What are the CRCF quality criteria?

Regulation (EU) 2024/3012 sets four overarching QU.A.L.ITY criteria: quantification of a net removal benefit, additionality beyond baseline and legal requirements, long-term storage with monitoring and reversal liability, and sustainability that does no significant harm and delivers co-benefits. All four must be met.

Does biochar count as permanent removal?

Under the CRCF, biochar applied to soil is classed as carbon storage in products, requiring durable storage of at least 35 years. It is distinct from permanent geological removals like DACCS or BECCS, which target storage of several centuries or more.

What is the difference between carbon farming and permanent removal?

Carbon farming covers temporary or medium-term storage in soils and biomass, such as soil carbon and blue carbon, monitored over the activity period of at least five years per cycle. Permanent removal targets centuries-long storage and is subject to stricter reversal liability.

How is a project actually certified?

Once the quality criteria are met using the activity-specific methodology adopted by delegated act, certification is carried out by an accredited certification body operating under a certification scheme recognised by the Commission. This tool only indicates likely eligibility.

Is this regulatory advice?

No. It is an indicative checker based on the published regulation. Activity-specific methodologies are still being adopted via delegated acts, so confirm details with an approved CRCF certification scheme before relying on the result.

EU Carbon Removal Certification (CRCF) Eligibility Checker

The EU Carbon Removal Certification Framework gives carbon removals, carbon farming, and carbon storage in products a single, verifiable EU-wide quality standard. This checker maps your activity to its CRCF family and tests it against the four quality criteria so you can see whether it is likely to qualify before engaging a certification scheme.

How it works

Regulation (EU) 2024/3012 defines four overarching QU.A.L.ITY criteria that every certified unit must satisfy:

Quantification — a net carbon removal benefit, measured conservatively against a baseline and netting out the activity’s own emissions.
Additionality — the activity goes beyond statutory obligations and business-as-usual practice.
Long-term storage — carbon is stored and monitored for the relevant duration, with liability arrangements for any reversals.
Sustainability — the activity does no significant harm and, for carbon farming, delivers co-benefits to biodiversity, soil, and water.

The framework recognises three activity families with different permanence profiles: permanent carbon removal (DACCS, BECCS, enhanced weathering), carbon farming (soil carbon, blue carbon), and carbon storage in products (biochar, durable timber), the last requiring at least 35 years of storage.

Example

A biochar project is classed as carbon storage in products with a minimum 35-year storage horizon. If it can quantify a conservative net removal, prove additionality, monitor storage with reversal liability, and meet do-no-significant-harm rules, all four criteria are satisfied and it is likely eligible.

Tips and notes

Eligibility is necessary but not sufficient — certification still runs through an accredited certification body using the activity-specific methodology adopted by delegated act. Treat this as an early screening step, not a substitute for the formal certification scheme.