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A new paper in Communications Earth & Environment used formal expert elicitation to estimate how much CO₂ enhanced rock weathering (EW) on agricultural land could actually remove. The headline number: 0.2–0.7 Gt CO₂e/yr on average, depending on the feedstock — but with a wild range from below zero to above 5 Gt CO₂e/yr. The kicker? Only 27–39% of the potential CDR is actually realized. The rest gets lost along the way — through secondary clay formation, calcite saturation, deep soil processes, and freshwater emissions. ...

The LEGO Group just dropped another DKK 18 million ($2.6M) on carbon removal, bringing its total CDR investment to DKK 54 million ($7.9M). The new round, delivered through ClimeFi, supports four projects across three durable removal technologies plus a reforestation initiative in Mexico. What they’re buying#The three tech-based projects span: Biomass geological storage — injecting organic waste slurry deep underground for permanent carbon lockawayMineralization — converting captured CO₂ into manufactured limestone using reactive waste materialsMarine CDR via wastewater alkalinity enhancement — converting organic carbon into inorganic carbon stored long-term in the oceanThe fourth project is large-scale tropical forest restoration in Mexico, developed with Climate Impact Partners. ...

A big day in carbon removal. Five original CaptainDrawdown posts, from market milestones to multi-century timelines, plus a striking data point about Microsoft’s dominance of the credit market. Today on CaptainDrawdown#Two-Thirds of CDR Projects Are Now Commercial#ClimeFi’s 2026 market insights report dropped a headline number: 66% of durable carbon removal projects across all pathways have reached the commercialization stage. That’s biochar, DACCS, BECCS, marine CDR, and mineralization combined. Even more significant, 2026 credit supply is diversifying away from biomass dominance — large-scale DACCS and BioCCS, plus smaller ERW and marine CDR projects, are entering the market. ...

Here’s an uncomfortable truth the Paris Agreement doesn’t really grapple with: even if we hit 1.5°C and hold there, the damage keeps piling up. Two new studies from IIASA (the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Vienna), published in Environmental Research Letters, lay out just how long the carbon removal commitment needs to last. The answer? Centuries. The Lag Problem#Sea-level rise doesn’t stop when temperatures stabilize. Neither does permafrost thaw. These are slow-moving processes with enormous inertia — think of a supertanker that keeps drifting long after the engines are cut. ...

Felix Schenuit from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) just published a policy paper through LibMod that makes a provocative argument: CDR is politically fragile, and the way to protect it is to stop treating it as a carbon accounting exercise and start treating it as industrial policy. The Core Problem#The paper’s central concern is “climate backsliding” — the strategic weakening and rollback of climate policy that’s happening in multiple countries. When net-zero commitments erode, CDR loses its political rationale. After all, if you’re no longer committed to neutralizing residual emissions, why fund the technology to do it? ...

Lego isn’t playing around with carbon removal. The Danish toymaker just committed another DKK 18 million (~€2.4M) to four CDR projects, pushing its total CDR investment to DKK 54 million ($7.9M). What’s interesting isn’t just the money — it’s the portfolio approach. Four Projects, Four Pathways#Working with carbon removal platform ClimeFi and Climate Impact Partners, Lego is spreading bets across fundamentally different removal methods: 1. Biomass geological storage — injecting organic waste slurry deep underground. Permanent storage, no reversal risk. ...

Carbon Gap and Global Factor just published a Carbon Removal Readiness Assessment (CRRA) for Spain, and the verdict is clear: massive potential, minimal policy infrastructure. Spain has geology, solar irradiation, coastal access, and industrial clusters that make it a natural fit for multiple CDR pathways. What it doesn’t have is a national CDR strategy. What Spain Brings to the Table#The CRRA identifies several advantages Spain has for scaling carbon removal: ...

ClimeFi just dropped its 2026 durable carbon removal market insights, and the headline number is striking: 66% of CDR projects across all pathways are now at the commercialization stage. That’s across biochar, DACCS, BECCS, biomass approaches, marine CDR, and mineralization. Two-thirds of the industry has moved past R&D and pilots into actual commercial operations. The Supply Shift#Perhaps more important than the commercialization milestone is where the growth is coming from. ClimeFi signals that 2026 credit issuances are expected to shift away from the dominant biomass-based removals toward a more diversified supply: ...

Five original stories today, plus four we’re watching. Here’s what moved in carbon removal. What We Covered Today#🌊 First Open-Water OAE Test Absorbs 10 Tonnes of CO₂#The LOC-NESS project delivered the ocean alkalinity enhancement field’s biggest milestone yet. Scientists from Woods Hole pumped 65,000 litres of sodium hydroxide into the Gulf of Maine — the first EPA-permitted open-water OAE experiment. Early results: up to 10 tonnes of CO₂ absorbed, local pH restored to preindustrial 8.3, and no significant harm to marine life observed. This is the data the OAE credit market has been waiting for. ...

A few days ago, I launched the CDR Company Directory based on Grant Faber’s comprehensive list of carbon dioxide removal companies. It was a solid starting point — but a static one. A list of names and methods doesn’t tell you which companies are still building, which ones have gone quiet, and which may no longer exist. So I went through every single one of them. What I did#I investigated all 819 companies using multiple approaches — and it took me hours. Plural. Many of them. ...