Expert group on carbon removals

The Expert Group on carbon removals assists the Commission’s work on the voluntary certification of carbon removals.   

Specifically, the Expert Group will: 

• Assist in the preparation and implementation of policy initiatives and related legislative proposals in the field of carbon removals, including carbon farming and industrial carbon removal initiatives; 

• Facilitate an exchange of experiences and good practices from existing public and private carbon removal initiatives including key issues of certification, quantification, monitoring and reporting in addition to assessing other criteria such as additionality, durability, environmental integrity and transparency; 

• Establish an effective cooperation between the Commission, Member States and stakeholders on questions relating to the implementation of EU legislation, programmes and policies in the field of carbon removals;

• Assist in the preparation of relevant delegated acts; 

• Assist in the early preparation of implementing acts in accordance with Regulation (EU) N°182/2011; 

• Assist in identifying, assessing and realising synergies with other policy developments in the land use, forestry and agriculture sector, in particular with regard to Regulation (EU) 2018/841 on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry, and in the industrial sectors. 

The Expert Group comprises of around 70 members, securing a broad and equitable representation of independent experts and stakeholders from national authorities, public entities, businesses, industry, non-governmental organisations, certification bodies and research institutions in the field of carbon removals. 

The group meets at least twice a year, both in person and remotely. The work and process of the Expert Group will be carried out openly, inclusively, and ensure transparency, in line with the Commission’s rules on expert groups. 

The first meeting of the Expert Group took place on 7 March 2023 in Brussels:  

• Agenda
• Recording, split up per agenda point
• Meeting minutes
• Kick off presentation

Your opinion is important to us and we would appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to complete our post-event feedback survey. 

The meeting notes will follow shortly.

Next steps: There will be quarterly meetings in 2023 focused on best practices and challenges for certification methodologies: on carbon farming, industrial removals and on the certification process. In 2024, more targeted sub-groups will be formed.  

Save the date: 21 and 22 June 2023 - Meeting on carbon farming methodologies

In June, a dedicated Expert Group meeting will take place with the aims of sharing lessons learned from carbon farming projects and reviewing existing certification methodologies.  The input gathered during this meeting will contribute to the drafting of scoping papers on Agriculture, Forestry, and Peatlands that will serve as the foundation for future methodologies.

Call for input: carbon farming methodologies

As preparation for the meeting on carbon farming methodologies (21 and 22 June 2023), DG CLIMA has launched a survey to obtain a comprehensive overview of existing certification methodologies for carbon farming practices along the QU.A.L.ITY criteria (QUantification, Additionality, Long-term storage, and Sustainability). We are seeking responses from players in the field of carbon farming that can provide us with technical information about how existing certification methodologies address the challenges behind the four QU.A.L.ITY criteria.

Answer the survey

The survey will remain open for further input.

Click on the + signs for more information.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact CLIMA-CR-EXPERTGROUP@ec.europa.eu.