Carbon Dioxide Removal Mission

Mission InnovationMission Innovation | Missions | Carbon Dioxide Removal Mission

 

RECENT UPDATES 

  • [January 8, 2025] The CDR Mission released a new report on Measurement, Reporting, and Verification for Carbon Dioxide Removal.
  • [December 18, 2024] Register here by January 6, 2025, to join the CDR Mission on January 8, 2025, at 13:00-15:00 CET for a Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) Workshop. The Mission will share insights from its new MRV research and hear from leading experts from around the world. Tune in also to catch the announcement of the SMART-CDR Competition’s six finalist student teams. See registration link for more information. 
  • [October 3, 2024] The Mission published new data and analysis on biogenic CDR potential. Scroll down to learn more.
  • [October 3, 2024] The Mission released a brochure and an updated report for the CDR Launchpad, identifying pilot-scale and demonstration projects around the world.
  • [October 3, 2024] The MI CDR Mission and the CEM CCUS Initiative launched the “Gigatonne by 2030” Campaign –  a joint MI and CEM effort to accelerate action on carbon management innovation and deployment and coordinate knowledge exchange and activities across the innovation-to-deployment spectrum.
  • [September 17 2024] Save the date for MI CDR’s first global, in-person conference on CDR hosted by Norway as part of the CLIMIT Summit in Larvik, Norway, February 25-27, 2025. Register here. The overarching theme of the conference is international collaboration and its impact on the development of CCS and CDR globally. We hope to see you there!
  • [July 2024] The Mission launched the SMART-CDR Competition, a global student prize competition for innovative monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) solutions for CDR. Students have a chance to win cash prizes, mentorship, international recognition and travel stipends to participate in MI CDR’s first global CDR Conference at the CLIMIT Summit in Norway. Follow the SMART-CDR Competition page for the latest news and updates – including corporate sponsors, finalist teams, and more. 

WHO WE ARE 

Launched at COP26, we are a group of nine governments working together to accelerate innovation of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies. Our goal is to enable 100 million tonnes of technological CDR per year by 2030.

Read our joint mission statement for more information.

 

The Co-leads: United States  Saudi Arabia Canada

  • United States of America, Department of Energy
  • Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ministry of Energy
  • Canada, Natural Resources Canada

 

Core Mission Members:

  • Norway, Gassnova
  • Japan, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
  • Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO)
  • China, Ministry of Science and Technology

 

Mission Support Group:

  • European Commission, Directorate-General for Research & Innovation
  • India, Ministry of Science and Technology (DBT and DST)
  • United Kingdom, Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy

 

Get in Touch: 

 

CDR LAUNCHPAD

Ministers and senior leadership at the COP27 announcement of the CDR Launchpad on November 17, 2022. Pictured from left to right: Japan Deputy Director-General for Environmental Affairs Shinichi Kihara; Denmark Head of Department in the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities Asser Rasmussen Berling; Canada Assistant Deputy Minister for Environment and Climate Change Stephen de Boer; U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm; U.K. Minister for Climate Graham Stuart MP; Iceland Special Envoy for Climate Benedikt Höskuldsson. CDR Launchpad founding members not pictured: European Commission and Norway.

The CDR Launchpad is a coalition of governments who have agreed to work together to accelerate the pace of CDR advancements through large demonstration projects and share data and experiences. It is the first “sprint” project of the CDR Mission.

Demonstration projects of 1,000 tonnes or more per year of CO2 removal are critical for driving down costs and scaling up CDR approaches. The Launchpad focuses on a portfolio of CDR approaches including direct air capture with storage, enhanced mineralization, and biomass with carbon removal and storage. In time, this sprint could expand to include additional carbon removal approaches.

Members who have joined the Launchpad include Canada, the European Commission, Iceland, Japan, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Launchpad is a call to action and both Mission Innovation members and non-MI members are encouraged to join.

The Mission’s CDR Launchpad is an important step towards rapidly and responsibly bringing the carbon dioxide removal industry to giga-tonne scale, which the IPCC indicates is needed alongside deep decarbonization to achieve the Paris Agreement goals.. The efforts made by this coalition will help increase the number of pilot-scale tests and demonstrations of CDR technologies by ten times from 2022 levels within three years, and grow the number of full-scale commercial CDR demonstrations to more than a dozen within six years.

Read a brochure on Launchpad impacts here.

Read information about Launchpad member projects here.

Read more about the CDR Mission Launchpad here.

 

CDR Demonstration and Deployment Map

The Global CDR Demonstration and Deployment Map is an interactive tool to enhance awareness of the global landscape of CDR projects across the Mission’s three technological focus areas: Direct Air Capture (DAC), Biomass with Carbon Removal and Storage (BiCRS), and Enhanced Mineralization (EM). The dataset includes known pilots, demonstrations and deployments at varying stages of development, using best available data. As projects are at different levels of technological readiness, and may have significantly different carbon removal capacities, projects across or within technological approaches should not be considered commensurate.

Project inclusion on the map does not signal net-negative operations in the present but represents technologies enabling the path to net-negativity and scale-up of the global carbon dioxide removal industry. As such, the scope of technologies included in the map is broader than the focus of the CDR Mission itself.

October 2024 Update: The Mission has added new data points. The Mission has also added a new filter to the map, identifying projects that are net-negative or have the potential to be net-negative, based on an independent review conducted by RMI. Thank you to RMI for their collaboration.

Information in this tool is presented for informational purposes only. MI does not endorse any companies or related products.

For information about the MI-identified CDR projects around the world, check out our interactive map below.

Data Visualization on Bioresources for CDR

The following tool and dataset illustrate the upper limit of CO2 removal potential from biomass feedstocks in different countries. This resource is intended to support industry and governments in understanding the potential for bio-based CDR in meeting net-zero targets, while ensuring that the use of bioresources stays within sustainable limits.

CDR Mission members provided data across four main categories (agricultural, aquatic, forestry, and waste biomass sources) and various subcategories. Note that subcategories vary per country, depending on climate zones and other jurisdictional factors. Factors for energy density and carbon content also vary between countries.

In the interactive tool below, the graphic on the left illustrates total CO2 removal potential for the four main categories. The graphic on the right breaks down this data into subcategories, illustrating:

  • (1) The gross biomass growth / production per year (ktonnes dry biomass/year) – i.e. the total amount of biomass generated per year, minus natural losses.
  • (2) The potential biomass available for CDR per year (ktonnes dry biomass/year) – i.e. the amount of biomass available for CDR use, once competing uses (e.g. industry, animal feed) and other constraints (e.g. protected areas, harvesting techniques, accessibility limitations) are accounted for.
  • (3) The CO2 removal potential from available biomass supply per year (ktonnes/year) – i.e. the upper limit of biogenic CDR potential per year.

March 2025 Update: The Mission has updated the tool with revised data from the U.S. for deadwood, stems, and trees outside forestry.

To toggle between data from different countries, click on the arrows at the bottom of the tool (1 through 5).

For more information on the methodology behind this analysis, clear here.

For the initial scope of work for this project, click here.

For an explanatory document on Norway’s figures, click here. 

For the raw data behind this analysis, click here. 

For comparison with the CEM Biofuture Platform Initiative‘s global biomass data (accessible via the US-DOE’s Bioenergy Knowledge Discovery Framework [KDF]), click here.

 

RESOURCES AND ARCHIVED UPDATES 

  • [September 24 2024] Today, Drax Global announced the launch of Elimini, a new business headquartered in Houston, focused on global BECCS development. At the same time, they announced their support for the CDR Mission’s SMART CDR Competition – as a silver sponsor. The Mission is thrilled to partner with Drax Global and congratulate them on their new venture.  Read more here.
  • [June 19 2024] The CO2RE- Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub hosted the CDR Mission at their 3rd International Conference on Negative CO2 Emissions.  The Mission launched the SMART CDR Competition during a main stage  event on the latest developments in MRV for removals.
  • [June 2024] The BiCRS Technical Track has compiled experience from demonstration projects in eight countries. Read the report.
  • [May 28, 2024] The MI CDR Enhanced Mineralization Track, co-led by Australia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia hosted a webinar entitled “In-situ Enhanced Mineralization Value Proposition as a Carbon Dioxide Removal Technique.” A second webinar on ex-situ mineralization will be held in the coming weeks.
  • [March 2024] Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry hosted a knowledge exchange to enhance the understanding of global approaches to Lifecycle Analyses (LCA) and Techno economic Assessments (TEA) of CDR technologies. Read the summary.
  • [February 13, 2024] The CDR Missions is pleased to announce it will launch a global monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) student prize competition in spring 2024.  More details on how to apply coming soon. Other governments, companies, researchers, and organizations are encouraged to get involved by contacting the Mission. 
  • [January 30, 2024] The CDR Mission launched the Direct Air Capture (DAC) workstream, one of the CDR Mission’s three priority technological approaches to CDR. Canada and the United States are co-leading this workstream, supported by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Norway, Australia, and Japan. During the kick-off meeting, members identified priorities to advance global DAC RD&D in collaboration.
  • [December 4, 2023] At a join CEM CCUS – Mission Innovation CDR event, the role and status of carbon dioxide removals was discussed, with speakers ranging from technology providers, industry, government, academia, and removal certification organizations. Recording here. The COP Presidency also hosted a roundtable dialogue on the Carbon Management Challenge (CMC), a joint effort and call to action by countries worldwide to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture, removal, use, and storage technologies.
  • [December 3, 2023] As part of COP28, the Carbon Dioxide Removal Mission has today launched the 2023-2026 Work Plan for the Enhanced Mineralization Technical Track. This international effort, led by Australia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, sets out the next steps for the global community to unlock the potential of enhanced mineralisation to play a central role in reaching national- and global net zero goals. 
  • [November 1, 2023] Learn how you can collaborate with the CDR Mission to help us achieve our goals by reading the Mission’s Stakeholder Engagement Plan here. You can contact us to discuss partnership opportunities at: juho.k.lipponen@outlook.com
  • October 30, 2023] The CDR Mission’s BiCRS technical track invites you to attend the “Presentation of international BiCRS projects: Potentials, diversity, and gaps for common goals” on November 2nd, 2023. Find the full program here, and additional information from the Global Zero Emission Research Center here.
  • [June 1, 2023] Australia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia launched the Enhanced Mineralization workstream of the CDR Mission, hosting a workshop to facilitate knowledge exchange between participating countries and to develop the work plan needed to unlock it’s local and global CDR potential.
  • [May 5, 2023] The CDR Mission has launched the Action Plan for the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and Techno-economic Assessment (TEA) Technical Track, co-led by Canada and Japan. Read the Action Plan here.
  • [December 22, 2022] The CDR Mission has released a Scope of Work for the Biomass Carbon Removal and Storage (BiCRS) technical track. Check it out here!
  • [November 17, 2022] The CDR Mission announced the Launchpad sprint project at COP27. Watch the recorded event here!
  • [September 23, 2022] The CDR Mission released its Innovation Roadmap  and Action Plan at the Global Clean Energy Action Forum (GCEAF).
  • [September 23, 2022] At the GCEAF, the CDR Mission launched the Carbon Dioxide Removal Launchpad, a global push for CDR pilot-scale tests and demonstrations projects.