The carbon removal industry is in the ‘figuring it out’ phase

[Despite major investments from Big Tech and “startling” maturation of CDR technology, mid-century removal targets are far off.](https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/carbon-removal-progress-2023)

Two years ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change designated carbon dioxide removal a necessary component of plans to limit warming. While the nascent field was already making steady progress, that movement has accelerated in the years since. And — just as it was in the early days of solar power purchase agreements — Big Tech has been integral to the market’s growth.

Companies like Alphabet Inc., Salesforce, and Microsoft signed onto the Biden administration’s First Movers Coalition in late 2021, committing to purchase at least 50,000 tons of “durable and scalable” carbon dioxide removal by 2030. 2022 saw the creation of Stripe-led advance market commitment Frontier, and 2023 brought Amazon into the CDR arena.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, though. In the same period, the CDR market has moved through cycles of excitement that gave way to slowing demand and corporate withdrawals, and has been marred by revelations about shaky offset schemes.

This is the dichotomy of the market: the tech, the policy, and the investment are all progressing rapidly. And yet, progress on the goal outlined by the IPCC — up to 10 gigatons of removal by 2050 — has been minimal.

“We are not even close to that. We need so much more speed to market and so much more cost reduction, so much more investment,” said Julio Friedmann, chief scientist at carbon management firm Carbon Direct. “We are not on track. And people who can do arithmetic know this.”

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by AnnaBishop1138