Sparking Demand for Permanent Carbon Removal
As the need for scalable carbon removal solutions becomes more urgent, the Global 1000 CDR Challenge, announced at COP29 in Baku, is kickstarting the market into action—supported by ClimeFi and XPRIZE to drive innovation and progress, with a spotlight on these efforts at WEF25.
In order to get back on track to achieve the targets envisioned under the Paris Agreement in 2015, climate action faces an uphill battle. Earlier this month, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) announced that average global temperatures exceeded 1.55% in 20241, breaching the 1.5% target set in Paris. Adding fuel to the flames, both ebbing political support and legal challenges have pushed leading multinational financial institutions to withdraw from coalitions that support net zero action.
When tackling global warming, conventional wisdom suggests that the rapid decarbonisation of industry is essential; if we reduce emissions, we stabilise the climate. However, as the WMO has made clear, we have already breached the inflection point. Only rapid action to reduce atmospheric carbon can buy us enough time to ensure that critical climate infrastructure — such as the Atlantic jetstream and unique biodiversity habitats — can be preserved.
Efforts to conserve and restore natural carbon sinks including forests, mangroves, and soil, undoubtedly have a pivotal role to play. But with an increasing amount of wildfires wreaking havoc around the world2, these natural solutions are becoming less secure — especially when compared with emerging solutions that both rapidly scale and permanently remove carbon.
Accelerating adoption: the Global 1000 CDR Challenge
The need to rapidly mobilise increased corporate interest in the permanent carbon dioxide removal (CDR) sector has never been more important. As it stands, however, internal hurdles at the company level have proved a major roadblock to mass adoption: as of 2024, as few as 81 companies globally had committed to purchase agreements for 1000 tonnes or more. Only 21 of these sit among the 1000 largest companies listed.
Recognising the unique role that the corporate sector has to play in meeting global climate objectives and maintaining global supply chains, specialist carbon removal portfolio manager ClimeFi, in collaboration with the XPRIZE Foundation, has launched the Global 1000 CDR Challenge. Announced at COP29, the challenge aims to stimulate demand in the permanent CDR market, while also putting market trailblazers in the spotlight.
In practice, the initiative recognises the world’s 1000 largest publicly listed companies that enter into a purchase agreement for 1000 tonnes or more of durable carbon removal in 2025. By taking this approach, the Global 1000 looks to:
- Reduce internal barriers to entry and create a competitive incentive for corporates to buy CDRs;
- Ensure new revenue sources for CDR projects by generating one million tonnes of new demand over the next year, allowing suppliers to build and scale;
- Diversify CDR buyers, paving the way for a healthy market to support these projects going forward.
Driving climate action
As the world’s leading chief sustainability officers (CSOs) continue to shape their company’s sustainability strategy to achieve their net zero mandates, it is increasingly clear that permanent CDR must have a pivotal role to play. The Global 1000 CDR Challenge provides the perfect platform for companies to access and understand the CDR market, effectively offering a ‘try before you buy approach’. Not only does the challenge ensure that carbon removal projects can be easily accessed online, but it also helps corporates to understand how the CDR climate action pillar can fit with their strategy.
With the challenge underway as of 1st January this year, we are excited for the rapid adoption of the challenge goals. CSOs from the world’s largest companies are being offered the chance to reconfirm their commitment to net zero and help to guide the way to a more sustainable future. We look forward to connecting with many of these CSOs at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos later this month to explore how private sector institutions can lead the way on climate action.