The European Commission has adopted rules to implement the EU-wide voluntary certification framework for carbon removals and carbon farming. This will be boosted further by three initiatives announced in the new EU Bioeconomy Strategy.
The new Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2358 introduces transparency standards for certification schemes and sets out rules for the appointment and supervision of certification bodies, as well as for audit processes, under the Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Regulation.
These harmonised monitoring and reporting standards are an essential step to build a coherent and trusted voluntary European market for carbon credits, ensuring that permanent carbon removals and climate-positive actions in agriculture, forestry and land use are quantified, certified and rewarded. Accordingly, obtaining CRCF certification is intended to drive investment and increase demand for verified carbon removals, which is essential for achieving the EU’s climate objectives.
By creating new business opportunities across the bioeconomy value-chain, the CRCF Regulation establishes the regulatory framework needed to build the climate-positive bioeconomy of the next decade. To this end, the new EU Bioeconomy Strategy has announced three key initiatives:
- To kick-start the voluntary market for CRCF credits, the Commission will establish an EU Buyers’ Club. This voluntary initiative will provide a clear demand signal for carbon farming and permanent carbon removals under the CRCF Regulation. By pooling voluntary demand from private companies, it will help generate new revenue streams for European farmers and foresters, support resilient biomass value chains, and underpin corporate commitments.
- To reduce costs and simplify access to carbon farming, the Commission will set up an EU Carbon Farming Database of models, emission factors, remote sensing products and benchmarking datasets. This will make Monitoring, Reporting and Verification more efficient, helping companies to report scope-3 emissions, and environmental agencies to improve national LULUCF greenhouse gas inventories.
- The CRCF methodology for Carbon Storage in Buildings is planned for 2026 and will help building owners demonstrate the carbon-storage performance of their buildings, helping bring the construction sector in line with circular-bioeconomy principles.
