![\"\"](\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2022\/01\/image-6.jpeg\")
In a bid to increase removals of carbon from the atmosphere, the long-awaited communication sets out actions to support carbon farming and upscale the business model to better reward land managers for carbon sequestration and biodiversity protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is currently no targeted policy tool to significantly incentivise carbon removals and the protection of carbon stocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, this has not stopped corporations and some private citizens from buying land-based carbon removals in voluntary carbon markets to compensate for their residual climate footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To address this, the Commission aims to propose an EU regulatory framework for the certification of carbon removals by the end of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This way, the communication outlines that carbon farming initiatives should contribute 42Mt of CO2 storage to Europe\u2019s natural carbon sinks by 2030, making agriculture a key strategic sector for achieving the EU\u2019s carbon-neutral goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at the strategy\u2019s unveiling, Commission executive vice-president Frans Timmermans called carbon removals \u201cvital\u201d in keeping the EU\u2019s climate commitments within reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCarbon removals create new business opportunities [\u2026] for farmers, for foresters, and other land managers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that they could benefit from a new source of income in exchange for rolling out carbon farming practices and storing carbon in soil, trees, shrubs, wetlands, and peatlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Dutch Commissioner responsible for delivering the Green Deal also pointed out that these practices are \u201calso great for nature and for the sustainability of our food supply\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The communication lays down the basis to prepare the necessary rules to ensure carbon removals are \u201ccredible and have the desired effect,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EU agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski took the opportunity to stress that agriculture and forestry are \u201callies in the fight against climate change\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCarbon farming will strengthen the contribution of farmers and foresters to the decarbonisation of our economy, by providing extra income for farmers, while protecting biodiversity, making farms more resilient to natural disasters and ensuring food security,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mixed reaction from farmers<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nHowever, the communication has sparked mixed reactions from the EU farming community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While EU farmers\u2019 association COPA-COGECA welcomed the inclusion of carbon farming in the political agenda, saying it offered a \u201cgreat opportunity\u201d for farmers and forest owners, it warned that many uncertainties remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In particular, the association expressed concerns over how a carbon credit system will be established, stressing that this must be \u201cmarket-orientated\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moreover, it pointed out that the communication does not clarify how and which sector shall be accredited for carbon removals through carbon farming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCarbon farming is only part of the solution to climate change but should not substitute actions to reduce emissions,\u201d Cogeca President Ramon Armengol added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, the small farmers\u2019 association European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) blasted the communication, calling it \u201canother step towards the financialisation of agriculture and land speculation\u201d which will \u201cset the European Commission on the path to cause even more climate and social damage\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is clear that the carbon farming initiative will amplify the harmful processes that already exist,\u201d the group said in a statement, calling carbon markets a \u201cfake solution\u201d that will neither succeed in combating climate change or the biodiversity crisis nor support rural areas and fair access to healthy food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added that the initiative allows large companies in the energy or IT sector, among others, to continue their polluting activities under the guise of being environmentally friendly, as they can \u201ccompensate\u201d their emissions by purchasing carbon credits related to land that is supposed to be used to grow food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn practice, this will increase the power of these large companies at the expense of peasant farmers,\u201d they warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Real polluters let off the hook<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nThis sentiment was also echoed by green campaign group Greenpeace, who said that the initiative \u201crisks becoming an excuse for big polluters to stall their own climate action\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cReal cuts in greenhouse gas emissions have to be the priority \u2013 carbon removals can add to cuts, but we can\u2019t let polluters use removals to pretend they\u2019re reaching climate targets,\u201d Greenpeace EU agriculture policy director Marco Contiero said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NGO also points out that the new plan pledges support to what they say are unproven technologies, such as carbon capture and storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Renew Europe MEP Martin Hojs\u00edk also cautioned that the EU must be careful not to create a system that will \u201creward laggards, create perverse incentives or lead farmers into unfavourable contracts and uncertainty\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSetting up a scheme that would focus only on counting the carbon and ignoring other parameters of healthy soils would solve nothing climate-wise,\u201d he warned, stressing the need to first establish sound monitoring and accounting mechanism in the EU, including the adoption of an ambitious EU soil health law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Commission\u2019s communication on sustainable carbon cycles promising a new source of revenue for farmers received a lukewarm response from the farming sector on Wednesday (15 December) while NGOs blasted it for letting real polluters off the hook. In a bid to increase removals of carbon from the atmosphere, the long-awaited communication sets out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Small farmers\u2019 association European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) blasted the communication, calling it \u201canother step towards the financialisation of agriculture and land speculation\u201d","footnotes":""},"categories":[5571],"tags":[19346,19644,16496],"supplier":[2317,19645],"class_list":["post-102933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-co2-based","tag-carbonfarming","tag-carbonremoval","tag-greendeal","supplier-european-commission","supplier-european-coordination-via-campesina-ecvc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102933\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102933"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=102933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
This sentiment was also echoed by green campaign group Greenpeace, who said that the initiative \u201crisks becoming an excuse for big polluters to stall their own climate action\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cReal cuts in greenhouse gas emissions have to be the priority \u2013 carbon removals can add to cuts, but we can\u2019t let polluters use removals to pretend they\u2019re reaching climate targets,\u201d Greenpeace EU agriculture policy director Marco Contiero said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NGO also points out that the new plan pledges support to what they say are unproven technologies, such as carbon capture and storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Renew Europe MEP Martin Hojs\u00edk also cautioned that the EU must be careful not to create a system that will \u201creward laggards, create perverse incentives or lead farmers into unfavourable contracts and uncertainty\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSetting up a scheme that would focus only on counting the carbon and ignoring other parameters of healthy soils would solve nothing climate-wise,\u201d he warned, stressing the need to first establish sound monitoring and accounting mechanism in the EU, including the adoption of an ambitious EU soil health law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The European Commission\u2019s communication on sustainable carbon cycles promising a new source of revenue for farmers received a lukewarm response from the farming sector on Wednesday (15 December) while NGOs blasted it for letting real polluters off the hook. In a bid to increase removals of carbon from the atmosphere, the long-awaited communication sets out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Small farmers\u2019 association European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) blasted the communication, calling it \u201canother step towards the financialisation of agriculture and land speculation\u201d","footnotes":""},"categories":[5571],"tags":[19346,19644,16496],"supplier":[2317,19645],"class_list":["post-102933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-co2-based","tag-carbonfarming","tag-carbonremoval","tag-greendeal","supplier-european-commission","supplier-european-coordination-via-campesina-ecvc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102933\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102933"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=102933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}