Environmental groups are making a joint call to the EU to remove carbon removal methods from climate change plans.

Dozens of environmental groups issued a joint call for Monday European Union remove carbon removal methods from their climate plans, arguing that some are based on unproven technologies while others may not absorb as much greenhouse gas emissions as claimed.

The EU’s executive commission has proposed a certification system for so-called offsets – the carbon sequestered by nature or technological means – that could then be bought by polluters to reduce their emissions balance.

But about 170 groups, including Friends of the Earth, Corporate Responsibility and the Center International environmental law argue that plans to use fields, forests, or machines to remove carbon from the atmosphere on a large scale in the future are “green fantasy”.

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Instead, they called on the Commission to commit to real or gross emission reductions instead of the net reductions that many countries and companies currently advertise in their climate plans. The EU, which consists of 27 countries, aims to achieve “net zero” emissions by 2050.

Flags representing the European Union fly from a pole in the Belgian capital in front of Le Berlaymont in Brussels.  Environmental groups are calling on the EU to remove carbon removal methods from its climate plans.

Flags representing the European Union fly from a pole in the Belgian capital in front of Le Berlaymont in Brussels. Environmental groups are calling on the EU to remove carbon removal methods from its climate plans.
(Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Scientists say emissions of planet-warming gases caused by human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, need to be halved by 2030 and completely phased out by mid-century to maintain the Paris Climate Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

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European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.