Sprint 4: Institutional Alignment

Sprint 4: Institutional Alignment

Inform and connect to the emerging policy field on three governmental levels

Amsterdam, March 2024 Mid-sprint report

The big picture

The EU has committed to reaching climate neutrality by 2050 to secure a liveable future on our continent and our planet. The first and most urgent priority is the reduction of EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. At the same time, the EU needs to compensate for residual emissions that cannot be eliminated, by scaling up carbon removals, or in other words by removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

Additionally, the EC proposed a framework for certification of carbon removals, to ensure the integrity and reliability of carbon removals. This framework is fundamental to our intervention: without an independently issued and verified certificate, no credits can be issued for a carbon removal activity.

Goals of Sprint 4

• Align CSC and its new Protocol to the EU Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF)
• Inform the CRCF Policy process, influence if needed
• Align CSC to Dutch National policies, inform policy making process
• Align CSC to Provincial policies relevant to carbon storage in soil, fiber crops, material production and buildings, inform policy making process
• Align CSC with financial sector stakeholders

Sprint 4 Process and Results

European level

We joined expert group meetings 7 March, 25 and 26 October (link to agenda).

Results were positive: the CSC methodology is taken up in the review for Methodologies, and learnings were collected from the other methodologies. Read the Method Review here. We also joined two expert sessions to inform the Expert Group’s next meeting in April 2024. Results will hopefully show up from this next Expert Group meeting

National level

Developments at the Dutch national level are most prominently in the close collaboration with Building Balance. During the initiative, €200 million was secured at the Ministry for Agriculture for fibre construction crops. We are now involved in shaping how to best support carbon storage financially with the aim of funding the transition from fossil to biobased materials. Building Balance has a knowledge base that can be accessed here: https://buildingbalance.eu/kennis/

https://buildingbalance.eu

Provincial Level

Close collaboration was developed with Provinces of Gelderland and Utrecht. With Built by Nature we co-organised a ‘Banking session’ in Utrecht on January 18, with gedeputeerde Has Bakker bringing some weight to the occasion.

Results from the session were many. Participants from three national banks shared their perspective. The session was framed by Peter Fraanje (Built by Nature), followed by Alexander Heusscher, Province of Utrecht, who shared why they choose for an internal carbon price of €875 per ton CO2. After that intervention lead Sacha Brons explained Construction Stored Carbon, followed by Woody Building Concepts who presented an actual case.

Presentation slides are found below:

Our perhaps most important learning is that carbon storage in soils is already part of the provincial policies: the Nationaal Programma Landelijk Gebied has explicit goals on storage in soils. Also, provinces are interested in exploring CSC as it kickstarts new economic activity, value chains from land to buildings, gives perspective (new business models) for farmers, and helps to implement nitrogen policies. Below a table that shows how much of the national goal for carbon sequestration in soils, 0,5mton per year in 2030, might be divided across provinces. Based on rapport by Zwanet et al. (2023).

Go deeper

• European Commision Questions and Answers on EU Certification of Carbon Removals
• JPMorgan Chase to spend $200 million on carbon dioxide removals
• CO2-beprijzing in maatschappelijke kosten- en batenanalyses provincie Utrecht

Sprint 1: Ecosystem Formation

Frontrunners tackle the Construction Stored Carbon monetisation challenge

Sprint 2: Finance & Buyer Side

Harnessing a market perspective to develop reliable, high-integrity CSC credits

Sprint 3: Certification Protocol

Certification Protocol for the measurement of Net Carbon Removal Benefit

Sprint 5: Pilot Projects

A catalogue of certified carbon storage projects, providing detailed information on verified initiatives aimed at storing carbon dioxide in buildings.

Join us!

Stay in the loop on our Construction Stored Carbon interventions and contribute.