Belotti et al. (2026): Reimagining ownership and governance for carbon dioxide removal (CDR): exploring existing alternative models to advance equity and justice
Giulia Belotti, David Branigan, Holly Caggiano and Sara Nawaz, IN: Carbon Management, https://doi.org/10.1080/17583004.2026.2694126
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies are rapidly transitioning from research to real-world application. At present, private-sector oriented logics for CDR deployment dominate—a primacy that poses several risks for just and equitable outcomes. To date, however, there has been little consideration of how non-private sector ownership arrangements could facilitate just and equitable scaling of CDR. This paper explores several examples of alternative ownership and governance models, asking what other arrangements might be possible and desirable. Drawing on methods informed by qualitative evidence synthesis, the authors examine a diverse range of examples across sectors with structural similarities to select CDR approaches: agriculture, energy systems, mining, aquatic resources, and water infrastructure.