Felix Dörpmund (2025): Motivations and challenges for carbon dioxide removal development: empirical evidence from market practitioners
Felix Dörpmund IN: Environmental Research Letters, DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/adcad4
The study explores the role of private companies in shaping the early CDR innovation ecosystem by conducting 79 interviews with senior practitioners (suppliers, purchasers / marketplaces, investors) actively involved in CDR markets. Examining their motivations, the author finds themes that range from personal upbringing and caring for the following generations, to being catalytic in the creation of a new industry. All motivations are grounded in the recognition of CDR as an important component of global climate change mitigation. Identified challenges stretch across the categories of technology, organizations, policy and regulation, ecosystem, finances, and the public eye. This presents a complex picture, as all actors seek to solve a multi-faceted, concurrent coordination and scaling problem while dealing with a challenging set of uncertainties.