Brussels, February 2026 — The European Union has done something climate markets have argued about for years but never quite resolved. It has written a rulebook for permanent carbon removals.
This week, the European Commission adopted the EU’s first certification methodologies for what it defines as permanent carbon removal. The standard is voluntary, but it is legally grounded, precise, and enforceable. It sets out what counts as a real tonne of carbon removed from the atmosphere, how long it must stay stored, and how projects must prove it.
In a market crowded with bold claims and uneven credibility, the EU is signaling that the era of vague promises is ending.
From climate theory to market reality
Carbon removals have long existed on the margins of climate policy. For years, carbon markets focused on avoided emissions rather than undoing the damage already done. As net zero pledges multiplied, so did the realization that cutting emissions alone would not be enough.
The result was a rush into removals, and just as quickly, a credibility crisis. Buyers struggled to distinguish durable storage from temporary fixes. Critics warned of greenwashing. Investors hesitated.
Europe’s response has been methodical. The new methodologies sit on top of the Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming Regulation adopted in 2024, which created an EU wide framework for certifying removals. This latest step turns that framework into something operational.
For now, certification is available for three approaches the Commission says are ready: direct air capture with geological storage, capture of biogenic emissions with storage, and biochar carbon removal. Each must meet strict requirements on measurement, permanence, sustainability, and risk management.
This is not a promise of scale. It is a demand for proof.
Why voluntary still matters
The EU standard does not force companies to buy removal credits. What it does is define reality before markets do it themselves.
Projects certified under the framework can signal credibility to investors and buyers. Corporations can point to a public, science based benchmark rather than private methodologies. Regulators gain a reference point that can be built into future policy.
In short, voluntary here does not mean optional. It means foundational.
A movement years in the making
This moment did not arrive overnight. Inside Europe, the shift began with debates over sustainable carbon cycles and how to integrate removals into climate neutrality strategies without undermining emissions cuts.
Outside Europe, similar conversations were unfolding, but without convergence.
In the United Kingdom, the government is designing a policy driven removals market tied to procurement and contracts. In the United States, billions have flowed into carbon removal through incentives and government purchases, but quality control is still shaped largely by private registries and contracts rather than a unified public standard.
Across Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, pilot projects are growing, but certification remains fragmented. Measurement and reporting guidance exists. Binding definitions of permanence and liability often do not.
The result is progress everywhere and clarity almost nowhere.
The UN gap no one has filled yet
The obvious place for a global standard would be the UNFCCC, but that process is moving slowly.
Under the Paris Agreement, the Article 6.4 mechanism is meant to govern international carbon crediting. Carbon removals fall within its scope, but governments have yet to agree on core rules. Decisions on how to treat permanence, reversals, and liability have been delayed repeatedly.
Some technical progress has been made, including agreement on how reversal risks should be handled. But no comprehensive UN framework for certifying permanent removals is in force.
That leaves a vacuum, and Europe has stepped into it.
What Europe is really doing
Beyond the technical details, this is a strategic move. By setting the first comprehensive public standard for permanent removals, the EU is shaping how future markets may function, even outside its borders.
The Commission plans to expand the framework next, with methodologies for carbon farming and for carbon stored in long lived products like construction materials. It is also exploring demand side tools, including an EU Buyers’ Club, to help pull credible removals into the market.
The message is clear. Carbon removals will not scale on hype. They will scale, if they do at all, on rules that define what is real, what lasts, and who is accountable when it fails.
As governments debate and markets experiment, Europe has chosen to decide.
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