Opinion: Europe’s Carbon Credit Plan Needs A High Bar, Not A Narrow Gate

BeZero Carbon Co-founder Sebastien Cross argues that the EU should apply technology-neutral but highly demanding eligibility criteria to its proposed carbon credit procurement programme. The Commission currently plans to restrict initial domestic removal purchases to BECCS and DACCS, while reconsidering nature-based removals in 2034 and leaving biochar’s status unclear. Cross warns that relying exclusively on costly engineered removals could widen the gap between credit costs and the ETS allowance revenues financing procurement, diverting funds from industrial decarbonisation and household support. Instead, different removal technologies should undergo rigorous, independent and risk-based project assessments, supported where necessary by monitoring, insurance, permanence funds and portfolio management. Cross also cautions against creating an oversized central procurement bureaucracy. He recommends integrating existing market infrastructure, particularly independent carbon ratings and live project-level risk monitoring, into EU workflows. The EU should therefore establish a high integrity threshold while allowing different technologies to compete to satisfy it.
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