Schlagwort: EU

Science-Policy Documents

Policy Brief: Build Carbon Removal Reserve to Secure Future of EU Emissions Trading

by Wilfried Rickels, Mathias Fridahl, Roland Rothenstein, Felix Schenuit, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, May 2024

Transforming an existing ETS that covers gross emissions into a net-emissions system that covers both emissions and removals and introducing a net-zero cap followed by a net-negative cap, poses the challenges of ensuring that the market remains operational and that the policy objectives underlying the ETS are maintained during the transition period. The EU faces this dual challenge. Delpla and Gollier (2019), Rickels, Proelß, et al. (2021), Rickels, Rothenstein, et al. (2022), and Edenhofer et al. (2024) propose introducing a Carbon Central Bank (CCB) to manage the inclusion of CRC trading and the transformation of the existing EU ETS into a net-zero and then net-negative ETS.

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Books

Chapter: Lukas Schuett (2024): Permanence and Liability: Legal Considerations on the Integration of Carbon Dioxide Removal into the EU Emissions Trading System

Lukas Schuett IN: Transnational Environmental Law, https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102524000013

This article examines how carbon dioxide (CO2) removal credits can be integrated into the European Union (EU) Emissions Trading System (ETS), focusing on questions of permanence and climate liability. It identifies challenges within the integration process and analyzes approaches from practice and literature to cultivate learning. These approaches apply different strategies to address the issue of permanence, including temporary credit issuance, granting credits once a certain number of carbon tonne-years have been accumulated, or issuing credits at the beginning of the project period and relying on liability instead. Drawing from the findings of this research, the article presents legal considerations that may inform a proposal for an EU legislative act on the integration of carbon removal credits into the EU ETS.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Béres et al. (2024): Assessing the feasibility of CO2 removal strategies in achieving climate-neutral power systems: Insights from biomass, CO2 capture, and direct air capture in Europe

Rebeka Béres, Martin Junginger, Machteld van den Broek IN: Advances in Applied Energy, 14, 100166, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adapen.2024.100166

In this study the European power system in 2050 is modelled at an hourly resolution in the cost-minimization PLEXOS modelling platform. Three climate-neutral scenarios with targets of 0, -1, and -3.9 Mt CO2/year (which agree with varying levels of climate justice) are assessed for different biomass levels, and CCS availability. Findings under baseline assumptions reveal that in a climate-neutral power system with biomass and CCS options, it is cost-effective to complement variable renewable energy with a mix of combined cycle natural gas turbines (CCNGT) for flexibility and BECCS as base load to compensate for the CO2 emissions from natural gas and additional carbon removal in the net-negative scenarios.

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Media

Climate action: Council and Parliament agree to establish an EU carbon removals certification framework

press release, Council of the EU, 20 February 2024

„Council and European Parliament negotiators reached a provisional political agreement today on a regulation to establish the first EU-level certification framework for for permanent carbon removals, carbon farming and carbon storage in products . The voluntary framework is intended to facilitate and speed up the deployment of high-quality carbon removal and soil emission reduction activities in the EU. Once entered into force, the regulation will be the first step towards introducing a comprehensive carbon removal and soil emission reduction framework in EU legislation and contribute to the EU’s ambitious goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050, as set out in the European climate law.“

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Media

EU unveils controversial climate target: what scientists think

by Katharine Sanderson, Carissa Wong on nature.com, February 06, 2024

„The European Commission has unveiled an ambitious climate target for 2040 — aiming to cut net greenhouse-gas emissions by 90% compared with 1990 levels. Researchers say that the goal, although admirable, risks relying too much on technologies such as carbon removal — which is largely unproven — rather than prioritizing the cutting of fossil-fuel use. Political shifts to the right, with many European Union member states electing governments that are unlikely to prioritize climate policy, might also make the goal difficult to achieve.“

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Science-Policy Documents

Nature – Fridahl et al. (2023): Novel carbon dioxide removals techniques must be integrated into the European Union’s climate policies

Mathias Fridahl, Felix Schenuit, Liv Lundberg, Kenneth Möllersten, Miranda Böttcher, Wilfried Rickels, Anders Hansson IN: Communications Earth & Environment, 4, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01121-9

The authors argue that the current policy framework neither provides Union-wide economic incentives for novel CO2 removals, nor does it encourage EU Member States to develop national policy incentives. The proposed solutions includes incentivizing removals through a conditional integration into the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), expanding the portfolio of removal methods in the Land-Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) Regulation, and to manage anticipations regarding which residual emissions that need to be counterbalanced by removals.

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Media

EU Parliament Approves The Carbon Removal Certification Framework And Net Zero Industry Act

by Petya Trendafilova, carbonherald.com, November 22, 2023

„The European Parliament voted on November 21st in a plenary session on long-awaited and debated climate policies. The Parliament has approved the Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF) and the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA), demonstrating its support for scaling up carbon dioxide removal (CDR) capacity in the EU – part of the bloc’s strategy in reaching climate neutrality by 2050.“

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German News

EU-Parlament fordert konsequentes Handeln in Dubai

Friederike Meier, fr.de (Frankfurter Rundschau), 21.11.2023, 16:43 Uhr

„Abgeordnete verlangen von EU-Vertretern klare Linie für Klimaschutz und Ausstieg aus fossilen Energieträgern.[…] Das EU-Parlament hat Kommission und Mitgliedsstaaten dazu aufgerufen, sich auf der Klimakonferenz in Dubai, die am 30. November beginnt, für ein ehrgeiziges Ergebnis einzusetzen. „Das Parlament ist der Meinung, dass die Union und die Mitgliedstaaten kein Ergebnis akzeptieren sollten, das Technologien zur Verringerung der Emissionen fossiler Brennstoffe im Energiesektor fördert“, heißt es in einer Resolution, die das Parlament am Dienstag verabschiedet hat.“

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Brad & Schneider (2023): Carbon dioxide removal and mitigation deterrence in EU climate policy: Towards a research approach

Alina Brad & Etienne Schneider IN: Environmental Science & Policy 150, 103591, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103591

The authors develop a conceptual approach to systematically study such mitigation deterrence effects in climate policy-making processes. The approach integrates literature on sociotechnical imaginaries and the cultural political economy of mitigation deterrence with historical-materialist policy analysis. It follows within-case process tracing to uncover whether and how expectations of CDR technologies either weaken ‘conventional’ mitigation targets in policy formulation or encourage policy designs which treat ‘conventional’ mitigation and CDR as equivalent.

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Science-Policy Documents

Schenuit & Geden (2023): Carbon dioxide removal: climbing up the EU climate policy agenda

Felix Schenuit, Oliver Geden IN: Handbook on European Union Climate Change Policy and Politics, Chapter 22, https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789906981.00037

Based on an analysis of CDR-related aspects of the Climate and Energy Framework 2030 and new actor positions in the context of the European Green Deal, the chapter traces the emergence CDR policymaking in the EU. The authors find that CDR is not entirely new in EU climate policy. Recently, spurred by the new climate target structure in the EU climate law, new CDR initiatives, processes and debates have been launched. The analysis shows that prospects of CDR policymaking will be shaped by ‘geographies of net zero’: Differences and conflicts over climate targets, composition of residual emissions, removal capacities, and socio-political preferences for different CDR methods in EU member states will affect future legislation.

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