Breaking its own carbon removals rules: why we’re challenging the European Commission
9 July 2026 | 12:00-13:00 CEST | Online
Overview:
This is democracy in action for effective climate action.
In April 2026, the European Commission published key rules for defining and quantifying permanent carbon dioxide removals. These rules are not fit for purpose and fail to ensure removals from the atmosphere are actually taking place, as required by the Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Regulation.
In this webinar, CMW, Fern, WWF EPO, Lifescape Project, and Partnership for Policy Integrity will guide you through their request for internal review, submitted on 12 June 2026, together with six other environmental NGOs. The request challenges the permanent removals rule book and demands that it reflect current scientific knowledge and international standards for quantification, monitoring, and sustainability that protect forests and agricultural land.
The webinar will also explore the consequences of such flawed rules for the upcoming post-2030 climate package, such as the Emissions Trading Scheme, and question the EU’s broader approach of using the voluntary carbon market as a tool for reaching net zero.
At the end, there will be an opportunity to ask questions to the legal and policy experts who have been following the CRCF since day one – including members of the European Commission’s Carbon Removal Expert Group.
For more background information, please refer to the press release on the request for internal review and request itself.
Programme
12:00-12:10 Introduction, Marlène Ramón Hernández, policy officer on carbon removals at Carbon Market Watch
12:10-12:25 What the Commission got wrong in its removals rules, Mary Booth, PhD, director at the Partnership for Policy Integrity and Nola Donachie, managing lawyer at Lifescape Project
12:25-12:35 Policy implications for genuine climate action
- Permanent carbon dioxide removals in the 2040 climate framework: undermining the EU ETS, Sofia Ghezzi, land use policy officer at WWF EU
- Policy and reality of carbon removals: dangerous promises with consequences for people, nature and the climate, Martin Pigeon, forest and climate campaigner at Fern
12:35 -12:55 Q&A
12:55-13:00 Closing remarks
