Revised methodologies under the EU Carbon Certification Removal Framework continue to lack integrity

The CRCF aims to create incentives for scaling carbon removals within the European Union to help achieve the EU’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. The regulation will make carbon removal and soil emission reduction units available to buyers and thereby aims to generate funding for carbon removal activities in the EU. In September and October 2024, the European Commission presented the first draft methodologies for certifying different types of mitigation activities. The methodologies specify how CRCF units should satisfy the four quality principles under the CRCF: additionality, quantification, permanence and sustainability. In a blog and detailed assessments published in November 2024, we found that the proposed methodologies could generate low quality units and undermine the EU’s climate mitigation efforts. Based on feedback from an Expert Group, the Commission presented revised methodologies in March and April 2025. In this blog, we summarize our analysis to what extent the methodologies have been improved. In our assessment, the revised methodologies have been improved in some areas but continue to fall short on basic integrity principles and do not build on the wealth of experience and lessons learned with existing carbon crediting schemes. Over the past 25 years, Oeko-Institut researchers have reviewed hundreds of methodologies and numerous carbon crediting programmes. The proposed CRCF methodologies are among the lowest quality...