The Deadly Climate Gamble
Dirty Energy bets on unproven ‘carbon removals’ to keep fossil fuels flowing
This report was published by the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO).
The EU aims to reach climate neutrality – or ‘net zero’ – by 2050. But 'net zero' often just means talking about reducing emissions. This concept, popularized by fossil fuel companies, suggests emissions can be balanced by removing carbon from the atmosphere, through offsetting, capturing, or removing CO2. However, these companies make unrealistic promises about future carbon capture. Science indicates that immediate drastic emission cuts are necessary to stay within 1.5ºC warming. Therefore, 'net zero' policies may lead to exceeding 1.5ºC, causing irreversible climate impacts.
This report, published by Corporate Europe Observatory in collaboration with nine civil society groups, sheds light on how the‘net zero’ con works at the EU level, analysing the responses from an array of fossil fuel companies – such as Equinor, Eni, Repsol, and Shell – and their lobby groups, to the Commission’s autumn 2021 public consultation onrestoring sustainable carbon cycles, and its spring 2022 consultation on thecertification of carbon removals.The European Union's Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF) is a legislative framework that will regulate the creation of carbon removal and emission reduction certificates from different activities. These activities include carbon farming (which involves sequestering carbon in soils and forests, as well as reducing emissions), storing carbon in products, and removing carbon from the air through technologies like direct air capture.
The views and opinions expressed in the publication are those of the mentioned organisation and do not necessarily reflect the position of all Real Zero Europe members.