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On 31 January 2022 the European Commission gathered decision makers and experts from different backgrounds to share their experiences in view of the upcoming EU regulatory initiative on the certification of carbon removals.

To balance out the impacts of our CO2 emissions, the EU will need to drastically reduce its reliance on fossil carbon, upscale carbon farming to store more carbon in nature, and promote industrial solutions to sustainably and verifiably remove and recycle carbon. Removing and storing more carbon, from the atmosphere, oceans and coastal wetlands, is essential to achieve the EU's legally binding commitment to become climate neutral by 2050.

In December 2021, the Commission adopted the Communication “Sustainable Carbon Cycles” that outlines EU-wide actions to scale up carbon farming initiatives and industrial solutions in order to sustainably capture, store and recycle carbon. By the end of 2022, the Commission will propose an EU regulatory framework for the certification of carbon removals based on robust and transparent carbon accounting rules to monitor and verify the authenticity and environmental integrity of carbon removals. A Call for Evidence will also be launched in February.

On 31 January public authorities, industry representatives and civil society exchanged on the role and potential of carbon removals in the EU and feed into the discussion on the upcoming regulatory framework for their certification.

High-level speakers included Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans, Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski, French Minister for Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili and French Minister for Agriculture Julien Denormandie. Furthermore, more technical topics were discussed during four panel sessions with the participation of experts and relevant stakeholders.

If you missed it, you can watch the recording and see the presentations.

Find out more on sustainable carbon cycles.