A great team at Arizona State University asked the question of how to develop carbon removal certification standards, and we have been privileged to inform this ongoing research. The image below providing a concise idea about open questions.
Source: ASU 2022.
ONCRA tries to develop answers to these questions while doing. Onsets is an attempt at finding and defining a suitable ‘instrument’. Durability questions ONCRA addresses by defaulting all removal durations to 100 years or more. Additionally is reached because ONCRA allows only additional Nature based Solutions that would not otherwise have happened. And finally, following the Oxford Offsetting Principles ONCRA argues that removal should definitely be treated differently from reduction, mainly because carbon finance should work to enable the transition from a fossil based to a new-plant-based economy and society – the only way for humanity to regeneratively stabilise climate change, we think.
The ASU white paper can be found here.