As CDR (Carbon Dioxide Removal) researchers, we have observed that atmospheric capture lacks a natural market and depends critically on public intervention to create supply and demand. The fifth chapter of “The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal, 3rd Edition” report analyzes how CDR policies and governance are evolving, and how, despite rapid progress, CDR remains a fragmented mosaic.
CDR Policies and Governance
In this chapter, we can understand how policies and governance frameworks for atmospheric capture are evolving. Unlike technologies like solar photovoltaics or electric vehicles, CDR does not possess a natural market associated with a basic service, making it critically dependent on public intervention to generate supply and demand. The chapter defines “responsible scaling” as that which ensures CDR does not delay emissions reductions, minimizes negative environmental impacts, utilizes robust MRV protocols, and is built upon meaningful involvement of the affected communities.
To analyze the current landscape, the report uses a typology of CDR policies divided into three categories: foundational, supply-side, and demand-side. Foundational policies include GHG targets, general climate frameworks, MRV systems, environmental safeguards, and participation mechanisms; supply-side policies encompass subsidies, tax credits, infrastructure support, and funding for R&D and demonstration; demand-side policies cover removal targets, integration of CDR into ETS, public procurement, and other purchase obligations for verified removals. With this structure, the chapter builds a first-of-a-kind database of relevant CDR policies in G20 countries and the EU, showing that while all possess relevant foundational policies, only some jurisdictions have activated specific supply and demand instruments for CDR.
Prominent Advances and Persistent Fragmentation
Among the most relevant advances, the chapter highlights the binding quantitative target for net removals in the land sector (LULUCF) in the European Union and the new Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming Regulation (CRCF), which introduces the category of “permanent carbon removal” with storage durations lasting several centuries. It also highlights supply-side instruments in the United States, such as the 45Q tax credit, procurement programs for novel CDR, and support for DAC (Direct Air Capture), although some of these programs have experienced pauses or revisions under the Trump administration. In other G20 countries, most relevant policies are indirect (AFOLU, ocean regulation, resource management) and do not yet explicitly integrate novel CDR into emissions trading systems or durable removal targets. An illustrative example is the 2026 reform of the German high-seas dumping law, which stops restricting the introduction of substances into the ocean to research purposes and permits commercial storage in the marine subsurface, potentially enabling DOCCS and certain geological storage projects under the North Sea.
The chapter also points out practical difficulties in separating policies specifically for CDR from those focused on CCS (Carbon Capture Storage), CCU (Carbon Capture Utilization), and “carbon management.” Many geological storage and transport regulations are designed with fossil CCS in mind but act as enablers for BECCS and DACCS; likewise, “nature-based solutions” policies in AFOLU mix components of emissions reduction and removal. Collectively, the analysis concludes that although CDR has entered the climate policy agenda, measures remain scattered, with CDR treated more as an experimental complement than a structural public good.
International Governance and Future Agenda
On the international stage, the chapter reviews how the Paris Agreement frames CDR (Article 4 on emissions and removals balance, Article 5 on support for sinks, Articles 9 and 10 on finance and technology transfer) and analyzes the current status of multilateral initiatives. A study of 12 CDR governance initiatives shows that the most advanced functions are signaling, coordination, and data generation, while major gaps remain in standards, rules, and transparency and accountability mechanisms. The report argues that given the critical role of MRV, it would be most effective for a limited number of coordinated entities to take on the task of harmonizing methodologies and policies, rather than multiplying institutions with overlapping efforts. It also notes the importance of the mandate given to the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories to develop a methodological report on CDR, CCS, and CCU before 2027, which could provide essential guidance for integrating novel methods (enhanced weathering, mineral products, DOCCS) into national inventories.
The chapter’s synthesis is that CDR policy and governance are in an accelerated but still incomplete phase of construction. Priorities include explicitly treating CDR as a public good, reinforcing foundational and supply policies in G20 countries and beyond, developing credible demand instruments (ETS, sector mandates, public procurement) that create long-term market expectations, and strengthening international institutions capable of setting standards, harmonizing MRV, and addressing equity and effort-sharing issues on the global removal agenda.
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