Adopting the Framework of High-quality Carbon Removal
The European Green Deal is the EU’s long-term growth strategy to make Europe climate-neutral by 2050. The target is to achieve a balance between greenhouse gas emissions and removals by 2050, and negative emissions thereafter. It also includes an ambitious 2030 climate target of at least 55% reduction of net emissions of greenhouse gases as compared to 1990. Today’s proposal for carbon removal certification is therefore crucial to achieve EU’s long-term climate objectives under the Paris Agreement and make the European Green Deal a reality.
The European Commission has now adopted a proposal for the first EU-wide voluntary framework to reliably certify high-quality carbon removals. The proposal will boost innovative carbon removal technologies and sustainable carbon farming solutions, and contribute to the EU’s climate, environmental and zero-pollution goals. The proposed regulation will significantly improve the EU’s capacity to quantify, monitor and verify carbon removals. Higher transparency will ensure trust from stakeholders and industry as well as prevent greenwashing. Carbon removals can and must bring clear benefits for the climate, and the Commission will prioritize those carbon removal activities which will provide significant benefits for biodiversity. Moving forward, the Commission, supported by experts, will develop tailored certification methods for carbon removal activities delivering on climate and other environmental objectives.
To ensure the transparency and credibility of the certification process, the proposal sets out rules for the independent verification of carbon removals, as well as rules to recognize certification schemes that can be used to demonstrate compliance with the EU framework. To ensure the quality and comparability of carbon removals, the proposed regulation establishes four key criteria:
- Quantification: Carbon removal activities need to be measured accurately and deliver unambiguous benefits for the climate;
- Additionality: Carbon removal activities need to go beyond existing practices and what is required by law;
- Long-term storage: Certificates are linked to the duration of carbon storage so as to ensure permanent storage;
- Sustainability: Carbon removal activities must preserve or contribute to sustainability objectives such as climate change adaptation, circular economy, water and marine resources, and biodiversity.
Industrial technologies, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) or direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS), can capture carbon and store it permanently. In agriculture and forestry, carbon farming practices can sustainably enhance the storage of carbon in soils and forests or reduce the release of carbon from soils and create new business models for farmers and foresters. Long-lasting products and materials, such as wood-based construction products, can also keep carbon bound over several decades or longer.
Today’s proposal will promote cutting-edge clean technologies and enable innovative forms of private and public financing, including impact finance or result-based public support under State aid. The Commission will continue funding carbon removal action on the ground through the Innovation Fund, the Regional Development Fund, and the Horizon Europe program.
WOIMA’s innovative ccWOIMA carbon capture solution will fit the criteria perfectly. The captured CO2 is easy to measure, utilize or store either in gaseous or liquid form. It is also the most cost-efficient product in the market enabling private investment beyond current requirements. Our cooperation partners have several different Carbon Capture Utilization (CCU) solutions for permanent CO2 storage. And, similar to our other products, ccWOIMA has also been developed with sustainability in mind. Thus, our ccWOIMA solution is practically EU Certification –ready.
The ccWOIMA carbon capture plant is a modular and scalable solution best suited for CO2 capture quantities between 20,000 to 200,000 tons p.a. It is a completely pre-engineered and prefabricated solution derisking the project delivery through fast site erection phase, high-workshop-quality mechanics, and easily transportable modules. The plant utilized hot potassium carbonate (HPC) as the capture medium. It is the safest, most cost-efficient, and most tested capture medium in the world with decades of proven references.
READ AND DOWNLOAD wasteWOIMA CCUS BROCHURE
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WOIMA Corporation is a Finnish supplier of best-in-class waste-to-value products, projects and services worldwide. We have developed solutions that enable us, and the customer, to transform and recycle virtually any waste stream into raw materials and energy. At WOIMA we combine Finnish engineering know-how in waste management with power generation design expertise. These solutions are used in Finland every day. They support the circular economy ideology and ensure that less than 1% of Finland’s waste ends up in landfills.
Our mission is to improve quality of life both locally and globally, as well as empower people to utilize waste as a commodity. Our decades of international project management experience ensure an on-time, in-budget and high-quality WOIMA solution delivery across the globe.
