The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change has published its rather long titled report Scaling up carbon dioxide removals – Recommendations for navigating opportunities and risks in the EU. The report outlines key actions for the EU to accelerate the deployment of carbon dioxide removals.

With the ongoing decline in the EU’s carbon sink – the capacity of its natural systems, like forests and soils, to absorb and store CO2 – and the slow rollout of new removal methods, current trends underscore the urgent need for a strong policy response to scale up removals across the EU to counterbalance residual emissions from activities that currently have no or limited mitigation alternatives.

Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, chair of the advisory board, commented: “To achieve its climate targets, the EU must quickly scale up carbon dioxide removals while pursuing deep emissions cuts. With the right incentives, a dynamic policy mix can speed up innovation and strengthen the EU’s position in the global race for cleantech leadership.”

The advisory board recommends gradually integrating permanent removals into the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). This would allow permanent removal projects to generate credits, under strict sustainability criteria, creating an innovative financing model for scaling up removals while limiting public budget dependency.

It recommends recognising an “extended emitter responsibility” that would require today’s emitters to contribute to the future removal of the greenhouse gases they emit. Such approach would particularly contribute to reaching net-negative emissions in the EU. There is also a recommendation for new pricing instruments to reward land managers for removing carbon and to price emissions in the land sector.

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