Who's Buying Carbon Removal in 2026, and Why Now

The Carbon Business Council (CO2BC) spoke with leading global companies across regions and sectors to understand what’s driving their investment in carbon dioxide removal today. 

Companies shared their strategic approach, the carbon removal pathways they're leaning on, and guidance for companies looking to build their own carbon removal portfolios.

Our series begins this month and runs through the fall. It builds on prior research and publications from the Carbon Business Council, from interviews with Fortune 1,000 companies about their net zero strategies to public opinion research in countries around the world, including the United Kingdom, United States, Japan, and Canada.

The second quarter of 2026 was the strongest quarter on record for carbon removal buyers. Buyers committed to 2.1 million tonnes, a 136% increase over the same quarter last year, according to a market review from ClimeFi. Fourteen deals closed that quarter, the most ever recorded, and seven came from companies making their first major CDR commitment. The deals themselves look different than they did when the market was first taking shape too, with longer contracts and larger volumes alongside the smaller, early purchases that defined the market's first years.

Alongside private sector leadership, policy in multiple regions around the world is a major driver of building demand. This includes:

• The European Union proposed folding up to 250 million tonnes of durable carbon removal into its Emissions Trading System.

• Japan's GX-ETS became a mandatory compliance market in April 2026.

• Canada ramped up public procurement for carbon removal and has the opportunity to grow carbon removal investments and exports in the next federal budget.

• COP31, this November, is expected to keep carbon removal visible on the international agenda. 

• The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) introduced its first structured, dated framework for carbon removal in June 2026, phasing in a requirement for companies to address a share of their ongoing emissions with removal starting in 2035.

Buyers we spoke with stressed that companies taking action today will be better positioned to secure supply as target dates arrive for voluntary or mandatory compliance. 

The Case for a Carbon Removal Portfolio Approach

The volume of carbon removal needed to keep temperature rise in check, and to meet corporate and country net zero targets, cannot be met by any one pathway alone. Companies and countries taking a portfolio approach can lean on the different carbon removal sinks across land, rock, air, and water. 

Each pathway carries different timelines of durability, co-benefits, potential risks, and price points. Many buyers we spoke with highlight that investing in a portfolio of pathways is the best approach to effectively balance these variables. Nearly all buyers we spoke with are investing in durable carbon removal methods that lock carbon away for centuries or thousands of years. These longer duration pathways are often included in portfolios alongside conventional carbon sinks like reforestation, which are available with bountiful levels today. 

The buyers in this series show why a portfolio approach – spreading investment across multiple pathways rather than betting on one – tends to hold up better over time. While the series spotlights carbon removal, this is one part of larger corporate net zero strategies that also include emissions reductions efforts.

Is the Carbon Removal Market Actually Delivering?

Companies are increasingly purchasing carbon removal, while the market moves into its next phase of infrastructure build out to deliver on the contracts already signed. Many of the deals featured in this series run ten years or longer, giving developers the long-term certainty to plan construction and scale projects.

Buyers describe their working relationships with developers, and how they manage any variation through staged contracts, delivery updates and ongoing check-ins with developers. A portfolio approach spread across multiple pathways and projects keeps any single delay or shortfall from putting an entire climate commitment at risk. Across carbon removal pathways, delivery readiness is increasingly coming into focus as a crucial focus area of 2026 and beyond. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is carbon dioxide removal (CDR)?

The United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change defines carbon dioxide removal as the process of purposefully removing carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere and durably storing it, in geological formations, soil and forests, the ocean, or long-lived products.. CDR spans many approaches across land, air, rock, and water. It complements the important work of reducing emissions.  

Why are more companies buying carbon removal now? Buyer activity hit a record in the second quarter of 2026 for carbon removal purchasing, driven by a combination of tightening policy, including proposed EU Emissions Trading System integration, Japan's mandatory GX-ETS, Canadian public procurement, and a new SBTi framework, alongside growing consumer and internal pressure on companies to act.

What is a carbon removal portfolio approach? A portfolio approach means spreading carbon removal investment across multiple pathways, rather than relying on a single pathway. This protects a buyer's climate commitment from the risk of any one project or pathway underperforming and also brings a blended price per ton since different pathways have different price points.

More Carbon Removal Case Studies Coming This Fall

Over the coming months, we'll publish case studies spanning finance, industry, and more. 

So far, case studies are available from JPMorgan Chase, with others to follow. 

Follow along here, or subscribe to the Carbon Fix newsletter for updates as profiles go live.

Interested in sharing your carbon removal story? Please be in touch.