EU Carbon Legislation Newsflash: Day 2 of 3

Ed Nimmons
Director & Co-founder

Let’s look at the Carbon Removal Certification Framework:

To establish a clear difference between different types of carbon credits, there will be an EU-wide regulatory framework that distinguishes between 4 types of carbon credits.

1) Permanent Carbon Removal Credits: credits which originate from the capture of biogenic or atmospheric CO2, which is then transported to a permanent, geological subsurface store (which is monitored by a national regulator under CO2 Storage legislation), where it is physically injected in return for CO2 storage certificates (issued under this national regulator). These credits will be the only ones which can be used to offset residual emissions from fossil fuels, as they are the only credits which guarantee that physical CO2 goes back into an underground geological store.

2) Temporary carbon storage in long-term products (>35 years duration): credits which originate from CO2 being physically bound in a product, which is used in a way that means it won’t be recycled for at least 35 years (that could e.g. be CO2-cured concrete, or biochar used as soil enhancer, etc.).

3) Temporary carbon storage from carbon farming: this is the bucket in which carbon-credits from tree-planting would probably fall (or similar forms of growing biomass and then letting it stand).

4) Soil emission reduction from carbon farming: this is a bucket for credits under the “avoided emission” logic, this could e.g. be the protection of a peatland area.

The challenge for most existing sustainability programs is that use of “offsets” does not generally distinguish between these different types of credits. This will need to be addressed for carbon neutral claims in the future, and a focus on quality and permanence will become critical when looking at the use of carbon credits. 

Carbon Capture Scotland are offering EU-approved CDR for Permanent Carbon Removal Credits available from 2026 onwards with limited remaining quantities available for long-term off-take agreements to be secured NOW. Please contact Sanjay Parekh and the CDR team to discuss how you can secure high quality CDR credits and to make sure you are prepared for incoming legislation.