On Thursday 22 May, experts from industry, civil society, and academia gathered in Brussels to discuss EU policy options that will finance permanent carbon removals, without impeding and slowing down investments that lead to drastic emissions cuts.
Organised by Carbon Market Watch and supported by co-creation experts Dreamocracy, a series of workshops have been organised to bring together partners holding a diverse set of standpoints on the topic of financing permanent removals. It is hoped that through discussion and collaboration, common ground positions can be found that build upon the collective expertise of partners. Consolidated results will become the expert group’s contribution to the EU policymaking process.
This workshop was the first activity of CO2ol Down Phase 2, which aims to repeat the success of the project’s first phase that led to a proposal to revise the EU Climate Law, and policy recommendations for EU instruments on permanent removals.
Anything you cannot live without?
The session started with Carbon Market Watch presenting the context for co-creation work, and defining what factors are important to include in a potential “EU CDR Development and Delivery System”, that can tackle both short-term and long-term financing needs.
Participants were encouraged to suggest and discuss extensions to the defined scope and purpose of such a system, which would otherwise hamper their participation in the process.
It was also agreed upon that the first workshop would focus on the near-term development, and the second workshop on the long-term delivery of permanent carbon removals.
Workshop members raised several points deemed crucial for the discussion, including the need to take a whole-value-chain approach that also considers transport and storage, considering only domestic EU-based removal options, and how the polluter pays principle could be embedded into proposals without opening the door to a discussion on compensation claims.
Key elements of an EU system to finance removals
After an open discussion in plenary, participants split into three sub-groups to discuss the key aspects required for a short-term strategy to finance permanent removals, including principles for eligibility of removal methods and distribution of funds, acceptable financing sources and who should oversee them, and what instrument types might be used to deliver and disburse the needed funds.
An overarching question that participants were asked to keep in mind was the political feasibility, considering the current policy landscape.
Key discussion points on eligibility were the roles of selected criteria such as technological readiness, permanence, and transparency. For the governance of a funding tool for carbon removals, questions focused on responsibility and liability for supporting the sector and managing the created benefits and any possible damages.
Something to build upon
The good work done in this first part of this year’s CO2ol Down process has built a strong foundation for the second workshop focusing on the long-term financing of carbon removals.
Following the work of the project’s editorial board, summarising and converging the collected ideas into draft conclusions, participants will reconvene on 25 June. There, they will discuss how we might co-design funding structures for the long-term delivery of carbon removals to address residual emissions and reach net-negativity.
We want to thank participants for their open-minded approach, bringing their valued expertise into the workshop, and embracing the co-creative spirit of the process.
Participants in alphabetical order
Ulriikka Aarnio (Climate Action Network Europe)
Vikrum Aiyer (Heirloom)
Francesca Battersby (Carbon Gap)
Martin Cames (Oeko-Institut)
Alice Evatt (University of Oxford)
Lambrini Margariti (Negative Emissions Platform)
Leo Mercer (Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, LSE)
Silke Mooldijk (NewClimate Institute)
Mark Preston (Bellona)
Ileana Repaci (Bioenergy Europe)
Felix Schenuit (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik)
Wijnand Stoefs (Carbon Market Watch)
Kasia Wilk (Elimini)
Duncan Woods (Sandbag)
Facilitators
Stephen Boucher (Dreamocracy)
Sabine Frank (Carbon Market Watch)
Pauline Tawil (Dreamocracy)
Fabiola De Simone (Carbon Market Watch)
Daniel Orth (Carbon Market Watch)
Marlène Ramon Hernandez (Carbon Market Watch)
Visual documentation for communications
Miriam Vicente Marcos (Carbon Market Watch)
Noemí Rodrigo Sabio (Carbon Market Watch)
