New EU carbon capture rules: what UK and EU drinks producers need to know

For most of the last decade, regulatory attention on carbon capture has focused on heavy industry — steel, cement, fertiliser, refineries. Drinks producers, even those venting tonnes of fermentation CO₂ every year, sat well below the radar.

That's now changing. Two pieces of EU policy in late 2025 and early 2026 explicitly bring biogenic CO₂ from food and drink fermentation into scope. For producers in the UK, the rules don't apply directly — but the commercial pressure from EU-facing customers and retailers will follow within 12-24 months.

Here's what's actually changing, and what to think about as the deadlines approach.

What the EU has done

Two distinct pieces of policy matter here.

The Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming Regulation (CRCF). On 3 February 2026, the European Commission adopted the first set of certification methodologies under the CRCF Regulation. This is the world's first voluntary standard for permanent carbon removals — the EU has positioned itself as the global standard-setter. The first methodologies explicitly cover three activity types:

1. Direct air capture with carbon storage (DACCS)
2. Biogenic emissions capture with carbon storage (BioCCS) — this is the category that fermentation CO₂ capture falls into
3. Biochar carbon removal (BCR)

For Cork & Capture's customers, BioCCS is the relevant pathway. Captured biogenic CO₂ that is permanently stored (geologically or in long-lived products) now has a clear EU-recognised certification route. The Commission's intent is explicit: create a transparent market for carbon removal, address greenwashing, and channel investment into proven removal technologies. Two further sets of methodologies are coming in 2026 — one covering carbon farming (agriculture, agroforestry, peatland rewetting, afforestation), and one covering carbon storage in bio-based construction products. These don't apply directly to drinks producers, but they signal the breadth of what the EU is now willing to certify.

Alongside the technical methodologies, the Commission has announced the establishment of an EU Buyers' Club for permanent removals and carbon farming, under the umbrella of the new EU Bioeconomy Strategy. The Buyers' Club is intended to kick-start the voluntary market for CRCF credits by aggregating demand from corporate buyers — a meaningful signal that the EU intends to actively scale the credit market, not just certify it.

The EU Bioeconomy Strategy (2025). Published on 27 November 2025, replacing the previous 2012 strategy and 2018 update, the new Strategy for a Competitive and Sustainable EU Bioeconomy frames the broader context: the EU wants to reduce fossil dependency by replacing fossil-based materials with bio-based alternatives across the economy. The strategy aligns with the EU's Competitiveness Compass, Clean Industrial Deal, and Vision for Agriculture and Food. It directs investment toward bio-based circularity — explicitly including circular CO₂ use from fermentation — and is aimed particularly at SMEs and start-ups in rural and coastal areas. (For context on the scale, EU-published figures put the bioeconomy at around €728 billion of value added and 17.2 million jobs as of 2021.)

Together, these two pieces of policy mean: (a) the EU has built the certification infrastructure for biogenic carbon removal *and* the demand-side mechanism (the Buyers' Club) to scale the market for it, and (b) the broader policy direction explicitly encourages the kind of bio-based, circular industrial model that Cork & Capture's customers are well-positioned to deliver.

Why this matters for fermentation-CO₂ producers

Most drinks producers we speak to have a similar reaction to new climate regulation: "this is for the big polluters, not us." Twenty years working in carbon capture and storage has taught me that's almost always wrong. Rules that start with the largest emitters work their way down the supply chain very quickly, usually via customer pressure rather than direct enforcement.

For drinks producers specifically, three things make this set of rules different:

• You're already producing the regulated substance. Fermentation CO₂ is now firmly in scope under the EU's BioCCS methodology.
• You can already solve the problem. On-site CO₂ capture and reuse is commercially available - without capital expenditure - and proportionate to the scale of a typical brewery or winery — and well below the cost threshold where heavy-industrial CCS becomes economic.
• There's an upside, not just a cost. Captured biogenic CO₂ that isn't reused on-site can now be certified under the CRCF for permanent removal credits once the storage infrastructure scales up (more on the timing of that below).

What to do in the next six months

If you're a UK producer selling into the EU:

• Ask your largest retail and wholesale customers what they'll require from you on Scope 1 emissions reporting in 2026 and 2027. Many will already have draft requirements circulating internally driven by EU CSRD and related rules.
• Audit your CO₂ use. You can't manage what you don't measure.
• Get a baseline understanding of your annual fermentation-CO₂ footprint — try our calculator as a starting point.

If you're an EU producer:

• Familiarise yourself with the CRCF methodologies, particularly the BioCCS pathway. Even if you don't pursue certification immediately, knowing what qualifies tells you how to design your capture operation.
• Watch for the second tranche of CRCF methodologies expected later in 2026, which cover carbon farming (agriculture, agroforestry, peatland rewetting, afforestation). If you have land-based activity alongside production, these may apply too.
• Don't assume the small-producer carve-outs will hold. They've narrowed in every iteration of EU climate regulation we've seen.

How Cork & Capture fits

We work with small and mid-size producers across the UK and EU to install portable, modular CO₂ recovery systems on-site, route captured CO₂ into on-site reuse first, and prepare surplus for eventual CRCF-certified sequestration when the storage infrastructure is operationally available. Whether your driver is regulatory compliance, supply-cost reduction, or ESG positioning — the underlying mechanics are the same: stop venting gas you've already produced, and start using it.

If you'd like to talk through how the new rules apply to your specific operation, get in touch.