Why carbon removals do not belong in carbon markets

The author contends that carbon markets are unsuitable for incentivising high-quality carbon removals because they favour the cheapest offsetting options over expensive technological solutions. The document criticises the EU's Carbon Removals Certification Framework (CRCF) for being too vague, lacking safeguards against mitigation deterrence, and potentially enabling greenwashing by allowing certified credits to be sold on the voluntary carbon market. It proposes that the EU's 2040 target should be split into three distinct targets—emission reductions, land-based sinks, and technical removals—to prevent the conflation of reductions and removals into a single net target.

• Carbon markets are an ineffective tool for developing high-quality carbon removals because they prioritise the cheapest options, which would lead to the development of low-cost forestry and soil removals while making expensive technological removals difficult to finance.
• The EU's Carbon Removals Certification Framework (CRCF) is criticised for failing to define the use of removals or the instruments for their promotion, and for equating short-term carbon storage with permanent storage through a single accounting unit.
• The CRCF risks facilitating greenwashing and 'mitigation deterrence' by allowing certified credits to be sold on the voluntary carbon market or potentially integrated into the EU ETS and Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR), which could allow entities to delay real emission reductions.
• To ensure carbon removals complement rather than replace emission reductions, the EU should establish three separate targets for its 2040 goal: one for emission reductions, one for land-based sinks, and one for technical removals.

APA

Frank, S. (2023). Why carbon removals do not belong in carbon markets. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2023/10/04/why-carbon-removals-do-not-belong-in-carbon-markets/

Chicago

Frank, Sabine. Why carbon removals do not belong in carbon markets. Carbon Market Watch, 2023. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2023/10/04/why-carbon-removals-do-not-belong-in-carbon-markets/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Frank |first1=Sabine |title=Why carbon removals do not belong in carbon markets |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=4 October 2023 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2023/10/04/why-carbon-removals-do-not-belong-in-carbon-markets/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{frank2023why, author = {Frank, Sabine}, title = {{Why carbon removals do not belong in carbon markets}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2023}, month = oct, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2023/10/04/why-carbon-removals-do-not-belong-in-carbon-markets/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }