The European Commission proposed reforms to the EU ETS for 2031-2040. A new Article 9c would raise the cap by 250 million allowances, auctioned by the Commission to fund the purchase of certified BioCCS and DACCS removals, with further allowances to address the price gap between removals and allowances. The Commission would act as central buyer, prioritising cost-effective, high-integrity projects and paying largely on delivery. The proposal would also slow the pace of the cap’s decline.
RMRI notes that this establishes something genuinely new: a central compliance buyer for permanent removals. The headline 250 million refers to additional allowances and a corresponding procurement objective, not 250 million tonnes of removals already secured. The volume ultimately secured will depend on implementation, procurement outcomes and the relationship between allowance prices and removal costs. The proposal would also allow operators to compensate their own fossil emissions with CRCF-certified BioCCS removals they generate themselves under Article 14(1a), reducing those operators’ reliance on the central procurement programme. For a developer, the signal is real but not yet firm: subject to Parliament, Council and implementing legislation, it is best viewed as a policy signal to plan around rather than a bankable commitment.
Ref: European Commission, COM(2026) 616 final, ec.europa.eu