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❗Clearing the air on DACCS costs in the EU ETS ❗
👀 Last week, I shed some light on the pretty shaky assumptions behind the BioCCS cost forecast in the EU ETS proposal. Today, let’s shift focus to the other CDR method eligible for integration into the ETS: DACCS. 💶 Unlike with BioCCS, I didn’t find the DACCS numbers intuitively off. In fact, I had a bunch of DACCS project developers tell me they were quite happy about those numbers, which might be even higher than what they could get on the voluntary carbon market (VCM). �
Aug 5


🤩 Dream job alert: want to shape the future of European CDR policy?
💎 This is a real gem: the department leading carbon removal policy within the European Commission is hiring for a Policy Officer. 🇪🇺 DG Clima C3 within the European Commission has been driving cutting-edge CDR policy, amongst others the Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming Regulation (CRCF), and - more recently - the EU Buyers Club. 🫵 Now you can join them! Key tasks include: 🔹 Helping to implement the CRCF, including managing the Carbon Removal Expert Group 🔹 Contributing
Aug 2


🇪🇺 We spoke to the person who oversaw the EU ETS review proposal - here is what she had to say on CDR
🎙️ Mette Quinn heads up the team at the European Commission which has spent years thinking about the CDR integration into the EU ETS. Eve Tamme and I managed to get Mette on the CDR Policy Scoop to ask her all our hard, outstanding questions. 🎯 Sneak preview: yes, the 250Mt of CDR in the 2030s is a promise, not just an aspiration. 💡 There is much, much more. Mette was generous, clear, and insightful. I guarantee you will learn something you didn’t know. Make sure to check
Jul 20


👀 ETS Proposal: Are these realistic CDR costs? 👀
🤷♂️ Here we go again: wild CDR costs in an official EU proposal (the Commission's Impact Assessment for the ETS Review, Annex 8 on Removals specifically). Only problem: this time it looks like the entire CDR integration into the ETS rests on these assumptions… 💶 Here is why: the EU is planning to sell 250 million EUAs to buy 250 million tons of CDR. As per the impact assessment, they assume that - by 2036 - the cost of an EUA will reach around €200 and the cost of CDR (esp
Jul 19
![🔴 [CORRECTION] What the budget for CDR in the ETS really looks like 🔴](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8f3c9d_47b10fec1f74451e89ba92a3b3ffc1fe~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_333,h_250,fp_0.50_0.50,q_30,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/8f3c9d_47b10fec1f74451e89ba92a3b3ffc1fe~mv2.webp)
![🔴 [CORRECTION] What the budget for CDR in the ETS really looks like 🔴](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8f3c9d_47b10fec1f74451e89ba92a3b3ffc1fe~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_514,h_386,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_avif,quality_auto/8f3c9d_47b10fec1f74451e89ba92a3b3ffc1fe~mv2.webp)
🔴 [CORRECTION] What the budget for CDR in the ETS really looks like 🔴
📈 Yesterday, I posted about the >€50b compliance market for CDR that the planned integration into the ETS would mean. 💶 The math was simple: the Commission suggested procuring 250Mt of CDR. At an average cost of €200/t, we’d be looking at €50b between 2031-2040. 🤔 The reality - as I understood today - is more complex, and worrying. 🔦 The proposal does not commit the EU to procuring 250Mt of CDR. It commits the EU to selling 250Mt of EUAs (+ an additional 10Mt contingency
Jul 17
![🚨[BREAKING] European Union set to create >€50,000,000,000 compliance market for CDR 🚨](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8f3c9d_25f7fdb033754305a524eeaf5e847057~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_333,h_250,fp_0.50_0.50,q_30,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/8f3c9d_25f7fdb033754305a524eeaf5e847057~mv2.webp)
![🚨[BREAKING] European Union set to create >€50,000,000,000 compliance market for CDR 🚨](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8f3c9d_25f7fdb033754305a524eeaf5e847057~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_514,h_386,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_avif,quality_auto/8f3c9d_25f7fdb033754305a524eeaf5e847057~mv2.webp)
🚨[BREAKING] European Union set to create >€50,000,000,000 compliance market for CDR 🚨
‼️ CLARIFICATION: the mechanism is more nuanced than I had initially understood. The Commission is not committing to 250Mt of CDR. It is suggesting to auction 250Mt (+10Mt contingency) of allowances "to generate revenues for the purchase of an equivalent amount of domestic permanent carbon removal units". Should the budget be insufficient (possible), it could simply buy less removals. I wrote an update here: https://lnkd.in/d6jUuJzm 🇪🇺 The European Commission’s long awaited
Jul 16


🇪🇺 Excited about the upcoming EU ETS proposal?
🐝 Lots of buzzing about this big drop next week by the EU. If you want to find out what you need to know ahead of time, what to look out for, we’ve got you covered with the latest CDR Policy Scoop Scoop Episode featuring Carbon Gap. Eve Tamme sat down with Francesca Battersby and Louis Uzor from Carbon Gap to unpack: 🔹What integration could actually look like: a public authority or a market led model 🔹 Whether CDR sits below or above the declining cap 🔹 How to close the
Jul 9


🚨 NEW PAPER: How Frontloaded ETS Revenues Can Close Europe’s CDR GAP
🤔 Can we leverage future ETS revenues for present day investments into CDR? What would that look like and what would its impact be? 📄 That is the big question Raphaël Cario cario and I are addressing with our new peer-reviewed research paper published by the American University’s Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal . 💶 The idea is not new: use European Investment Bank bonds backed by an ETS1 and ETS2 guarantee base to mobilise up to 200 billions of euros in green inve
Jul 1


🧩 Why must the EU ETS integrate permanent carbon removals after 2030?
🌍 CDR can help us reach our climate goals while keeping Europe competitive and the EU ETS gives our industry that flexbility. 👀 More on why the ETS needs removals from the Negative Emissions Platform: https://lnkd.in/eAR6v2vp #ETSneedsremovals
Jun 29


🖤 205 European plants delivered 170,000t of biochar carbon removal in 2025
🤩 As in previous years, Biochar Europe has just released their fantastic market report, which provides the best analysis of where the European biochar industry is really at. 🏛️ Tl:dr: BCR continues to demonstrate its technical maturity and ability to deliver. While growth has slowed down, capacity keeps being added. Clear policy incentives will be needed for BCR to truly scale and to incentivise use of biochar for BCR versus charcoal and especially metallurgy. Now for thos
Jun 22


🚿 Could CDR be the EU ETS' safety valve?
🇪🇺 This timely new Ariadne dossier (Frank Best, Michael Pahle, Darius Sultani Claudia Günther, Malte Herten, Jörn Constantin Richstein, and Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, 2026) seems to have drowned in the whole SBTi noise. Yet it is one of the best analyses I have seen to date on why CDR is truly needed for the long-term effectiveness of the EU Emission Trading System. 📈 It starts with an assessment of what could happen to ETS prices, especially if CCS and green hydrogen dep
Jun 15


🟨 The State of CDR Policy in 30 minutes - with Oliver Geden
🤩 Few people understand the intricacies of carbon removal policy better than Oliver, who has been working across academia and the IPCC, all while actively advising governments around the world. 🔥 I was thrilled to learn that I was going to host a fireside chat at the Negative Emissions Platform Summit in Brussels with Oliver. There are few people I’d rather spend 30 minutes talking to than him. The best bit: we recorded the whole thing and published it as a CDR Policy Scoop
Jun 8


📍 Where EU CDR policy actually stands right now
🇪🇺 Just wrapped up a week of meetings and events across European institutions. Here are my hot takes on the TOP FIVE policy files for CDR: 🏭 ETS: CDR integration is a given at this point, DACCS/BECCS only (initially) as well. The focus is shifting to other questions: within or on top of the cap? International credits Y/N? And - this is a big one - will there be specific quantities/volumes or will the Commission kick the can down the road? 🎯 National CDR targets: We fail
Jun 4


🧡 Thank you
🙋🏻 Today, I was elected to serve three more years on the board of the Negative Emissions Platform. 🇪🇺 CDR to date has been shaped by voluntary demand. The next phase - and where we unlock real scale - will be compliance demand, a story that will largely be written in Brussels and European capitals. 📣 We need to make sure that this industry has a strong voice in this process, sharing on the ground operational experiences and ensuring that future policies are fit for purp
Jun 3


📣 Europe should prioritise removals in its international carbon credit procurement
🇪🇺 Just touched down in Brussels where I am joining my wonderful colleagues from the The Global South Carbon Dioxide Removal Coalition (GS CDR) to deliver this simple message to European policy makers. 🤝 Looking forward to two days packed with meetings across the EU Commission, Parliament, and Council to share our perspectives and experiences at this crucial moment in time. 🎯 By the end of the year, the Commission will deliver a proposal on the use of international credit
Jun 2


🇪🇺 Can’t get enough of EU CDR policy these days
✈️ After the buzz of the CRCF Days, I am heading back to Brussels. 🌐 On June 2nd, I will be joining my colleagues from the The Global South Carbon Dioxide Removal Coalition (GS CDR) for meetings around town to discuss the role of CDR in Europe’s international credits ambitions. 🗳️ On June 3rd, the Negative Emissions Platform (NEP) is hosting its annual general assembly where I am running for another three year term on its board. 💬 On June 4th, NEP is organising its annual
May 27


🇪🇺 Does the EU Buyers Club have what it takes?
🚀 Yesterday, hundreds of carbon removers gathered in Brussels and online for the launch of the EU Buyers Club. Let’s start with the big, positive news: the Club has launched! 🧨 In typical European understatement, there was no big bang, even some people in the room missed this important detail: there is now an open group of buyers, working together with the European Commission, selecting eligible European projects. The first offtakes are expected this year. The day itself -
May 20


🎤 Reporting live from Brussels on the CRCF
🇪🇺 Eve Tamme and I are on the ground today to participate in the first ever CRCF days. But not just that: we are recording a CDR Policy Scoop episode so you can learn all about the latest developments alongside our analysis of it. ✅ From the EU Buyers Club to the implementation of the CRCF, we got you covered. 👀 Our episode will air tomorrow. Make sure to subscribe to the Scoop wherever you get your podcasts: https://lnkd.in/eZNaA9pX 😍 Exciting times ahead!
May 19


💥 Breaking: New CBAM rules could supercharge demand for Article 6 credits
🇪🇺 Huge news coming out of Europe this week! The European Commission released a draft implementing act for the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) covering the use of carbon credits. 🔎 The punchline: Europe is looking to allow up to 10% of international carbon credits (Article 6) and what looks like unlimited domestic compliance carbon credits to be used to reduce CBAM levies for companies exporting to Europe. 💶 Why is this so big? Let’s do the maths: the CBAM - cur
May 14


🔓 How much CDR could the EU ETS integration unlock?
💶 That is the billion euro question. A new study sheds light on this, and the numbers are big: 68-86Mt/year of durable CDR demand, easily >€10b/year. 🇪🇺 We are just 1-2 months away from the European Commission’s proposal on how CDR is to be integrated into the world’s largest emission trading system. I’ve seen a number of opinions on the potential impact on such an integration. 📄 However, to my knowledge, this is the first peer-reviewed paper modelling the exact demand th
May 10
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