How to Reach Net Zero – and Go Beyond

Nature-based carbon removal projects can generate substantial environmental and social co-benefits, explains Marta Krupinska, CEO of CUR8.

Carbon removal tends to be misunderstood. Some confuse it with carbon avoidance (which prevents emissions from entering the atmosphere) or carbon capture and storage (which captures emissions at the point of production). For others, it’s synonymous with direct air capture, which is only one type of carbon removal. Misunderstandings such as these create a false impression that carbon removal – a diverse, exciting space with huge potential – is in every case bound up with vast industrial facilities and complex engineered solutions. This is unfortunate. Because carbon removal is, in fact, a broad church and one that welcomes a wide variety of solutions – human-engineered, yes; but also nature-based, which benefit communities, economies and ecosystems.

Investing in nature

This isn’t to knock human-engineered solutions. These are vital, can draw down carbon incredibly fast and contribute to much needed innovation. Plus, any solution that takes carbon out of the air is good for the planet. But nature-based solutions, which qualify as carbon removal when they actively sequester carbon, do more than that, in that they also address biodiversity loss and come with social co-benefits. Indeed, many of the credits sold in today’s voluntary carbon markets pertain to afforestation, reforestation and agroforestry, all of which have concrete benefits for biodiversity. Investing in nature-based carbon removal isn’t just an investment in balancing the planet’s carbon budget – crucially important though that is. It’s an investment in nature itself.

Let me give you an example. We recently sourced a project in Kenya that involved identifying the project and evaluating it according to more than 100 strict, science-based criteria, designed by our team to ensure those projects will deliver. The project had history in Kenya going back to 2004 and was Gold-level CCB certified –achieving the highest level of the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standard – for exceptional biodiversity, climate change adaptation and community benefits. It took a highly original, award-winning approach to measurement, reporting and verification, collecting data on project activities through battery-operated smartphones, GPS receivers, laptops or internet access points to monitor project activities. The project’s team also implemented robust quality assurance and control procedures, and displayed data on one of the most transparent platforms in the carbon market, allowing any member of the public to review and challenge their numbers.

For us, the project became a shining example of the benefits carbon removal can deliver. It was an agroforestry initiative that, on top of taking carbon out of the air, provided sweeping environmental and social benefits. It did this by integrating trees and shrubs into agricultural systems, which improves biodiversity, social quality and water retention while reducing nitrogen runoff and erosion. A project like that one doesn’t just sequester carbon. It nourishes ecosystems.

Lifting up communities

The benefits of such projects go beyond the environmental. The Kenya project supported local farmers with sustainable agricultural practices that increased food security and climate resilience. For each tree established on their land, the farmers received a payment in advance, as well as 70% of the net benefits from the sales of carbon credits. Such a financial model ensures that the communities making a difference, the vast majority of which are in the Global South and on the front line of the climate crisis, share in the rewards.

Moreover, the project addressed a pressing local need: firewood. By providing deadfall and prunings from planted trees – both renewable sources of firewood – it reduced deforestation in the surrounding areas. Consequently women, often responsible for firewood collection, gained more time for education, entrepreneurship or other activities. The introduction of efficient cooking stoves further cut demand for firewood, improving the health of the local people and increasing sustainability over the long term.

The ESG imperative

These kinds of multi-benefit projects have not escaped the notice of the most forward-thinking and climate-conscious companies. More and more, household names – like British Airways, Arup, London Marathon Events, Microsoft and Google – see that carbon removal is important not just for its potential to mitigate carbon but for its broader environmental, social and governance impact. With COP30 – the ‘Nature COP’ – on the horizon, the trend among corporates towards embracing removals for this reason will only speed up. Companies committed to real ESG leadership will prioritise investment that address climate change and nature restoration.

Moreover, standards designed to improve the integrity of carbon credits are improving all the time. Standard-setters are working to establish clear rules and high standards to ensure that credits represent real, additional, permanent benefits. We collaborate with many of the key standard-setters, including the Science-Based Targets initiative, Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market, the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity initiative, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and the Oxford Principles for Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting to understand the regulations and frameworks shaping the future of carbon removal.

Carbon removal is not ‘just’ a technical fix for carbon emissions. It’s one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal to restore our failing ecosystems, lift up struggling communities, and build a cleaner, greener, altogether more sustainable future. So a rebrand may be in order. We need to show carbon removal to be what it is: exciting, highly diverse, encompassing a wide range of project types that can do more than take carbon dioxide out of our atmosphere. Carbon removals can restore the planet.

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