On Monday, dozens of environmental groups made a joint appeal European Union drop carbon removal methods from their climate plans, arguing that some rely on unproven technologies, while others may not absorb as many greenhouse gas emissions as claimed.
The EU’s executive commission has proposed a system to certify so-called offsets — carbon absorbed by nature or through technological means — that can then be bought by polluters to offset their emissions balance.
But about 170 groups, including Friends of the Earth, Corporate Accountability and the Center for International environmental law claim that plans to use fields, forests or machines to remove carbon from the atmosphere on a large scale in the future are a “fantasy of environmental laundering”.
Instead, they urged the Commission to commit to real or gross emissions reductions instead of the net reductions that many countries and companies are currently touting in their climate plans. The EU, which consists of 27 countries, aims to achieve “zero” emissions by 2050.
Flags symbolizing the European Union fly on a pole in the Belgian capital in front of the Le Berlaymont building in Brussels. Environmental groups are calling on the EU to remove carbon removal methods from its climate plans.
(Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Emissions of planet-warming gases caused by human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, must be halved by 2030 and stopped completely by mid-century to keep the Paris climate agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, scientists say .
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European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
