*UPTAKE Policy Session * at the 29th Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE 2024)
Integrating carbon removals into climate policy governance
Time: Wednesday, 03/July/2024 - 11:00am - 12:45pm
Organized by Resources for the Future (RFF) and European Institute on Economics and the Environment (EIEE)
Speakers:
- Massimo Tavoni, European Institute for Environmental Economics (EIEE)
- Åsa Löfgren, University of Gothenburg
- Eve Tamme, Climate Principles
- Michael A. Toman, Resources for the Future (RFF)
As achieving Paris Agreement limits on temperature increase continues to be challenging, there is growing interest in both the US and EU (and elsewhere) in the deployment of technologies for “engineered” as well as nature-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from the atmosphere. The need for substantial CDR in the latter half of the 21st century is documented in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report and the Special Report on achieving a 1.5°C temperature increase. Yet, an international panel of experts coordinated by Oxford University concluded in a late 2022 report that no countries have adequately developed policy frameworks for a large scaling-up of CDR.
Interest in CDR in the EU derives from a proposal for a net 90% reduction in GHG emissions by 2040 and from the emissions cap in the EU ETS falling to zero by 2039 (with potential liquidity issues in the ETS before then).
The EU has already proposed a legal mechanism for the certification of removals. In the US, in contrast, the emphasis has been on tax breaks (e.g., the Inflation Reduction Act) and government financing of RD&D to propel further maturation of engineered CDR technologies and some initial commercial-scale investments.
Debates in the EU and the US have also addressed the need for certain “enabling regulations” to accomplish transmission and long-term storage of CO2; the integration of CDR into existing regulations for GHG reduction, including the design of cost-effective policy mechanisms; and issues of distributional equity and environmental justice in the energy transition. This last issue, which is often overlooked, includes the implications of CDR for local air quality if traditional industrial patterns continue and implications for continuing use of, versus phasing out of, fossil fuels.
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