MOSCOW (MRC) -- The European Union plans to capture five MM tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year by 2030 through technologies, and create an EU system to certify carbon removals, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.
The EU has committed to reach net zero emissions by 2050, eliminating the more than 3 B tons of CO2 equivalent it currently emits each year.
To help meet that target, Brussels wants to scale up carbon removals both by using technology to capture CO2 and place it in long-term storage sites, and by encouraging farmers and landowners to store more CO2 in trees, soil and wetlands.
"The development and deployment at scale of carbon removal solutions is indispensable to climate-neutrality and requires significant targeted support in the next decade," said the document, which the European Commission is due to publish on Dec. 14.
The Commission will also propose in 2022 an EU system of certifying carbon removals, by measuring and verifying CO2 removals from individual land holdings, the draft said. A robust certification system could also lay the groundwork for an EU regulated market for carbon removals - an option that could happen after 2030, the draft said.
As MRC informed earlier, in November 2021, a coalition of 19 countries including Britain and the United States agreed to create zero emissions shipping trade routes between ports to speed up the decarbonization of the global maritime industry.
We remind that ExxonMobil last month offered to lease 500,000 acres off the Texas coast, securing space for what could become a massive project to capture and store carbon emissions. Under pressure by investors to address climate change, Exxon in April floated an up to USD100 B industry hub to collect planet-warming emissions from Gulf Coast petrochemical plants and bury them under the Gulf of Mexico.
Besides, ExxonMobil also said earlier last month it is on track to meet its 2025 emissions reduction targets by the end of this year - four years earlier than planned - and has vowed to ramp up investments to further cut emissions.
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