Carbon Dioxide Removal as a Public Service

The policy brief positions carbon dioxide removal (CDR) as a public good and service, similar to wastewater treatment, because most approaches do not generate independent revenues and are avoided by commercial finance. It recommends that governments implement specific absolute volume targets for CDR within Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), provide dedicated subsidies, and eliminate regulatory barriers such as underground storage permitting. To ensure long-term scalability, the brief advocates for a universal carbon price, the integration of CDR into Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, and the development of robust monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) methodologies to maintain environmental integrity.

• Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is characterized as a public service because most of its approaches do not produce revenue-generating goods or services and are consequently ignored by commercial and concessional finance.
• To scale CDR, the document suggests that policymakers should establish absolute volume targets, potentially within Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and differentiate these targets by technology category to account for varying costs and maturity.
• The brief identifies several policy levers to accelerate CDR, including dedicated subsidies, inclusion in carbon pricing or emissions trading systems, and the removal of regulatory hurdles such as streamlining underground storage permits and amending the London Protocol for transboundary CO2 transport.
• Long-term scaling of CDR requires a stable and sufficiently high universal carbon price and the operationalization of international market-based cooperation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, with a focus on permanence, leakage, and accounting.

APA

Poralla, M., Honegger, M., Ahonen, H.-M., Michaelowa, A., & Weber, A.-K. (2021). Carbon Dioxide Removal as a Public Service. Climate Strategies. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/PolicyBrief_CDRFinance.pdf

Chicago

Poralla, Matthias, Matthias Honegger, Hanna-Mari Ahonen, Axel Michaelowa, and Anne-Kathrin Weber. Carbon Dioxide Removal as a Public Service. Climate Strategies, 2021. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/PolicyBrief_CDRFinance.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Poralla |first1=Matthias |last2=Honegger |first2=Matthias |last3=Ahonen |first3=Hanna-Mari |last4=Michaelowa |first4=Axel |last5=Weber |first5=Anne-Kathrin |title=Carbon Dioxide Removal as a Public Service |publisher=Climate Strategies |date=2021 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/PolicyBrief_CDRFinance.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{poralla2021carbon, author = {Poralla, Matthias and Honegger, Matthias and Ahonen, Hanna-Mari and Michaelowa, Axel and Weber, Anne-Kathrin}, title = {{Carbon Dioxide Removal as a Public Service}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2021}, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/PolicyBrief_CDRFinance.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }