Actions required to secure the large-scale deployment of the leading CDR approaches to meet EU climate targets

The rising concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, currently about 420 ppm, is already causing extensive damage globally. Thus, there´s an urgent need to deploy CO2 removal (CDR) at very large scale to help to keep the temperature rise under 2C° (1.5C° would be better). Until recently, apart from academic research into a wide portfolio of approaches, little has been done to launch the necessary exponential growth of CDR over the next few decades. The current self-regulated market relies on an unsatisfactory patchwork of third-party verification of the removals achieved at individual sites. The sector has been negatively influenced by a lack of regulation and high-quality standards. This has allowed low-quality carbon credits to enter the market, lowering credibility and prices to levels at which high-quality permanent removals cannot compete. The Member States need the EC to intervene to kick-start a transparent and properly regulated market for high-grade CDR delivery.

The purpose of the C-SINK project is to deliver to the EC a complete package of worked-up proposals to support a new or amended European legal/regulatory framework to bring high quality CDRs into the market. That package will contain pre-standards (in CEN format) covering requirements and methodologies for sampling, testing and QMS (ISO9000) upon which to build monitoring, reporting and verification systems. It will also include proposals to cover (a) environmental, social-impact and governance issues, and (b) the means of building trust in the market. This will encourage entrepreneurs to demonstrate effective and safe CDR projects and to make large investments, thus allowing the market to evolve to tackle the climate crisis.

The C-SINK consortium includes organizations from 11 countries with complementary skills and expertise in the different CDR technologies, the writing of CEN and ISO standards, climate law, carbon trading, and in all of the relevant environmental and social issues.