestration techniques to reduce Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. By investing in certified carbon removal projects, companies can manage their carbon budgets while contributing to long-term climate resilience.