Getting ready for the EU CRCF: a conversation with Boris Lagadinov, Head of CRCF Program, Puro.earth 

Tell us about Puro.earth’s CRCF Program. 

The Puro.earth CRCF Program is our new program built specifically for the EU’s Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming Regulation – or CRCF – and once recognised by the European Commission, it will enable suppliers to issue CRCF Certified Units, and buyers to procure them, through the same infrastructure they already use. 

It is designed to sit alongside the Puro Standard and CCS+ Program as part of our broader move to become a multi-program standard and registry. The three programs – the Puro Standard (issuing CORCs), the CRCF Program (issuing CRCF Certified Units), and the CCS+ Program – will operate in parallel through a single platform.  

Once recognised, Puro.earth’s role under CRCF will be to operationalise the European Commission’s methodologies it has already approved for use, and to appoint and supervise Validation and Verification Bodies (VVBs) – providing the certification infrastructure, registry system, and the supplier and buyer support through which CRCF methodologies are applied in practice.

That’s exactly what we do today with the Puro Standard, and we’re well-placed to bring that same infrastructure to the CRCF framework. 

We’re genuinely excited about this. It’s a significant step in Puro.earth’s evolution, and it positions our suppliers and buyers well for where the European CDR market is heading. 

Why did you create it? 

Firstly, optionality across different programs matters for suppliers and buyers. As the CDR market grows and regulatory requirements evolve, they need to be able to move between frameworks without having to rebuild relationships or switch platforms. The CRCF Program makes that possible in the EU jurisdictional setting. 

The CRCF Regulation is a landmark piece of EU policy. It establishes a common quality standard for carbon removal across the EU, reduces market fragmentation, and creates a pathway for CRCF credits to eventually integrate with the EU Emissions Trading System. For Puro.earth, not having a program under it wasn’t really an option. 

Beyond the regulatory logic, there’s a practical market case. For suppliers and buyers operating in Europe, CRCF-certified credits will become increasingly important – both to meet the demands of buyers with an eye on future compliance requirements and to access the growing pool of EU-based demand. Building the CRCF Program now means our suppliers and buyers are positioned ahead of that shift. 

We also wanted to serve a specific need: companies with emissions in Europe, whether EU-based developers or international companies with European operations, are going to be seeking access to high-quality, locally-sourced credits through infrastructure they already trust. 

Who is this relevant for? 

There are a few distinct groups. First, EU-based project developers working on biogenic emissions capture with carbon storage (bioCCS), direct air capture with carbon storage (DACCS), and biochar carbon removal – the three methodologies currently approved under the CRCF Delegated Regulation. These are the suppliers who will be able to issue CRCF Certified Units once the Program is recognised. 

Second, international companies with emissions in Europe. CRCF-certified, locally-sourced credits are the most direct and credible way for them to address those emissions, and the Program gives them access to these kinds of credits. 

Third, buyers with compliance-forward procurement strategies. If you’re thinking beyond the voluntary market and positioning for potential EU ETS integration, getting your procurement infrastructure in place now makes sense by purchasing eligible credits within an existing EU regulation. 

For our existing Puro.earth suppliers and buyers, the new Program builds on what is already in place, so they can expect continuity. 

What steps have you gone through to reach this point? 

We’ve been engaged with the European Commission throughout the CRCF consultation process, and that engagement has directly informed the design of the Program. Puro.earth’s existing Standard was already substantially consistent with CRCF requirements, which gave us a strong foundation. 

Leading up to the finalisation of our CRCF Program, we made two targeted amendments to the Puro Standard General Rules (v4.3) and our Geologically Stored Carbon methodology to align with CRCF requirements – specifically around the amortisation period for construction and embodied emissions, and the compensation instruments accepted in the event of re-emission from geological storage. These changes maintain optionality for project developers without introducing friction for shared storage reporting and accounting. 

Following the European Commission’s guidance webinar on 1 June – which presented, in detail, the recognition process for organizations looking to become formally recognised as CRCF certification schemes – we incorporated that guidance into our application and submitted it. So, we’re now formally in the recognition process. 

Tell us about your engagement with the European Commission. 

The engagement has been ongoing and genuinely collaborative. We’ve been engaging with the consultation process from early on, bringing our experience of building and operating standards in the voluntary market to conversations about how the regulated CRCF framework should work in practice. That’s the kind of public-private dialogue you need if regulated frameworks are going to function well at scale – and it’s been encouraging to see the European Commission approach it that way. 

The European Commission’s webinar on 1 June specifically to provide final guidance to certification schemes ahead of their applications was excellent. We attended, took the guidance on board, reflected it in our Program through final amendments, and submitted our application shortly after. It’s been a good process. 

What comes next? 

The next step is the European Commission reviewing our application alongside others, and providing follow-up questions and clarifications, which is a fairly typical process and one that all standards that have applied will be going through. It takes time, and rightly so. 

Even once a scheme is recognised, the independent certification bodies – Validation and Verification Bodies (VVBs) – that assess projects and credits under those schemes still need to be accredited before any CRCF-eligible credits can actually be issued. That accreditation is typically handled by National Accreditation Bodies (NABs), or by the European Cooperation for Accreditation (EA) for organisations headquartered outside the EU.  

Critically, NAB accreditation of VVBs will only begin after scheme recognition – so there are meaningful steps between applying and the first credit being issued, for any scheme. 

What this means in practice is that schemes and VVBs need to be moving on both tracks. We’ve already initiated the NAB process in Finland, which means we’re not waiting for recognition as a certification scheme, before getting that groundwork in place. 

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For further information about Puro.earth’s CRCF Program, or to speak to a member of the team, please reach out to contact@puro.earth