EU’s CRCF proposal would allow profiteers to make millions from selling dodgy carbon credits

In November 2022, the European Commission presented a proposal for a Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF). The proposal paves the way to generate carbon credits both through activities that increase storage of carbon in agricultural soils, forests and wood products, as well as by facilities using risky and unproven technological approaches, Direct Air Capture with Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) and Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). Those credits can then be used to offset polluters’ greenhouse gas
emissions, thus justifying the release of yet more fossil carbon into the atmosphere.

This RZE Briefing covers carbon offsetting. The European Commission refuses to rule out the use of carbon credits generated under the proposed CRCF for this discredited approach, which has produced millions of phantom credits.