The Negative Emissions Platform proposes a pragmatic strategy to boost early demand for carbon removal in the EU, including a Buyers’ Club and public procurement to catalyse market growth ahead of 2030.
The Negative Emissions Platform has set out a pragmatic road map for jump-starting demand for carbon dioxide removal across the European Union before 2030, arguing that near-term, targeted interventions are needed while longer-term market structures are finalised.
According to the NEP discussion paper authored by its CDR financing lead Atilla Yucel, Europe’s removal projects are mired in a cycle of uncertainty: developers delay final investment decisions because of weak offtake visibility, while potential buyers are deterred by unclear claims rules and high transaction costs. The paper offers a suite of short-term actions intended to reduce those barriers and catalyse early offtakes that can anchor investment and attract blended finance.
A central proposal is an EU Buyers’ Club to aggregate corporate demand, harmonise due diligence and contracting, and provide a low-friction participation route for mid-sized companies. The concept has gained traction: the European Commission announced the establishment of such a Buyers’ Club in December 2025 to pool voluntary demand for carbon farming and removals under the Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming framework,with the stated aim of delivering revenue to farmers and foresters and supporting biomass-based projects.
NEP also recommends direct public purchasing support administered through the CRCF Regulation, delivered as fixed per-tonne payments on verified delivery. The paper frames this as a way to create anchor offtakes while leveraging the Industrial Decarbonisation Bank and EU instruments such as the Innovation Fund to scale financing. The organisation suggests a predictable, recurrent purchasing programme beginning with a €1 billion pilot in 2026 and repeated procurement rounds spanning multiple CDR pathways, accompanied by active public communication and stakeholder events to build market confidence.
The platform maintains editorial distance from industry pledges, stressing that public support must be conditional on robust permanence and verification standards. NEP’s broader policy position, published separately, advocates a phased integration of certified permanent removals into the EU Emissions Trading System only after a period of public and intermediary procurement, with safeguards to avoid expanding the ETS cap and to preserve environmental integrity.
Market indicators underline the urgency of intervention. Industry analyses show rapid growth in CDR activity: purchased volumes expanded sharply in recent years and forecasts suggest supply will lag demand if corporate commitments continue to accelerate. The World Economic Forum reported that while supply might reach about 33 MtCO2e per year by 2030, even low-end demand scenarios exceed that level,illustrating how early offtakes can secure supply and price predictability for buyers.
Policy dialogue is already exploring complementary compliance mechanisms. Workshops organised by Carbon Gap with NEP participants have examined ideas ranging from a Removal Trading Scheme to a Carbon Takeback Obligation for fossil producers,and considered how removals could interact with existing instruments such as the ETS, CBAM and aviation offsetting schemes. NEP and other stakeholders argue that separate CDR targets in EU climate law and alignment with the CRCF will be essential to avoid market fragmentation.
On the supply side, NEP’s investment brief projects European CDR capacity rising through the 2020s and early 2030s,with estimates pointing to roughly 7 MtCO2/year by 2030 and potentially 22–37 MtCO2/year by 2035 across BioCCS, biochar, DACCS and mineralisation pathways. The platform notes costs should fall as technologies scale,making early anchored demand an important lever to accelerate deployment and de-risk financing for private investors.
For industrial decarbonisation professionals, the paper frames a clear policy and market architecture request from the CDR sector: deploy public purchasing that is sizeable, predictable and technology-inclusive; standardise contracting and due diligence to reduce buyer transaction costs; and link short-term procurement to a longer-term pathway for compliance integration without compromising integrity. If those elements are delivered,NEP argues, the EU could materially expand reliable removal capacity within this decade.
- https://carbonherald.com/the-negative-emissions-platform-outlines-ways-to-unlock-short-term-cdr-demand-in-the-eu/ – Please view link – unable to able to access data
- https://www.spglobal.com/commodity-insights/en/news-research/latest-news/energy-transition/120125-eu-endorses-buyers-club-as-financing-strategy-for-crcf-credits – In December 2025, the European Commission announced the establishment of an EU Buyer’s Club to stimulate demand in the voluntary CO₂ removals market. This initiative aims to pool voluntary demand from private companies, thereby generating revenue for European farmers and foresters and supporting biomass projects. The Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming framework is an EU initiative for certifying CO₂ removals, carbon farming, and carbon storage projects within the bloc. This voluntary initiative will provide a clear demand signal for carbon farming and permanent carbon removals under the CRCF Regulation.
- https://www.negative-emissions.org/policy-positions – The Negative Emissions Platform (NEP) advocates for integrating permanent carbon dioxide removals (CDR) into the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) through a phased approach. This strategy aims to support the EU’s path to net-zero by creating long-term demand and revenue certainty for the CDR sector, while maintaining the environmental integrity of the ETS. NEP proposes starting with public funding and intermediary-led procurement, followed by gradual integration of certified permanent CDRs without increasing the ETS cap. The paper stresses the need for separate targets for CDR in EU climate law, alignment with the CRCF, and safeguards to ensure only high-integrity, permanent removals are eligible.
- https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20231109STO09918/assorbimenti-di-carbonio-misure-aggiuntive-per-ottenere-la-neutralita-climatica – In November 2022, the European Commission proposed establishing an EU-wide certification scheme for carbon removals to encourage and accelerate the deployment of effective, high-quality carbon removal activities. The European Parliament approved this proposal in April 2024. Certification will ensure carbon removal activities are measured accurately, while carbon is stored for as long as possible. This will create benefits to or at the very least not hamper other environmental goals, such as biodiversity, zero pollution, and the circular economy. Harmonised certification will help build trust and attract financing for carbon removal activities from both public and private sources. The new law covers different ways of removing carbon: permanent carbon storage through industrial technologies; carbon storage in long-lasting products; and carbon farming, which includes reducing emissions from the soil. To be certified, permanent carbon removals must be able to store carbon for several centuries.
- https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/04/carbon-dioxide-removal-carbon-credits/ – The World Economic Forum reports that the total annual supply of carbon credits is expected to reach 33 megatonnes (Mt) CO₂e by 2030. However, even in a low-end scenario, annual demand would surpass this level at 40 Mt CO₂e, while in a high-end scenario, it could reach 200 Mt CO₂e. CDR purchases increased by 750% from 2022 to 2023, and by May 2024, they had already surpassed the previous year’s total. Demand is primed to surge in the coming years as firms attempt to meet their interim CDR commitments under the Science Based Targets Initiative, and the gap will only widen over time. For early adopters, offtakes will guarantee a steady supply of credits as the market tightens. For latecomers, they will block off access to an ever-increasing share of some of the most sought-after carbon credits. Firms that recognise the parallels between CDR and renewables will move on offtakes early, securing long-term price advantages and locking down a consistent supply of credits in an increasingly competitive market.
- https://carbongap.org/19-march-charting-the-path-forward-exploring-compliance-policy-options-for-cdr-in-the-eu/ – On 19 March 2025, Carbon Gap and the Negative Emissions Platform (NEP) jointly hosted a workshop to explore compliance policy options for permanent Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) in the European Union (EU). The workshop brought together 46 participants from across the CDR ecosystem, including 20 representatives from the CDR industry, 6 from think tanks, 5 from NGOs, 1 representative from the European Commission, and 8 invited speakers. Through two subsequent sessions held under Chatham House rules, the workshop explored innovative options such as a Removal Trading Scheme (RTS) and an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for oil and gas producers, also known as Carbon Takeback Obligation (CTBO), as well as the potential integration of CDR into existing policies, such as the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the international aviation offsetting scheme CORSIA and the EU Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) mandate. Discussions addressed key knowledge gaps and implementation challenges, as well as regulatory feasibility.
- https://www.negative-emissions.org/invest-in-carbon-removals – The Negative Emissions Platform (NEP) highlights the significant investment opportunity in Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies, noting that the carbon removal market grew by 78% in 2024, with purchased volume reaching 8 million tonnes. Projections indicate that by 2030, European CDR could reach approximately 7 MtCO₂/year, and by 2035, up to 22–37 MtCO₂/year across various methods, including BioCCS/BECCS, biochar, DACCS, and mineralisation. As deployment scales and technologies mature, costs are projected to decline, making CDR a viable and strategic investment for achieving net-zero emissions.
Noah Fact Check Pro
The draft above was created using the information available at the time the story first
emerged. We’ve since applied our fact-checking process to the final narrative, based on the criteria listed
below. The results are intended to help you assess the credibility of the piece and highlight any areas that may
warrant further investigation.
Freshness check
Score:
7
Notes:
The article references a discussion paper authored by Atilla Yucel, CDR financing lead at the Negative Emissions Platform (NEP), which is not publicly available online. The European Commission’s announcement of the EU Buyers’ Club in December 2025 is mentioned, but no direct link to the official announcement is provided. The article also references a report titled ‘An EU Purchasing Programme for Permanent Carbon Removals’ published by Ecologic Institute, but no direct link is provided. The absence of direct links to these sources raises concerns about the freshness and verifiability of the information. Additionally, the article includes specific figures and dates that are not independently verifiable, which further diminishes its freshness score.
Quotes check
Score:
4
Notes:
The article includes direct quotes attributed to Atilla Yucel, but no direct links to the original discussion paper or any other source are provided. Without access to the original source, the authenticity and context of these quotes cannot be verified, raising significant concerns about their accuracy and reliability.
Source reliability
Score:
5
Notes:
The article originates from Carbon Herald, a niche publication focusing on carbon markets and climate policy. While it may be reputable within its niche, its limited reach and potential biases reduce the overall reliability of the source. The lack of direct links to primary sources further diminishes the credibility of the information presented.
Plausability check
Score:
6
Notes:
The article discusses the establishment of an EU Buyers’ Club and a €1 billion pilot programme for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) in 2026, which aligns with recent EU initiatives to boost carbon removals. However, the absence of direct links to official sources and the reliance on unverifiable quotes raise questions about the accuracy and authenticity of these claims.
Overall assessment
Verdict (FAIL, OPEN, PASS): FAIL
Confidence (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH): HIGH
Summary:
The article presents information on the EU Buyers’ Club and a €1 billion pilot programme for carbon dioxide removal in 2026, but it lacks direct links to primary sources, and the quotes cannot be independently verified. The reliance on information from organizations directly involved in the initiatives discussed further diminishes the credibility of the content. Given these issues, the article fails to meet the necessary standards for publication.
