European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee focusses on monetisation of carbon credits

Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) voted on their opinion on carbon farming in the Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF). The European Commission presented the CRCF proposal at the end of 2022, aiming to define EU standards for the certification of carbon removals, including carbon farming.

On 30 August the Agriculture Committee concluded in their opinion that carbon farming should be incentivised through the “monetisation” of such carbon certificates. Until the Green Claims Directive is in place “the units certified under this Regulation” may be used “for voluntary climate claims”. The text further suggests that carbon farming activities should be broadened to also include the reduction of farming emissions. Whereas emissions reductions are of course crucial, they are inherently different from carbon removals and should not be mixed up.

Furthermore, the Committee amended the sustainability objectives, to include aspects differing from environmental objectives, such as food security and economic viability of the farm. This comes in addition to the fact that the Commission’s proposal is relatively weak on sustainability aspects as it only requires a neutral impact on objectives regarding climate and biodiversity and not a mandatory benefit on objectives like ecosystem restoration, water or soil quality.

As a next step the Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, which has the lead on the file, will vote on their report in October, after which the entire plenary will vote.

IFOAM Organics Europe will continue to advocate for a holistic approach to carbon farming which delivers also benefits for biodiversity protection and ecosystem restoration and does not penalize first movers. Read our position paper to find out more.

For more information on climate change and carbon farming and IFOAM Organics Europe’s work on this issue, please visit our website or contact [email protected]. Do note that we prioritise our members’ requests.