Operationalising Land-Based Carbon Removals in the EU

• Florence School of Transnational Governance
• STG Climate

The High-Level Policy Dialogue will address land-based and biogenic carbon removals and explore how this can be done in practice, taking into account the need for high levels of environmental integrity through shared responsibilities in policy and rewarding removals through new financial incentives, including through the EU legal framework.

The High-Level Policy Dialogue will explore land-based and biogenic carbon removals, acknowledging that carbon fluxes in the land sector will become increasingly important on the road to reaching net climate-neutrality by mid century and growing net removals in the period thereafter. Many removal options in the land use sector are well-developed and scalable, and the Commission’s Fit for 55 Package proposes for the first time specific removals targets for the EU and Member States for the period 2026-2030.

The missing piece is rewarding landowners financially for the climate benefits from a change in management practices, and to develop carbon removals as a new business model. The dialogue will explore how this can be done in a practical way, considering the need for a high level of environmental integrity through shared governance responsibilities and rewarding removals through novel financial incentives including via the EU regulatory framework.

The event will occur over two days, of which the first afternoon will address ‘Governance approaches to ensure a high level of environmental integrity’ and the morning of the second day ‘Incentivising and financing land-based carbon removals – from voluntary approaches to an EU regulatory framework’.

Attendance at this event is by invitation only and all deliberations will take place under the Chatham House rule (no views or positions may be attributed publicly to any participant). Following the recommendations that come out of the discussion, the organisers will publish a policy brief as part of their public mission.