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Obviously, it will be necessary to clarify quickly who will pay and who will remunerate these stakeholders. Although the Commission currently seems to favour making the private sector pay via voluntary carbon offsetting, this will not be enough and other sources of funding will inevitably have to be explored: the European carbon market, a possible future Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) for the agri-food industry, and of course public funding, but first and foremost, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). At the moment, it is important to agree on a European carbon certification system in order to guarantee the impact the projects that will be financed will have on the climate, and on the environment as a whole. The aim is to direct funds, whether private or public, more effectively towards the climate friendly practices.
The Commission is currently working on this carbon certification project and will propose a regulation by the end of the year. The public consultation phase and the discussions organised in the various European bodies since the beginning of the year have raised many points of debate and even legitimate concerns. We can overcome them. We can find pragmatic solutions to these problems in order to build an ambitious carbon certification. This can be done by taking inspiration from the successes and failures of certifications developed over many years at international level or in some Member States, starting with the French Label Bas-Carbone that I4CE helped to build.
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