All Paris-aligned pathways to limiting warming to 1.5°C require large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide removals (CDR) by mid-century. Political will is required to create the associated CDR market, by kick-starting significant demand and then sustaining this demand. Policy development is a vital part of this market development process. The UK, EU and US are taking different approaches to their CDR policies, with each jurisdiction making headway in CDR scale-up in light of unique constraints. The UK has begun constructing a CDR demand architecture through Contracts for Difference and planned integration into its Emissions Trading Scheme, but support is still considered insufficient due to the risks associated with CDR deployment. The US has mobilised substantial fiscal support, yet lacks a durable regulatory framework to transition from subsidy dependence to sustained market integration. The EU is developing comprehensive regulatory foundations but is facing uneven implementation across Member States.

This policy briefing examines the challenges of scaling up CDR in the UK, US and EU, drawing on engagements conducted through the CO2RE Ecosystem 26+ project with policymakers, market actors and CDR initiatives. The authors find that each jurisdiction has distinct strengths and constraints. They call for policymakers and intermediary organizations to increase their efforts to collaborate across jurisdictions. Collaboration would not only aid each jurisdiction in resolving its challenges more efficiently through knowledge-sharing, but it would also advance the economic coordination required for global CDR market growth.