The CO2ol Down coalition took its campaign to the heart of EU policymaking on Thursday to present its ready-to-go plans on the role of carbon removals in the EU climate framework towards 2040 and beyond.
Carbon Market Watch’s CO2ol Down campaign to forge a common vision for carbon removals in the European Union culminated with the hybrid public event ‘Towards 2040 and beyond: the role of carbon removals in the EU climate framework’, which took place in Brussels on Tuesday.
The high-profile speakers who attended presented the process and the results of the collaborative CMW-led project which involved a wide range of stakeholders from academia, civil society, and industry to find policy solutions to improve the governance of carbon removals in the EU.
That has been the central focus of the CO2ol Down consortium. Together, 48 stakeholders from academia, civil society and industry met to address the lack of clarity on the role of, and expectations for, carbon removals in the EU climate policy framework.
The process and its results were showcased on Tuesday to European Commission officials, European Parliament representatives, national government delegations and civil society stakeholders present in the room and attending online.
Setting the scene
After introducing the event, CMW Carbon Removals Policy Expert Fabiola De Simone gave the floor to Oliver Geden, IPCC Working Group III vice-chair and senior fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. Geden spoke about why it is important for countries to distinguish between emissions reduction and carbon removal in their climate plans, as argued in his latest co-authored article. He also updated the group about the IPCC’s upcoming work on carbon removals.
He was followed by Fabien Ramos, policy officer at the Land, Economy and Carbon Removals Unit of the European Commission’s DG Clima, who expressed his views about what would constitute a sensible carbon removals policy in the EU.
The results of being CO2ol
Carbon Market Watch’s Executive Director Sabine Frank then took to the stage to talk us through the CO2ol Down process. She explained the efforts behind organising such a project and discussed the objectives and values of co-creation.
The CO2ol Down campaign strived to develop a feasible and scientifically sound platform to inform European institutions in their deliberations on the setting and implementation of a 2040 target.
She was followed by Martin Cames of the Öko-Institut and Felix Schenuit of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs who presented the results documents of the co-creation process: a proposal to revise the EU climate law and policy recommendations for EU instruments on permanent removals.
It is still possible to support this CO2ol Down vision.
Popping the policymaker bubble
As some politicians and policymakers demand simplification and fostering public acceptance as key aspects of any removals policy, CO2ol Down has striven to do so by presenting concrete proposals put together by different stakeholders that are both straightforward and scientifically sound.
One issue of broad interest is the question of how and who should finance removals. Carbon Market Watch wishes to dig deeper into this topic in a new phase of the co-creation process.
The well attended event, with over 170 attendees between online and in-person participants, built on the results of the CO2ol Down process and the recent momentum created when Europe’s parliamentarians indicated their support for the European Commission to introduce a separated-targets approach not only for the EU, but also for all other Parties to the Paris Agreement.
As the EU sets, and prepares to implement, its 2040 climate target the CO2ol Down coalition has made its well supported arguments by infiltrating the policymaker bubble.
Time will tell if the Commission walks the EU down the CO2ol path towards a sustainable carbon removals policy framework.
