The European Commission presented today its legislative proposal for an EU regulatory framework for the certification of carbon removals. As a first step, the Commissions intends to establish quality standards and certification rules for carbon removals placed in the Union. Important elements like the methodology as well as technical details to ensure the quality standards will follow in the next steps of the legislative process by delegated acts.
Indigo believes that Carbon Removals can make a meaningful contribution to climate change mitigation and enable agriculture to be part of the climate solution, but certification must be backed by science, high-quality standards, and a rigorous methodology. Established international protocols and methodologies like the Climate Action Reserve (CAR) Soil Enrichment Protocol and VERRA VM42 Improved Agricultural Land Management, are being proven to guarantee high-quality carbon removals in the voluntary carbon market by ensuring removals meet the key tests of realness, additionality, avoidance of double counting and permanence. We therefore encourage the European Commission to draw on these methodologies in developing the regulatory framework and we look forward to contributing our experiences and expertise to the EU-Stakeholder-Dialogue.
Georg Goeres, Head of Indigo Agriculture Europe commented: “The goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C is only just alive and we need to draw on all the available solutions, including nature-based carbon removals, if we are to have any chance of hitting that target. But these removals must be based on robust scientific and quality standards if they are to command the trust and confidence of as many stakeholders as possible. The move to establish an EU regulatory framework for carbon removals is therefore a good step forward. We strongly believe that it is possible to scale carbon removal solutions in agriculture enabling it to not only play its part in tackling the climate crisis but also establishing a durable new revenue stream for farmers. We currently have over 2.5million hectares enrolled in our program and earlier this year, we announced the first ever, Registry issued agriculture carbon credits at scale.”