Turning Challenge into Opportunity 2025

Emerging opportunities and enabling levers Suppliers interviewed for this report expressed guarded optimism that the building blocks of a durable market are taking shape, as outlined below. Policy coherence Some initiatives, such as the EU’s CRCF and the UK’s Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) review, indicate growing governmental commitment in some jurisdictions. The next step is harmonization – establishing common criteria for permanence, measurement and additionality so that credits are interchangeable globally. Financial innovation Suppliers highlighted the need for standardized long-term offtake contracts (e.g. renewable energy PPAs) and blended finance instruments that share early-stage risk between public and private actors. These mechanisms could replicate the cost- reduction trajectory once achieved in the wind and solar industries.133 Infrastructure collaboration The North Sea and Nordic industrial clusters illustrate how shared CO2 transport and storage can de-risk projects. Biochar producers propose regional feedstock alliances to coordinate sourcing and logistics. Cross-sector partnerships Suppliers are increasingly collaborating across industries – linking removers with emitters, farmers with biochar producers and energy utilities with BECCS operators – to integrate removal into existing value chains. Such partnerships can blur the line between mitigation and removal and accelerate normalization of CDR as infrastructure. Conclusion Interviews with CDR suppliers made one message clear: the technologies are ready, but the supporting systems are not there yet. The next decade will determine whether carbon removal becomes a permanent fixture of the global economy or remains a fragmented experiment. Suppliers envision a future where CDR is treated as essential infrastructure – planned, financed and regulated alongside energy, water and transport. Achieving this vision will likely require converting belief into durable systems: common policy that can endure, finance that values permanence and markets that reward integrity. We can work within strict frameworks – but timely implementation is important. Dawn Whitworth, Vice President, Communications and Business Development, Elimini, Drax Group Five years ago, we were explaining what carbon removal was. Now, we’re explaining how fast we can build it. Dawn Whitworth, Vice President, Communications and Business Development, Elimini, Drax Group Turning Challenge into Opportunity: Supplier Voices from Heavy-Emitting Sectors 46