The EU has reached agreement on a world leading registry for certified carbon dioxide removals obtained from eco-farming practices and industrial processes. The voluntary framework is intended to facilitate and speed up the deployment of high-quality carbon removal and soil emission reduction activities in the EU.

The agreement between the European Parliament and the Council of EU member states will, once in force, be the first step towards introducing a comprehensive carbon removal and soil emission reduction framework in EU legislation and contribute to the EU’s goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050.

The agreement extends the scope of the regulation to soil emission reductions and maintains an open definition of carbon removals, in line with that used by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It also differentiates between carbon removal and emission reduction activities.

By 2026, the Commission is tasked with producing a report on the feasibility of certifying activities that result in the reduction of emissions other than those related to soils (carbon and nitrous oxide). The report will be based on a pilot certification methodology for activities that reduce agricultural emissions from enteric fermentation and manure management.

The provisional agreement will now be submitted for endorsement to the member states’ representatives in the Council (Coreper) and to the Parliament’s environment committee. If approved, the text will then need to be formally adopted by both institutions, following revision by lawyer-linguists, before it can be published in the EU’s Official Journal and enter into force.

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