(2024). Investing in Carbon Removal: Levers for the Private SectorUniversity of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment Working Paper 24-1.
Achieving and maintaining the global goal of net zero requires us to scale carbon removal significantly. Both public and private investment is needed for this task. Recent years have borne witness to a rapid growth in private sector investment in carbon removal, particularly novel technologies. While such interest has typically focused on the use of carbon removal for offsetting purposes, there is a far more diverse range of potential levers through which the private sector can both channel and benefit from carbon removal investment. On the supply side, the private sector can acquire carbon removal assets, invest in carbon removal entities, or integrate carbon removal into their own value chains. On the demand side, opportunities persist for the private sector to support carbon removal through market mechanisms and catalytic climate finance. Such opportunities must be considered against the backdrop of evolving dynamics affecting such investments including efforts to standardise quality, harmonise carbon markets, and the development of innovative products and services. This working paper aims to shed light on these investment levers and evolving dynamics: illustrating how private-sector investment can be channelled to grow the carbon removal “net” in net zero.
