Environmental Law Lecture series
Welcome to the Environmental Law Lecture Series! In this series, environmental law scholars will provide important insights into how EU environmental law helps to achieve a high level of environmental protection in the European Union and beyond.
The EU's path to climate neutrality and the role of carbon removals
The EU's climate neutrality target, which requires balancing greenhouse gas emissions with carbon removals to reach net-zero levels, has become legally binding with the adoption of the European Climate Law. The EU relies on the use of natural and artificial carbon sinks in order to neutralise greenhouse gas emissions that will continue to take place on its territory and thereby achieve its climate neutrality target by 2050 at the latest. Carbon removals play a critical role in this process, encompassing natural solutions like afforestation and wetlands restoration, as well as innovative technologies such as carbon capture and storage.
The most recent measure is the Union’s legal toolkit of carbon removals is the Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Regulation (EU/2024/3012), which represents a voluntary framework certifying carbon removals, carbon farming and carbon storage. However, for the time being, carbon removals face significant challenges, including scalability, verification, and integration into existing climate policies, and overreliance on these measures can significantly jeopardise the achievement of the Union’s long-term neutrality goal.
Watch it here on YouTube if you'd like to access the video transcript or jump chapters.
Key Themes
- EU climate neutrality as a legally binding objective: The European Climate Law establishes a legally binding commitment for the EU to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, meaning that remaining greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be balanced by equivalent removals. Beyond 2050, the EU aims to achieve net-negative emissions (i.e. more removals than emissions).
- Emission reductions remain the central pillar: The EU emphasises that deep emission reductions across all sectors (energy, transport, industry, buildings, agriculture) remain the priority. Carbon removals are not intended to replace mitigation, but to address unavoidable “residual” emissions. This is reflected in the –55 % reduction target for 2030 and the proposed –90 % target for 2040.
- Growing role of carbon removals in reaching climate neutrality: Owing to insufficient mitigation progress both in the EU and globally, carbon removals are increasingly recognised as essential. The lecture distinguishes between natural sinks (forests, wetlands, soil) and technological removals (e.g. carbon capture and storage, direct air capture). Each has different potentials and constraints, and neither can replace large-scale reduction efforts.
- Introduction of an EU certification framework for carbon removals: The EU has adopted its first voluntary Regulation establishing a framework for certifying carbon removals, including carbon farming and long-lasting storage in products or geological reservoirs. Certification will require verifiable, additional, and quantifiable removals, but the framework does not yet specify how such certificates may be used (e.g. for offsetting).
- Risks and open questions: The lecture stresses concerns about greenwashing and double counting, especially if certified removals are used by companies or states to compensate for ongoing emissions. Short certification periods (e.g. 5 years for carbon farming and 35 years for products) raise questions about the permanence of removals. Further methodological rules and safeguards will be needed to ensure environmental integrity and prevent misuse
Speaker
Dr. Melita Carević
Melita Carević (LL.M. Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ph.D. Zagreb) is an associate professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, at the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence “EU Global Leadership in the Rule of Law”, where she teaches European Public Law, EU Internal Market Law and EU Climate Change Law at the graduate level as well as EU Internal Market Law and EU Competition Law at the postgraduate level. She is also the holder of the Jean Monnet Module “Climate Change Law in the EU”, which runs from 2022 until 2025.
Lecture Series
This lecture is part of a series that runs from 2023 to 2024, providing students and scholars with core insights into the current state of EU environmental law and how it can be improved to achieve greater environmental protection. All lectures will be recorded and made accessible through YouTube, and the series is freely accessible to all.
If you'd like to know more about the other upcoming lectures:
This GreenDeal-Net lecture serie is hosted by MCEL, METRO and organised in cooperation with GLaw-Net and GreenDeal-NET. Maastricht University students will be eligible for certificates of attendance (see more information under the registration link).