This so-called mitigation deterrence occurs when there is an overreliance on CDR available now or that could be generated in the future or when it is used to offset emissions. Allowing countries or corporations to hide emissions behind potential large-scale carbon removals in their climate strategies enable polluters to delay or postpone the rapid and real emissions reductions the world urgently needs if it is to avert the worst outcomes of the climate emergency. Deep, fast and sustained emission reductions are the priority for climate action, and removals cannot be allowed to distract from that.
When it comes to carbon removals potential for deterring climate action, Carbon Market Watch focuses on:
“CDR should not be used to deter climate action. Offsetting continued emissions with removals must be a non-starter. Instead, CDR must also contribute to protecting biodiversity, ecosystems and local communities rather than harm them. Enhancing the land sink is important from a climate perspective, but the real focus should be on the wider environmental and social benefits of such activities: carbon should be relegated to a ‘co-benefit’.”
Wijnand Stoefs
Lead expert on carbon removals
“CDR should not be used to deter climate action. Offsetting continued emissions with removals must be a non-starter. Instead, CDR must also contribute to protecting biodiversity, ecosystems and local communities rather than harm them. Enhancing the land sink is important from a climate perspective, but the real focus should be on the wider environmental and social benefits of such activities: carbon should be relegated to a ‘co-benefit’.”
Wijnand Stoefs
Lead expert on carbon removals
Focusing on rapid and deep emissions reductions
Banning the use of carbon removals for offsetting purposes
Prohibiting exaggerated green claims that rely heavily on CDR, such as carbon or climate neutral
Depending on how it is designed, the Commission’s newly proposed EU Buyers Club initiative for carbon removals may contribute little to the green transition or
A groundbreaking study finds that many countries relying heavily on carbon removals are at high risk of placing their climate goals in jeopardy. This echoes findings from previous Carbon Market Watch research and is helping guide future investigations.
CO2ol Down is a project based on collaborative policymaking and co-creation theory. It is grounded in principles of collective progress and mutual benefit, rather than the advancement of individual agendas.
This explainer answers key questions related to the topic of carbon removals, the principle of separate targets, and their implications for implementation.
The 2015 Paris Agreement established the global ambition to “achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases (GHG)
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