From Ambition to Implementation: Building Momentum for Carbon Removals and BECCS

I recently attended the Negative Emissions Summit in Brussels, where policymakers, developers, investors and carbon removal buyers discussed the next phase of carbon dioxide removals (CDR) deployment in Europe.

I sensed a shift in expectations, and a recognition that further policy development is needed to help the voluntary carbon market mature. For developers like Evero, working on first-of-a-kind BECCS projects, this shift is significant.

There is little argument that achieving long-term climate goals will require a combination of well-designed policy, committed private investment, and durable demand from buyers. No single element will be able to scale this market alone.

There remains a clear gap, however, between buyer demand and the level of certainty required to unlock large-scale infrastructure investment in the UK. Investors are increasingly comfortable with carbon removal technologies, but long-term market signals and clearer policy frameworks are still needed to accelerate deployment. In this context, discussions about the importance of Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) integration and wider compliance market development stood out as particularly important.

From a policy perspective, momentum is building around integrating CDR into broader climate frameworks, alongside the continued development of certification standards and market mechanisms. The discussion is shifting towards how much policy can be laid over voluntary demand to work to create the scale and confidence needed for the market to mature.

There is also growing recognition that early support should focus on enabling delivery. Building a carbon removal industry requires more than individual projects; it requires the development of supply chains, transport and storage infrastructure, commercial frameworks and operational expertise that can support future growth. Having said that, it is important that we see delivery – a single operating project is more valuable for creating momentum than ten half-developed projects which do not reach FID.

This is particularly relevant for BECCS. As the most scalable of pathways capable of delivering permanent removals, while generating clean energy, BECCS is expected to play a major role in balancing residual emissions and supporting broader decarbonisation efforts.

Overall, the sector is trying to move from ambition to implementation. The building blocks are beginning to align, but continued collaboration between policymakers, investors, buyers and project developers will be essential to create the conditions for sustained growth.

For InBECCS, the UK’s first BECCS project under the Greenhouse Gas Removals Business Model, this reinforces the importance of momentum. The challenge is in building the momentum which can deliver the first project and leverage that to deployment at scale.