Open letter: Permanent CO₂ removals can plug the EU’s 2040 climate gap
Open letter from leading signatories calling for urgent EU action on permanent carbon removals.
As EU countries negotiate a 2040 climate target amid concerns over a potential shortfall in carbon removals, a delegation of industry representatives is in Brussels with a simple message: permanent CO₂ removals can help close this gap if the EU acts now. Their open letter to EU institutions, signed by leading companies and climate actors, calls on Europe to ring-fence €2.6 billion for permanent CO₂ removals RD&I in Framework Programme 10, allocate €6 billion – including a €1 billion pilot in 2026 – for advance purchases of permanent removals, and set a phased path for integrating permanent CDR into the EU Emissions Trading System. The signatories warn that without these measures the EU risks locking in a long-term carbon removals gap, but with them it can grow a scalable industrial sector that permanently stores megatons of CO₂ while supporting European jobs and competitiveness.
“The European Union has an opportunity to cement its leadership in a growth industry of the future in carbon removals, How the EU’s 2040 climate framework treats permanent removals will decide whether this potential is realised in Europe or elsewhere.”
