Focus area

Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming Regulation (CRCF)

Focus area

Carbon Accounting

Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming Regulation (CRCF)

What is the CRCF?

The Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming Regulation was formally adopted at the end of 2024 to support a regulated voluntary carbon certification framework.

To support this regulation, the European Commission puts together several delegated acts to support the different activities under carbon removals and carbon farming.

: Direct air capture with carbon storage (‘DACCS’)

Biogenic emissions capture with carbon storage (‘BioCCS’)

Biochar carbon removal ‘BCR’)
: Agriculture on mineral soils and agroforestry

Rewetting and restoration of peatlands

Afforestation

Permanent Removals:

Direct air capture with carbon storage (‘DACCS’)
Biogenic emissions capture with carbon storage (‘BioCCS’)
Biochar carbon removal (‘BCR’)

Carbon Farming:

Agriculture on mineral soils and agroforestry
Rewetting and restoration of peatlands
Afforestation

What is Bellona’s role?

The Commission consults a formal ‘Expert Group on Carbon Removals’, of which Bellona is an official member. The Commission holds several expert groups, surveys and consultations to discuss and elaborate the methodologies to quantify carbon removals and carbon farming activities:

Our experts at Bellona carry out thorough analysis of the different iterations of those methodologies, with consistent feedback and debrief of Expert Group meetings.

Please reach out directly to our expert Dr. Louis Hennequin for further conversations: louis@bellona.org

Projects related to focus area

NEGEM Project

Click here to see our Negative Emissions Handbook! NEGEM is an European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreem...

Publications related to focus area

All publications

How could CDR interact with the EU ETS?

Executive Summary As the European Union moves towards its legally binding 2050 climate neutrality target, Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) has a limit...

11/09/2025

More than numbers: EU climate targets as the North Star for EU’s competitiveness & climate resilience

On July 2nd 2025, after over one year of delays, the European Commission published its legislative proposal to amend the European Climate Law and est...

26/08/2025

Carbon Negative Handbook

The 2015 Paris Agreement established the global ambition to “achieve a balancebetween anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of gre...

07/11/2024

Clearing Conflations on Carbon Capture Terminologies

The EU is increasingly including so-called “carbon management” technologies in its approach to net zero emissions by 2050, recognising the role such ...

27/02/2024

Who should use NETPs?

Managing expectations for NETP demand: Considerations for allocating carbon dioxide removals Negative Emissions Technologies and Practices (NETPs)...

09/12/2023

Global Governance of NETPs – Global Supply Chains and Coherent Accounting

Negative Emission Technologies and Practices (NETPs) aim to reduce the amount of CO₂ present in the atmosphere. However, the varying system complexity NETPs presents a challenge for accurate evaluation of net climate impact.

08/03/2023

The CRCF is not yet fit-for-purpose

Bellona welcomes the EU’s recognition of the importance of carbon dioxide removals in its recently drafted proposal for a Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF). However, the initial draft of this proposal is not aligned with the physical reality of carbon removals.

06/03/2023

Quick scan on the carbon removal potential in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area and the North Sea Canal Area

The report summarises the general role of CDR in climate action, provides a general assessment of various processes relevant to the removal of CO₂ from the atmosphere, and indicates the potential of CDR deployment in the Amsterdam area in 2030 and 2050.

03/01/2023

The Carbon Credits Conundrum: Why governments need to regulate voluntary markets

This briefing lays out the current political context of CDR, particularly related to its inclusion in voluntary carbon markets and the upcoming Carbon Removal Certification Mechanism.

31/08/2022

Addressing differences in permanence of Carbon Dioxide Removal

This Policy Brief paper explores three broad approaches to recognising and managing permanence in the context of carbon removal certifications.

20/04/2022

121 Solutions

We have defined 121 solutions that our experts believe will be important to cut emissions, and reaching the 2050-targets of the Paris Agreement. These solutions are divided into seven categories, and all of them depend on five fundamental requirements that have to be in place to cut emissions all over the world.

14/10/2021

Position Paper: All that the NRMM Regulation isn’t.

Regulations on Non Road Mobile Machinery (NRMM) are currently under revision by the European Commission and the European Parliament due to covid-19 crisis. In our Position Paper "All that the NRMM Regulation isn't and what it could be" we highlight how the development of new technologies for construction machinery opens up an opportunity for the EU to take the lead in the innovation of the sector. If only the EU would be willing to take the leadership.

06/07/2020

EU must lead on robust and coherent terminology for Carbon Dioxide Removal

To achieve the target of net-zero emissions by 2050 it is no longer enough to simply reduce emissions, we will also have to physically remove CO2 from...

08/06/2020

Briefing: Counting Carbon – A lifecycle assessment guide for plastic fuels

With this report we want to stress and demonstrate that the fossil carbon embedded within plastics needs to be traced from the extraction of the fossil carbon to its emission into the atmosphere.

28/01/2020

Understanding our Future

Climate change is happening. Human activity has caused and continues to contribute to towards it; the current and projected severity of its impacts ha...

28/11/2018

BellonaBrief: Brexit Implications on Climate, Energy and Environment

On 24 June 2016 the United Kingdom voted 52% to 48% in a referendum to leave the European Union. Many resources are now likely to be diverted from running the EU and progressing important policies toward instead managing and negotiating the referendum implications. While many uncertainties and questions remain to be addressed, one thing remains certain: Bellona has championed environmental and climate protection in Europe from outside EU membership for over 20 years and will continue to do so. While domestic implications for the UK remain unclear, NGOs’ voices in Europe will continue to be heard.

27/06/2016

Scenarios for Global CO2 Emissions

The objective of this paper is to analyze how global energy demand and CO2 emissions will develop based on the assumptions and scenarios established b...

29/05/2007

News related to focus area

All news

The European Commission moves forward with CRCF Permanent Removals despite concerns from the Carbon Removal Expert Group

On the 10th of November 2025, the European Commission’s Carbon Removal Expert Group (CREG) met to review the latest draft methodologies under the Car...

17/11/2025

Press Release – EU Ministers agree to 90% target for 2040 by watering down domestic climate action

Today, EU environment ministers agreed on a watered-down deal on the EU 2040 climate target and the 2035 NDC ...

05/11/2025

Coalition for Higher Ambition calls on EU leaders to adopt ≥90% domestic emissions cuts by 2040

Ahead of the October European Council, the Coalition for Higher Ambition urges the EU to set a science-based 2040 target of at least 90% net domestic...

15/10/2025

International NGOs Respond to Finnish and Swedish Prime Ministers on LULUCF

A coalition of over 50 international NGOs has urged the EU to reject Finland and Sweden’s proposal to weaken the LULUCF Regulation, warning it would jeopardise Europe’s climate goals and forest ecosystems. The groups call for a science-based, biodiversity-focused approach to forestry that strengthens carbon sinks, ends harmful subsidies, and ensures forests serve both people and the planet.

15/10/2025