REPORT: Accelerating the Carbon Removal Market Through Responsible Corporate Leadership

This Carbon Removal Market Insights Report provides a playbook for business leaders who are interested in evaluating and purchasing carbon removals to achieve their climate goals and reduce climate-harmful emissions. It also aims to provide a better understanding of what carbon removal is and of the industry as a whole.

This Carbon Removal Market Insights Report presents the state of the carbon removal market and opportunities for business leaders to advance climate action. The report is specifically geared to corporate leaders who are looking to incorporate carbon removal into their climate action plans. It highlights both the challenges and opportunities to be frontrunners in a growing effort to reverse the impacts of climate change. The report provides an industry-related snapshot in 2023, and of where the industry is heading in years to come. It concludes with recommendations for accelerating business leadership in carbon removal.

Developed by the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt and the Carbon Business Council, this report is authored by Ben Rubin, Isabella Corpora, Bryan Scheler, and Julia Bläsius. It draws upon lessons learned from leading experts during Responsible Leaders Expert Workshops on carbon removal hosted in the last 12 months prior to its publication during New York Climate Week 2022, COP27, the World Economic Forum 2023, and other events. The authors are thankful to the dozens of experts who participated in the workshops and provided feedback on this publication. By working together and embracing Responsible Leadership, we can scale up the carbon removal industry.

To scale up the industry from where it is in mid-2023 to the levels required to reach our climate targets we need the involvement of business leaders. Such leadership involves undertaking CDR purchases now (rather than waiting), charting the responsible deployment of removals by encouraging community engagement from the start, and engaging in policy to help form the frameworks needed to accelerate carbon removal. Diving into topics like monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) can reinforce the efficacy and legitimacy of removals.