This post has been co-authored with Paul Zakkour, Director at Carbon Counts. Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash The provisional agreement on the EU’s Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF) has been hailed as the first of its kind, a milestone for scaling carbon removal and potentially a foundation of a gold standard for carbon removal certification globally. Yet there are some doubts over its actual political utility, and questions remain

Photo by Alexandre Lallemand on Unsplash The European Commission has published its vision for the European Union 2040 climate target, including general recommendations for getting there. Let’s have a closer look at some of the elements regarding the recommended target, notably its context, scope, design, and relevant processes. The context 2023 was the crucial year informing the work that is now in front of us. The Commission Communication, titled “Europe’s

Photo by Aleksey Smagin on Unsplash When going into COP28, my eyes were on three agenda items most likely to provide further guidance on carbon removal, carbon capture and carbon markets — the first global stocktake, markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, and the mitigation work programme. This blog post explores the outcome of the international climate negotiations at COP28 on these topics. Next to the formal negotiations

Photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash There is a constant flux of carbon market size calculations and projections. This gets a lot of attention in the voluntary carbon markets, currently valued at around $2 billion and growing. Every now and then, the size of compliance carbon markets, valued over $800 billion, also features in the limelight. Estimates for international Article 6 carbon market size today are harder to come by,

What are the key considerations around including carbon dioxide removal in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS)? Compared to a couple of years ago, the conversations have evolved from whether to bring in removals to how to do it in practice. I first wrote about this topic a year and a half ago. Discussions have moved on since then, and it’s time for an update. We now have a