The EU draws up a plan to remove more carbon emissions from the air

The European Union plans to capture five million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year by 2030 through technologies, and create an EU system to certify carbon removals, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.

The EU has committed to achieving net zero _emissions by 2050, eliminating the more than three billion tonnes of CO2 it currently emits each year.

To help meet that goal, Brussels wants to increase carbon removal both by using technology to capture CO₂ and placing it in long-term storage sites, such as encouraging farmers and landowners to store more CO₂ in trees, soil, and wetlands.

“The development and deployment at scale of carbon removal solutions is indispensable for climate neutrality and requires significant targeted support in the coming decade,” says the document, which the European Commission will publish on December 14.

The Commission will also propose in 2022 an EU carbon removal certification system, measuring and verifying CO2 _removals from individual farms, according to the project.

With this system, farmers and owners who store CO ₂ in their soils and forests could obtain a credit recognized by the EU. They could sell the credits to polluters who need to balance their emissions, creating a financial incentive to store CO ₂ .

A robust certification system could also lay the foundation for a regulated EU market for carbon removal, an option that could come after 2030, according to the project.

The Commission could not immediately be reached for comment on the draft, which could change before it is published as part of a package of new EU climate proposals.

The December package will also include legislation obliging oil and gas companies to cut methane emissions and improved rules for the EU gas market. All this in order to help the EU achieve its goals of reducing net emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, and reducing them to zero by 2050.

Source: EuroNews