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DRAFT REPORT (COM(2022)0672 – C90399/2022 – 2022/0394(COD))

On the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Union certification framework for carbon removals

ENVI-PR-745292

Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety · Rapporteur: Lídia Pereira

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This is the rapporteur's draft report on the proposed regulation establishing a Union certification framework for carbon removals. It amends the Commission proposal to align definitions with IPCC standards, add rules on monitoring, validity, expiry and liability, and require a single public Union registry. It sets stricter conditions for temporary removals, allows certification of removals captured in the Union but geologically stored in third countries with equivalent rules, and adds food security to the sustainability objectives. It deletes the requirement that a carbon removal activity take place due to the incentive effect of certification, and requires baselines to be regularly reviewed and updated by the Commission at least every ten years. It requires certification schemes to provide information to the Commission for a public Union registry, and sets rules on the issuance and use of certified carbon removal units, including that they not be double counted.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes to amend the Commission proposal to align definitions with IPCC standards, add rules on monitoring, validity, expiry and liability, require a single Union registry, allow geological storage in third countries under equivalent rules, and delete the incentive-effect criterion for additionality.

Key points

  1. Adds recitals stating that carbon removal can lower net emissions, counterbalance hard-to-abate residual emissions and achieve net negative emissions, and that removals must scale up significantly.
  2. States that afforestation, reforestation, improved forest management, agroforestry and soil carbon sequestration are currently the only widely practiced removal methods, while novel methods would need to grow by four to six orders of magnitude by mid-century.
  3. Allows certification of carbon removal activities where geological storage takes place in third countries, provided the carbon is captured in the Union and those countries apply the same legal requirements as Directive 2009/31/EC.
  4. Requires that temporary carbon removals face stricter monitoring, expiry and liability requirements than permanent removals, and that storage which re-releases carbon within a few years or less does not constitute a carbon removal.
  5. Sets monitoring periods: for permanent storage consistent with Directive 2009/31/EC; for carbon permanently chemically bound in products consistent with the delegated act under Article 12(3b) of Directive 2003/87/EC; for long-lasting products the entire product lifetime; and for carbon farming the entire activity duration.
  6. Requires that carbon removal units expire in case of reversal or at the end of the monitoring period, and that operators appoint a liable party and apply liability mechanisms such as up-front insurance, collective buffers or discounting.
  7. Requires carbon removal activities to have at least a neutral impact on all sustainability objectives, may generate positive co-benefits for one or more, and adds food security as an objective.
  8. Deletes the criterion that a carbon removal activity takes place due to the incentive effect of certification, and requires additionality to go beyond statutory requirements at the level of the individual operator.
  9. Requires the Commission to establish and maintain a public Union registry by a date five years after entry into force, containing minimum information set out in a new Annex 2a, with certification schemes providing that information.
  10. Adds rules that a carbon removal unit shall not be double counted, that past and current holders and purposes be registered, and that expired units be invalidated and deducted or compensated at an equivalent level.
  11. Requires the Commission to prioritise certification methodologies for the most mature activities with the largest storage potential and, for carbon farming, the largest potential for biodiversity co-benefits, and to make methodologies publicly available.
  12. Requires certification audit reports, updated certificates, lists of accredited certification bodies, certification scheme rules and non-conformity notifications to be made publicly available in the Union registry.

Who is affected

  • Operators or groups of operators carrying out carbon removal activities, who must meet quality criteria, monitoring, liability and registry requirements.
  • Certification schemes and certification bodies, which must provide information to the Commission and make audits and certificates public in the Union registry.
  • Member States, which supervise certification bodies and must inform them and the scheme of non-conformity.
  • Third countries with geological storage, where storage must apply the same legal requirements as Directive 2009/31/EC for removals captured in the Union to be certifiable.
  • Land managers, including small-scale ones, for whom standardised baselines should reduce the administrative burden of demonstrating additionality.

Figures and deadlines

  • Carbon removal levels for the Union estimated to need to reach ranges of between 300 and 500 MtCO2, depending on the emission reduction pathway.
  • Novel carbon removal methods would need to grow by four to six orders of magnitude by mid-century to meet the Paris Agreement temperature goals.
  • Union net removals target of 310 Mt CO2 eq by 2030 under Regulation (EU) 2018/841.
  • Baselines shall be regularly reviewed and updated by the Commission at least every ten years.
  • A period less than 10 years may not be appropriate for several activities, e.g. DACCS or forestry activities.
  • The Commission shall establish the Union registry by the date five years after the date of entry into force of this Regulation.
  • Carbon removals in terrestrial ecosystems have been decreasing in recent years, and no significant industrial carbon removals are currently taking place in the Union.

Legal basis: Article 294(2) and Article 192(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.