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Glossary · Energy industry & energy transition

Carbon Removal

Carbon removal Carbon dioxide removal negative emissions Climate protection CO2 storage

Carbon Removal, in German CO₂-Entnahme, refers to the deliberate removal of CO₂ from the atmosphere and its durable storage. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) as human activities that remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and store it durably in geological, terrestrial or ocean reservoirs or in products. This includes human-enhanced uptake by biological or geochemical sinks. Natural CO₂ uptake that is not directly caused by human action is not included. Carbon Removal must therefore meet two conditions: CO₂ is actually removed from the atmosphere, and the carbon remains stored in such a way that it is not released again in the short term. If a net removal remains after deducting all process emissions, this is referred to as negative emissions.

Carbon Removal is measured in tonnes of CO₂. This unit describes a mass, not an energy flow. A removed tonne is only reliable in an accounting sense if several points are clarified: Where does the CO₂ come from? How was the removal measured? How long is the storage expected to last? What emissions does the process chain itself cause? And who is liable if the carbon is later released again?

Methods and storage duration

The IPCC classifies the methods by removal process into biological, geochemical and chemical approaches. According to its assessment, only biological methods are so far widely deployed on a larger scale: afforestation, reforestation, improved forest management, agroforestry and the build-up of soil carbon. Storage duration also differs greatly. Carbon in soils and biomass tends to remain bound for decades to centuries. According to the IPCC's assessment, geological storage can retain it for 10,000 years and longer.

  • Biological: Trees and soils absorb CO₂ through photosynthesis and store it in biomass and humus. This is comparatively inexpensive, but vulnerable to forest fires, drought, pests or changed management. The rewetting of peatlands belongs here only to a limited extent. It mainly reduces emissions from drained peat soils. EU law therefore treats such reductions of soil emissions separately from removals.

  • Biochar: Biomass is carbonised by pyrolysis, that is, heating in the absence of air. Afterwards, part of the carbon is present in a very stable form and can be incorporated into soils or materials. Only this stable fraction is considered durable.

  • Direct Air Capture with storage (DACCS): Plants chemically filter CO₂ from ambient air. It is then stored geologically or bound mineralogically. The process requires a lot of energy. The IPCC estimated the cost of DACCS at around 100 to 300 US dollars per tonne of CO₂, but only with medium confidence.

  • BECCS or BioCCS: Biogenic CO₂ is captured and stored durably, for example from biomass power plants, waste incineration with a biogenic share, pulp mills or biogas upgrading. EU law therefore speaks more generally of the capture of biogenic emissions. According to the IPCC, the process is net negative only if the emissions of the entire supply chain are also taken into account.

  • Geochemical: In enhanced weathering, finely ground rock that can bind CO₂ is spread on land. Further approaches are mineralisation and increasing alkalinity in seawater. These methods are still being assessed at EU level. So far there are no EU certification methodologies for them.

Distinction from emission reduction, CCS, CO₂ utilisation and offsetting

Carbon Removal is often confused with emission reduction. An avoided tonne and a removed tonne of CO₂ have the same numerical value in an accounting balance, but describe different processes. If wind power replaces a coal-fired power plant, less fossil CO₂ enters the atmosphere. If Direct Air Capture takes a tonne out of the air and stores it geologically, the amount of CO₂ already present decreases. Both are important for climate action, but they solve different problems.

CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) is also not automatically Carbon Removal. The IPCC defines CCS as the capture of a relatively pure CO₂ stream from industrial and energy sources with subsequent storage. If CO₂ is captured at a fossil plant, this reduces its output but removes nothing from the air. For a removal to exist, the carbon must be of atmospheric origin, that is, biogenic or taken directly from the air. However, this is only a necessary condition. In addition, the stored quantity must exceed the emissions of the entire chain.

CO₂ utilisation, a component of CCUS, must also be distinguished. If captured CO₂ is processed into synthetic fuels, it returns to the air when they are burned. Such applications can replace fossil raw materials, but do not create a durable removal. Storage only becomes durable in geological formations, in mineral bonds or in very long-lived materials.

The term offsetting further increases the risk of confusion. Many offset certificates are based on avoided emissions, for example when a forest is protected from deforestation. Such projects can be worthwhile. However, they are not a removal as long as no additional carbon from the atmosphere is durably stored.

Legal framework in the EU and in Germany (as of November 2026)

In the EU, Regulation (EU) 2024/3012, the so-called CRCF (Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming), has applied since 26 December 2024. It creates a voluntary certification system. Certifiable are permanent CO₂ removals, carbon farming (carbon-storing land management), CO₂ storage in products and the reduction of soil emissions. To this end, activities in the EU must meet four quality criteria, including a conservative quantification of the net benefit against a baseline, and be independently verified. The regulation does not create any obligation to purchase or to account for removals.

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/285 lays down the first certification methodologies for permanent removals: DACCS, BioCCS and biochar. The European Commission understands permanent removals to mean secure storage over centuries. In July 2026, the Commission also adopted methodologies for three carbon farming activities. For storage in products, the CRCF requires at least 35 years. Such units are therefore not equivalent to permanent removals.

In Germany, the amendment of the Kohlendioxid-Speicherungsgesetz (Carbon Dioxide Storage Act) entered into force on 28 November 2025. Since then, the act has been called the Kohlendioxid-Speicherung-und-Transport-Gesetz (Carbon Dioxide Storage and Transport Act). It permits commercial CO₂ storage and regulates transport by pipeline. Storage sites are primarily envisaged under the seabed of the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf. The act does not distinguish according to whether the CO₂ is of fossil or atmospheric origin. It therefore creates infrastructure for CCS and Carbon Removal alike, without itself defining what counts as a removal.

Why Carbon Removal is relevant for the power system

Several removal methods intervene directly in the power system. Direct Air Capture requires electricity and heat. BECCS uses biomass to generate electricity or heat and combines this with capture, transport and storage. Biochar, rock grinding and mineralisation also require energy and logistics. This results in interactions with electricity consumption, flexibility and system costs. If clean electricity is scarce, a removal plant competes with heat pumps, electromobility, electrolysis and the electrification of industry. How much a plant benefits the climate then also depends on which generation actually covers its demand.

For Direct Air Capture, the time of operation and the load profile are therefore decisive. If a plant runs mainly in hours with a lot of renewable electricity and low opportunity costs, it can use surplus electricity. If it runs in scarce hours, it increases the residual load. Additional firm capacity may then be needed, and in the worst case fossil power plants run longer. For an honest balance, it is therefore not only the tonnes removed annually that count, but also the emissions of the additionally drawn electricity.

For BECCS, the questions are different. Biomass is limited and tied to land. It competes with food production, material use and nature conservation. Whether negative emissions actually result depends on origin, land-use changes, supply chain emissions, efficiency and storage quality. Expert organisations criticise that the EU methodology for BioCCS and biochar does not fully capture the emission consequences of biomass use.

Permanence, measurement, additionality and liability

What matters is not only how much CO₂ is removed, but also how reliably the removal can be demonstrated and how long it lasts. Geological storage sites can be monitored and modelled. Residual risks nevertheless remain, for example from leakage or inadequate monitoring. For biological storage, the uncertainty is greater. A tonne in a monitored geological storage site is therefore not readily equivalent to a tonne bound in a forest for a few decades. The CRCF takes this into account: it distinguishes permanent removals, carbon farming and product storage and requires uncertainties to be taken into account conservatively.

A further criterion is additionality. A removal only counts if it would not have taken place anyway without the project, the funding or the certificate. If a forest would have grown even without payment, its carbon uptake cannot be fully counted as an additional removal. Institutional questions also often remain open: Who may account for removals? Who monitors the storage sites? Who is liable in the event of a later release? And how are national inventories, corporate targets and voluntary markets linked so that the same tonne is not counted twice?

Role in climate neutrality and residual emissions

Carbon Removal is needed in many scenarios because some emissions are difficult to avoid completely, for example parts of agriculture and certain industrial processes. Climate neutrality then does not mean that no more greenhouse gases are produced. Rather, the remaining residual emissions are balanced by permanent removals. The European Commission explicitly understands the CRCF as a complement to sustainable emission reduction in all sectors and not as a substitute for it.

For the power system, this results in a clear order of priority. Compared with other sectors, electricity generation can be largely decarbonised, for example through renewable energy, grid expansion, storage and load management. Carbon Removal is therefore not a convenient substitute for this. It is needed where emissions are hard to avoid. If today's emissions are offset against future removals, a claim on future storage, energy, land and infrastructure also arises. If these resources later turn out lower than expected, the atmosphere remains more heavily burdened than the balance suggests.

In summary: Carbon Removal is the demonstrable return of CO₂ from the atmosphere with subsequent long-term storage, and not a collective term for climate-friendly action. The term only becomes precise when removal, storage duration, net balance of the process chain, additionality, energy demand and liability are considered together.

Sources

Related glossary entries

Edited by eCMS on 11.11.2026 17:01

© 2026 Erik Schmidt. All rights reserved. Quotations with a link to the source are welcome.