Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) refers to technologies, practices and approaches that remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere for valuable usage or durable storage. CDR technologies represent a new frontier in American engineering, manufacturing and industrial innovation. CDR solutions provide tools to manage emissions across all sectors, particularly hard-to-abate ones, enabling cleaner domestic production and a competitive advantage in global markets.

The CDR industry is projected to reach $1.2 trillion by 2050 and support up to 130,000 jobs in the next decade. Carbon is a valuable commodity that can deliver economic benefits across key sectors by boosting agricultural productivity, enabling resource recovery and creating new markets for fuels, chemicals and materials.

Competitors like China are also investing in carbon management technologies, and U.S. leadership in this space is critical to maintaining industrial competitiveness. Carbon removal is a strategic investment in U.S. manufacturing and supply chain security, global competitiveness and long-term economic growth, while reducing global energy emissions.

Modernize Research, Development and Demonstration
Modernizing research, development and demonstration (RD&D) for carbon removal technologies is critical to strengthening domestic production and reinforcing U.S. leadership in a fast-growing global market. Federal efforts across the Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and private industry have helped advance early-stage research and biomass-based innovation. Building on this foundation, the next phase should prioritize scaling and accelerating emerging carbon removal technologies that are approaching commercial readiness. By expanding RD&D to focus on larger, field-based demonstration projects and streamlining pathways to deployment, the United States can drive down costs, support domestic manufacturing and supply chains and create high-quality jobs. A modernized, performance-driven RD&D approach will ensure American companies lead in developing and exporting reliable, scalable carbon removal solutions.

Strengthen Public-Private Partnerships for Innovation and Deployment
The federal government can play an important role in accelerating the growth of CDR technologies by fostering a competitive innovation ecosystem that supports commercial-scale deployment of a broad range of CDR pathways. Strategic federal partnership and support can help catalyze private-sector investment, encourage the development of low-carbon products and advance multiple technologies across the CDR landscape. By creating conditions that reward innovation, scalability and cost reduction, this approach can help accelerate commercially viable solutions and enhance the global competitiveness of the United States in carbon removal technologies.

Source: Adapted from the ITIF Active Carbon Management: Critical Tools in the Climate Toolbox

Increase Coordination Between Federal Agencies
Interagency and interoffice coordination can ensure clear, effective and streamlined R&D and commercialization of CDR technologies. Due to its cross-cutting nature, CDR exists in various forms, from terrestrial to marine-based projects. There are various offices across DOE and other federal agencies, such as the USDA, Department of War (DOW) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with valuable expertise and research projects in CDR. Therefore, collaboration and information sharing between agencies such as NOAA, which specializes in marine activities, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E), which has researched cutting-edge marine carbon removal projects, would foster a unified effort and avoid redundancy. Interagency coordination also ensures that these technologies are developed in alignment with national priorities such as energy and resource security.

Strengthen Transparency and Accountability Frameworks
Science-based measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) provides a transparent, objective way to quantify and track the amount of CO2 removed and stored by different technologies. Clear, consistent MRV guidelines reduce uncertainty for project developers, investors and customers by ensuring carbon removal claims are backed by credible data. Today, inconsistent rubrics and uncertainty around the durability and accuracy of carbon sequestration create unnecessary risk and discourage private investment into promising technology. Developing harmonized, science-based MRV protocols can improve transparency, reduce market uncertainty and help private capital identify top-performing carbon removal projects. Strong MRV frameworks also ensure different technologies can be evaluated on a level playing field using consistent metrics. American leadership in developing rigorous MRV would help shape global best practices while giving U.S. companies a competitive advantage as international markets increasingly demand high-quality, verifiable carbon removal. By establishing trusted guidelines rooted in sound science, the United States can promote innovation, strengthen its technology leadership and support the growth of a competitive domestic carbon industry.

The United States is building the policy, financing and market infrastructure needed to scale carbon removal technologies while strengthening domestic energy, manufacturing and innovation capacity.

• Federal Buildout: Federal agencies, led by the Department of Energy, have expanded RD&D efforts across a broad range of carbon removal technologies, including direct air capture and nature-based solutions. The Energy Act of 2020 authorized dedicated carbon removal RD&D programs, supported initiatives such as the Commercial Direct Air Capture Technologies Prize Competition, and expanded financing tools like the Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program, which Congress authorized up to $250 billion in the Working Families Tax Cuts.


• Market Incentive: Congress first established the bipartisan Section 45Q tax credit (45Q) in the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 to support carbon capture from power and industrial facilities. Lawmakers have repeatedly expanded the incentive to cover a wider range of carbon removal technologies, most recently updating 45Q in the Working Families Tax Cuts so carbon utilization projects, including enhanced oil recovery, qualify for the same credit value as geologic storage projects.


• Carbon as a Commodity: Federal policy increasingly treats captured carbon as a valuable commodity that can support new domestic industries and supply chains. DOE’s Carbon Utilization Program , authorized under the Energy Act of 2020, supports technologies that convert captured carbon into fuels, materials and industrial products, while expanded 45Q incentives strengthen the financial case for commercialization and private investment. ARPA-E initiatives, such as the MINER program, are also putting CO₂ to use as a tool for domestic mineral recovery by using it to extract critical minerals like copper, nickel and lithium from ores while storing CO₂ in the process.


• Private-sector Push: Private companies continue to scale demand for durable carbon removal solutions through the voluntary carbon market. Frontier , an advanced market commitment backed by Stripe, Google, Shopify and JPMorgan Chase, plans to mobilize up to $1 billion in permanent carbon removal purchases through 2030. Companies, particularly in the technology sector, are also expanding long-term offtake agreements and diversified carbon removal portfolios to meet net-zero commitments and rising energy demand tied to AI infrastructure. Climeworks alone has raised more than $1 billion in private funding, reflecting sustained investor confidence in the sector.


• Storage Expansion: Congress also expanded support for geologic sequestration research through the CHIPS and Science Act, which authorized the Carbon Sequestration Research and Geologic Computational Science Initiative with $50 million annually from fiscal years 2023 through 2027. The program supports research designed to improve scientific understanding of carbon sequestration in geologic formations and strengthen long-term storage capabilities.

Carbon removal has moved beyond early-stage experimentation and into a period of large-scale federal and private investments. The next challenge is turning that momentum into durable commercial deployment that can compete globally and deliver measurable climate benefits.

Source: Adapted from theThe National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report on Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration A Research Agenda.

Direct Air Capture (DAC)

• 1PointFive, an American subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, aims to deploy direct air capture at commercial scale in the U.S. using the technology of Carbon Engineering, another Occidental subsidiary. 1PointFive is currently developing Project STRATOS, a DAC facility in Ector County, Texas, which will be the largest facility in the world once operational, capturing up to 500,000 metric tons of CO₂ per year. 1PointFive is also leading development of the South Texas DAC Hub, capable of removing up to 30 million metric tons of CO₂ every year.


• Heirloom, based in San Francisco, California, is leading the deployment of direct air capture in the United States. Their process utilizes limestone as a sponge to pull CO₂ from the atmosphere and store it permanently underground. Heirloom currently operates the first commercial DAC facility in the U.S. in Tracy, California, and is building two facilities in Northwest Louisiana that will capture up to 320,000 metric tons as part of the Project Cypress hub.

Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal (mCDR)

• Captura, based in Pasadena, California, has developed a direct ocean capture (DOC) system that runs on two ingredients: seawater and clean electricity. Using Captura’s membrane and electrodialysis technology, it extracts carbon dioxide directly from seawater to be permanently stored or reused. Once the carbon is removed, the ocean naturally draws down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to automatically rebalance. This creates a cycle that lowers overall atmospheric carbon dioxide over time.


• Ebb Carbon, based in California and deploying projects in Washington, utilizes an electrochemical process called ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) that enhances the ocean’s natural ability to absorb atmospheric CO₂. Their technology converts seawater into an alkaline solution, which is returned to the ocean and absorbs and stores more CO₂ from the atmosphere in a stable, dissolved form. Ebb Carbon has deployed its first field pilot, Project Macoma, in Port Angeles, Washington, and is planning to scale through additional projects. By renewable electricity and the ocean’s existing carbon cycle, Ebb Carbon aims to safely and durably scale carbon removal while supporting ocean health.

Biomass Carbon Removal Solutions

• Vaulted Deep, out of Houston, Texas, injects carbon-rich organic waste deep underground for permanent removal. They use slurry injection technology, which is a type of geologic fracturing commercialized in the oil and gas sector to manage oilfield waste. They also prevent the unusable organic waste from composing in landfills or running off into groundwater, offering local benefits beyond carbon removal. Vaulted Deep operates removal facilities in Hutchinson, Kansas and Los Angeles, California, partnering with local trucking companies and waste producers for secure waste disposal for challenging materials such as PFAS. They are an XPRIZE winner and have signed removal deals with Microsoft, Frontier and others, making them a leader in biomass carbon removal with over 44,000 metric tons of CO₂ removed to date.


• Graphyte, based in Memphis, Tennessee, with a plant in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, uses an approach called “Carbon Casting” to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Their process takes low-value agricultural and forestry residues, dries and compresses them into dense carbon blocks, seals them in an impermeable barrier and stores them in monitored underground sites. Graphyte’s Project Loblolly in Arkansas has sequestered over 6,000 metric tons of CO₂ thus far, and they are developing another facility in Arizona. As of 2026, Graphyte is scaling commercial deployments, including a long-term agreement with JPMorganChase to deliver 60,000 metric tons of permanent carbon removal over the next decade.