EU climate Advisory Board outlines recommendations to scale up carbon removals

“To achieve its climate targets, the EU must quickly scale up carbon dioxide removals while pursuing deep emissions cuts,” commented Ottmar Edenhofer, Chair of the Advisory Board and Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK. “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.”

In the report: “Scaling up carbon dioxide removals – Recommendations for navigating opportunities and risks in the EU”, the Advisory Board recommends setting separate legal targets for permanent removals and temporary removals to provide clear investment signals and promote technological progress. It calls for increased innovation funding and market incentives to drive early demand for removals, while ensuring robust monitoring and social engagement to raise awareness and manage risks.

While public support is needed to overcome early-stage challenges, the Advisory Board recommends gradually integrating permanent removals into the EU Emissions Trading System. 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.

Edenhofer commented: “Once a robust certification framework is in place, integrating permanent removals into the EU Emissions Trading System will help balance reductions and removals in a cost-effective way. This process should be gradually phased in and carefully managed to account for technological readiness and environmental risks. Additionally, an intermediary institution should oversee the supply and demand of removal credits to ensure a robust and effective system.”

The Advisory Board also 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. With regard to a critical decline in the EU’s carbon sink, a trend worsened by climate impacts such as wildfires, droughts and floods, the Advisory Board recommends new pricing instruments to reward land managers for capturing carbon and to price emissions in the land sector.