OPEN LETTER: JOINT STATEMENT ON THE CARBON REMOVAL CERTIFICATION FRAMEWORK

The signatories support the European Commission's Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF) but argue that the current legislative proposal contains critical shortcomings. They demand a clear distinction between carbon removal and emissions reductions, aligned with IPCC definitions, to prevent the misclassification of activities that merely reduce carbon release. Additionally, the authors call for strict guardrails on the use of removal certificates to prevent greenwashing and 'mitigation deterrence,' suggesting that different types of removals be labeled and regulated based on the duration and reliability of their carbon storage.

• The authors argue that the CRCF's legally binding Articles use a definition of carbon removal that is inconsistent with scientific consensus and the IPCC, specifically by including activities that reduce carbon release from biogenic pools rather than extracting CO2 from the atmosphere.
• The statement warns that without strict guardrails on how certificates are used, there is a risk of 'mitigation deterrence' and greenwashing, where the incentive to fund removals is used to make compensation claims for specific emissions instead of prioritizing deep emission cuts.
• The signatories recommend that the CRCF explicitly differentiate between the three types of activities—geological formations, carbon farming, and products—by labeling them according to the origin, fate, and duration of the carbon storage.
• The document proposes that the EU establish separate, explicit targets for emissions elimination and carbon removals to ensure that removals do not distract from the primary goal of deep emission cuts.

APA

Clean Air Task Force (2023). OPEN LETTER: JOINT STATEMENT ON THE CARBON REMOVAL CERTIFICATION FRAMEWORK. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/06155949/carbon-removal-certification-joint-statement.pdf

Chicago

Clean Air Task Force. OPEN LETTER: JOINT STATEMENT ON THE CARBON REMOVAL CERTIFICATION FRAMEWORK. 2023. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/06155949/carbon-removal-certification-joint-statement.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Clean Air Task Force |title=OPEN LETTER: JOINT STATEMENT ON THE CARBON REMOVAL CERTIFICATION FRAMEWORK |date=28 February 2023 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/06155949/carbon-removal-certification-joint-statement.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{cleanairtaskforce2023open, author = {{Clean Air Task Force}}, title = {{OPEN LETTER: JOINT STATEMENT ON THE CARBON REMOVAL CERTIFICATION FRAMEWORK}}, publisher = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/06155949/carbon-removal-certification-joint-statement.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }