News
Publish date: November 21, 2023
News
In November 2022, the European Commission proposed a Certification Framework for Carbon Removals. This proposal seeks to develop a framework for the development of methodologies which can quantify the climate benefit of various types of activities, with a focus on carbon dioxide removal. Carbon dioxide removal is necessary to counterbalance residual emissions and achieve net-zero emissions. However, the ability to monitor, report and verify how much CO2 is being removed by such activities is currently lacking and there is a risk of overestimating their climate benefit.
Today the European Parliament voted in plenary on a variety of crucial climate files, including the Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF) and the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA). These votes send strong signals on the need for coherent climate policy which supports and manages the deployment of Carbon Dioxide Removal and Carbon Capture and Storage in an environmentally robust way.
Read our press release on the Parliament’s negotiating mandates on CRCF and NZIA:
PRESS RELEASE – Parliament given strong negotiating mandates on CRCF and NZIA
Throughout the past year, our mission at the Bellona Environmental Transparency Center has focused on two key, but intertwined issues—nuclear and radiation safety as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, and the worldwide influence of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, which itself is actively involved in the war and has participated in the occupation of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
At the beginning of the year, reports in the German and Russian press suggested an approximate 70% increase in uranium imports from Russia to Germany in 2024. But does this reflect broader European trends? It does not. Overall, imports of uranium and nuclear fuel from Russia to Western countries actually dropped sharply in 2024. Unlike the situation in Germany, this is already an established trend.
A Lingen, Germany plant could begin producing nuclear fuel in cooperation with a subsidiary of Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, which is directly involved in the war in Ukraine and occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.