29 April 2026 | 10:00-11:30 CET | Online
Background
To reach their climate targets, European governments are increasingly relying on technologies and processes to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is idealised as a readily available and reliable method and has been adopted in various European climate strategies.
However, CDR is more difficult to implement than is often assumed and presents significant challenges. If deployed correctly, as a supplement to emission reductions, it can help the European Union reach climate neutrality. But, CDR can undermine and impede real climate action if it becomes a substitute for, rather than a supplement to, rapid, deep, and sustained emissions reductions.
This event is hosted by MEP Lena Schilling (Green/EFA) and marks the launch of Carbon Market Watch’s Leaning on Uncertainty reports, which assess the reliance of European countries and the European Union on carbon removals and land-based carbon sequestration. We explore not only what the findings reveal about current trends and risks, but also what they mean from a legal and political perspective, examining legal guardrails to CDR and implications for the post-2030 climate policy package in the European Union.
Programme
10:00-10:05 | Introduction – MEP Lena Schilling, Greens/EFA
10:05-11:00 | Presentations: Leaning on uncertainty: How Europe’s flawed approach to carbon removals threatens the climate.
- Ewan White, Researcher in Climate Change Law, University of Oxford
- Daniel Orth, Policy Expert on Carbon Removals, Carbon Market Watch
- Reaction by MEP Lena Schilling, Greens/EFA
11:00-11:20 | Q&A
11:20-11:30 | Closing Remarks
