C-SINK Survey: the parameters of Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies (CDR-T)

The increasing CO2 concentration at 420 ppm is causing global damage, prompting the need for large-scale deployment of CO2 removal (CDR). The C-SINK European project aims to establish a standardized and transparent CDR market. They are conducting a survey to gather feedback from stakeholders to shape future research and verify relevant information on CDR parameters.

March 24, 2024

2–3 minutes

By Jennire Vanessa Nava Rosario (European Project Manager, ICAMCyL Foundation)

The rising concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere, currently about 420 ppm, is already causing extensive damage globally. Thus, there is an urgent need to deploy CO2 removal (CDR) at a very large scale to help to keep the temperature rise under 2C° (1.5C° would be better). The current self-regulated market relies on an unsatisfactory patchwork of third-party verification of the removals achieved at individual sites. The sector has been negatively influenced by a lack of regulation and high-quality standards. This has allowed low-quality carbon credits to enter the market, lowering credibility and prices to levels at which high-quality permanent removals cannot compete.

Therefore, a European project titled C-SINK was born to aim to build a standardized and transparent European CDR market with trustworthy accounting methodologies based on robust monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) pre-standards and policy strategies. Comprehensive scientific assessments will be made of the various CDR approaches, in terms of (a) their potential uptake of CO2 (or particulate carbon in the case of biocharBiochar is a carbon-rich material created from biomass decomposition in low-oxygen conditions. It has important applications in environmental remediation, soil improvement, agriculture, carbon sequestration, energy storage, and sustainable materials, promoting efficiency and reducing waste in various contexts while addressing climate change challenges. More), and (b) their safety and other impacts over time.

The C-SINK consortium includes organizations from 11 countries with complementary skills and expertise in the different CDR technologies, the writing of CEN and ISO standards, climate law, carbon trading, and all of the relevant environmental and social issues.

Under Task 2.1, ICAMCYL, and the University of Edinburgh partners, C-SINK has crafted a survey in collaboration with Climate Strategies (CD&E activities), aimed at facilitating a dialogue on the parameters employed to characterize each CDR technology in the project -Biological CO2 fixation (BCO2), Afforestation (AF), Biochar (BC), Artificial soils (AS) Biochar with carbon capture and storage (BCCCS), Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), and Enhanced Weathering (EW) of alkaline silicate rocks- See Figure 1. The insights gathered from this survey will be significant in shaping future research within the project and in verifying or enriching relevant information on the parameters.

Through this survey, we would like to reach stakeholders’ feedback including key players (end-users, technology providers, investors), context setters (government actors, standardisation organisations), researchers/academics, EU and sister projects, and any other actors with an interest in CDR.

I kindly invite you to fill in and share the survey linked here within your own networks, to increase responses from stakeholders that will bring value to the project’s research results.

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