A Government-Led Advance Market Commitment for Carbon Removal

This research paper by RMI proposes the establishment of a government-led Advance Market Commitment (AMC) to scale carbon removal technologies. It argues that current voluntary and compliance markets are insufficient to meet the gigaton-scale requirements needed by midcentury and provides a framework for governments to coordinate demand, harmonize standards, and catalyze private investment to bridge the funding and deployment gap.

• To maintain the possibility of reaching midcentury climate targets, the world needs at least 100 megatons per annum (Mtpa) of carbon removal across a diverse portfolio by 2035, requiring approximately $20 billion in annual funding for innovation and early deployment.
• Current funding for high-durability carbon removal is inadequate; as of 2024, only about 1 Mtpa of high-durability carbon removal is occurring, with total funding of approximately $25 billion across investments, subsidies, and purchases to date.
• A government-led AMC can address critical industry gaps by guaranteeing future markets, which reduces risk for private investors, creates economies of scale, and provides a platform for governments to align on global standards and methodologies.
• The paper identifies several critical gaps beyond funding that an AMC could help fill, including the need for improved measurement technologies, the creation of harmonized standards, and the increase of societal trust and knowledge.
• Carbon removal can provide significant economic and environmental co-benefits, such as creating 95,000 to 130,000 jobs when the high-durability industry reaches 100 Mtpa, and reducing wildfire risks through biomass burial.
• The authors suggest that an AMC should support a diverse portfolio of approaches—including biogenic, geochemical, and synthetic removals—because no single technology can meet the multi-gigaton annual requirement by 2050 due to resource constraints like land and clean energy.
• Designing an AMC requires key decisions on product eligibility (e.g., durability levels), the use of existing versus new standards, and whether to allow cross-border funding to encourage a global market.
• While an AMC is effective for demand-pull and cost reduction, it is unlikely to solve the problem of shared infrastructure (such as CO2 transport networks), which requires regional planning and supply-side incentives.

APA

Deich, N., Healy, E., Kirley, M., Pike, D., & Wood, I. (2025). A Government-Led Advance Market Commitment for Carbon Removal. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/dlm_uploads/2025/10/rmi-2025-october-gov-led-AMC-for-CDR-1.pdf

Chicago

Deich, Noah, Elizabeth Healy, Matt Kirley, Daniel Pike, and Isabel Wood. A Government-Led Advance Market Commitment for Carbon Removal. RMI, 2025. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/dlm_uploads/2025/10/rmi-2025-october-gov-led-AMC-for-CDR-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Deich |first1=Noah |last2=Healy |first2=Elizabeth |last3=Kirley |first3=Matt |last4=Pike |first4=Daniel |last5=Wood |first5=Isabel |title=A Government-Led Advance Market Commitment for Carbon Removal |publisher=RMI |date=October 2025 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/dlm_uploads/2025/10/rmi-2025-october-gov-led-AMC-for-CDR-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{deich2025governmentled, author = {Deich, Noah and Healy, Elizabeth and Kirley, Matt and Pike, Daniel and Wood, Isabel}, title = {{A Government-Led Advance Market Commitment for Carbon Removal}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2025}, month = oct, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/dlm_uploads/2025/10/rmi-2025-october-gov-led-AMC-for-CDR-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }