Every 22 April, for over fifty years, the world pauses to remember that we have only one planet. Earth Day was born in 1970 in the United States, when millions of people took to the streets demanding serious environmental policy. Today it is observed in more than 193 countries, and the 2026 theme - "Our Power, Our Planet" - places one word at the centre: concrete action, not declarations.
In 2026, taking concrete action on the climate crisis means coming to terms with something the science has made unambiguous: stopping emissions is not enough. Decades of accumulated CO₂ in the atmosphere will not disappear if we turn off the taps tomorrow. The warming we are experiencing today is largely the result of CO₂ that is already in the air - and will remain there for centuries without direct intervention.
This is where carbon removal enters the picture: the set of technologies, practices and interventions capable of actively removing CO₂ from the atmosphere and storing it durably. It is not a miracle solution, and it does not replace reducing emissions. But it is one of the tools the planet - and businesses - have available to tackle the part of the problem that decarbonisation alone cannot solve.
What carbon removal is: removing what is already in the air
The starting point is a distinction that often gets blurred: the difference between avoiding emissions and removing CO₂.
When a company installs solar panels, optimises logistics or replaces a gas boiler, it avoids producing new emissions. That is valuable and necessary work. Carbon removal does something different: it acts on CO₂ already present in the atmosphere, extracting it and storing it. It is not a variant of emission reduction - it is a complementary operation with its own logic and tools.
These interventions can generate carbon credits: units representing one tonne of CO₂ that has been verifiably removed. For a company, purchasing carbon removal credits means financing that removal and, at the same time, compensating a share of its residual emissions - those that remain even after doing everything possible to reduce them at source.
Carbon removal is not an alternative to decarbonisation. It is the response to the part of the problem that decarbonisation alone cannot solve.
The right sequence: measure, reduce, then compensate
Before getting into the specifics of project types, it is worth establishing the correct order in which these decisions should be approached. It seems obvious - but in practice it is frequently reversed, with direct consequences for a company's credibility.
1. Measure - calculate your carbon footprint (Scope 1, 2 and 3) using recognised methodologies. Without knowing how many emissions you produce and where they concentrate, any climate strategy rests on unstable ground.
2. Reduce - intervene at source - processes, energy, logistics, supply chain. This is the main work, not credit purchasing.
3. Compensate residual emissions - only after measuring and reducing do carbon removal credits come into play - managing what remains in a credible, verifiable way.
Purchasing credits before measuring and reducing is not a climate strategy: it is an environmental claim without foundation - and falls squarely within what the European ECGT Directive, enforceable from September 2026, prohibits as an unfair commercial practice.
Three families of projects: nature-based, industrial, hybrid
Not all carbon removal projects work the same way. They differ in how they remove CO₂, how long they keep it stored, their cost, and the benefits they generate beyond removal itself. Understanding these differences is essential for choosing credits that align with your strategy.
Projects fall into three broad families.
1. Nature-based projects
Use natural ecosystems to absorb and retain CO₂. Currently the most widespread on the market thanks to accessible costs and mature certification standards.
✓ Co-benefits on biodiversity, soil quality and local communities · Established methodologies · Accessible costs
↗ More limited storage permanence · Exposure to external risks (fire, land use change, climate events)
Afforestation and reforestation: creating or restoring forests. Trees extract CO₂ from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and store it in biomass - trunk, branches, roots - and in the soil.
Regenerative agriculture: practices such as no-till farming, cover crops and crop rotation increase organic carbon in agricultural soils. Beyond sequestering carbon, they improve soil fertility and resilience - a direct co-benefit for those who work the land.
Wetland and peatland restoration: these ecosystems store extraordinary quantities of carbon. When drained or degraded, they release it. Their restoration first stops these ongoing emissions, and over time reactivates natural carbon accumulation capacity.
2. Industrial projects (advanced engineering technologies)
Remove CO₂ in a controlled way through industrial processes and store it in deep geological formations. Currently offer the strongest permanence guarantee available.
✓ Very high storage permanence - centuries or millennia · Verifiable geological storage · Independent of biological and climate variables
↗ Significantly higher costs · Require specific infrastructure · Technologies still scaling up
Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS): generates energy from biomass - agricultural or forestry residues - capturing the CO₂ released during the process and injecting it into deep geological formations where it remains stable for millennia. The net effect is genuine atmospheric carbon removal.
Direct air capture with storage (DACCS): industrial plants that draw in air, separate CO₂ using chemical filters or solvents, and compress it for geological storage. Independent of land use, it can be installed wherever low-carbon energy is available. It is the technology for which the European CRCF is developing its first certification standard, with initial certifications expected between late 2026 and early 2027.
3. Hybrid solutions
Combine biological processes and technological intervention, offering a balance between storage durability and environmental co-benefits.
✓ Combine medium-high permanence with co-benefits on agricultural soils · Scalable approach · Intermediate cost between nature-based and industrial
↗ Biomass supply chain must be verified case by case · Ongoing monitoring required
Biochar: biomass is transformed through pyrolysis - heating in the absence of oxygen - into a stable carbonaceous material that retains carbon for hundreds or thousands of years rather than releasing it back into the atmosphere. Applied to agricultural soils, it improves fertility and water retention. It can also be used as an additive in building materials.
Storage in long-lived products: carbon is sequestered by incorporating it into construction materials such as structural timber, plant fibres or biocomposites. The CO₂ absorbed during biomass growth remains stored throughout the life of the product - which can span decades or centuries in buildings and infrastructure.
The choice between these three families is not simply about price. It depends on what you want to achieve: storage duration, type of co-benefits, alignment with the company's sector and environmental communication strategy. A food or agricultural business will have a different logic from an industrial manufacturer with hard-to-eliminate process emissions.
Want to find out which carbon removal credits best fit your strategy?
The CRCF: why European certification changes the rules
Until recently, the voluntary carbon credit market was difficult to navigate: different standards, inconsistent methodologies, highly variable verification levels. For buyers, distinguishing a robust credit from a superficial one required specific expertise and considerable time.
With the Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF), in force since 26 December 2024, the European Union introduced the first voluntary European framework for certifying carbon removal projects. This is not a technical formality - it is a quality guarantee that redefines what credible compensation actually means.
CRCF
in force since 26 December 2024 · first certifications expected between late 2026 and early 2027
First European framework for carbon removal certification · Strict requirements on quantification, additionality and permanence · Covers nature-based, industrial and hybrid projects
For a company purchasing credits, being able to state that its residual emissions are compensated through CRCF-certified credits means being able to demonstrate it with a recognised European standard - not simply assert it. In a context where the ECGT Directive prohibits environmental claims unsupported by verifiable evidence, this distinction matters far more than it might initially seem.
The market: growing, but quality remains a challenge
The voluntary carbon credit market is expanding. But not all growth points in the same direction.
~€3bn
voluntary carbon market value in 2026
€15bn
projected by 2035 (~20% CAGR) - Source: Regreener / BloombergNEF
Sources: Regreener Earth (2025); Carbon Credits.com (2025); Carbon Direct (2026)
In 2025, 95% of removal credits issued came from nature-based projects, while only 5% came from high-durability industrial solutions. High-quality credits - with verified permanence, robust methodologies and documented co-benefits - cost up to 300% more than low-quality alternatives, but are also the only ones that hold up under scrutiny from clients, investors and regulators.
The most telling figure: fewer than 10% of removal projects reviewed meet high-quality thresholds defined by leading sector analysts (Carbon Direct, 2026). The market is growing. But choosing poorly - an uncertified credit, a project without independent verification - is not a matter of preference: it is a direct exposure to greenwashing risk.
How Kyklos Carbon can help
Integrating carbon removal into a credible climate strategy requires a precise starting point: knowing how many emissions you produce, where you have room to reduce, and what residual emissions remain after that work is done. At Kyklos Carbon, we support companies at every stage of this journey - always starting from the company's actual situation, not a pre-built template.
- Carbon footprint calculation (Scope 1, 2 and 3): we measure emissions using internationally recognised methodologies, building the data foundation that makes any climate strategy robust and verifiable.
- Reduction strategy: we identify priority areas for intervention and support the company in building a concrete plan to cut emissions at source - before considering any form of compensation.
- Carbon removal credit selection: once residual emissions are defined, we help the company choose the most appropriate credits by project type, storage permanence, co-benefits and strategic alignment - with specific attention to CRCF alignment.
Let's build together the path that turns your residual emissions into a credible climate strategy.
Conclusion
Carbon removal is not a solution to everything. But it is one of the few levers currently available to seriously address a real problem: the emissions that remain even after doing everything possible to reduce them.
On Earth Day 2026, the point is not to celebrate a technology. It is to recognise that the planet needs concrete action on multiple fronts - and that companies moving now, with a clear method and solid data, are not just complying with the rules: they are building something more durable.
Residual emissions exist. Ignoring them does not make them disappear. Managing them well is what separates a credible climate strategy from a statement of intent.
Earth Day 2026: the planet doesn't only need fewer emissions. It needs something that takes CO₂out of the air.