Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is moving from a future consideration to a near-term strategy question for corporate sustainability teams. Our new primer, Ready, Set, Remove: Planning your company's path to carbon removal, is designed to help companies figure out where it fits.
Why now
Traditional carbon credits, the avoidance and reduction credits that have dominated the voluntary market, are facing growing scrutiny from regulators, investors, and civil society over additionality, permanence, and the validity of claimed climate benefits. At the same time, even the most ambitious emissions-reduction program efforts will leave a residual share of emissions that current technology can't eliminate by 2050. Reductions alone don't close that gap to net-zero emissions.
Carbon dioxide removal, particularly high-durability methods such as direct air capture, enhanced rock weathering, and biochar that store carbon for centuries rather than decades, is designed to address that residual share. As standard-setters like the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) move toward requiring companies to address residual emissions through removal, the question for most companies is shifting from whether to engage with CDR to when and how.
The opportunity
Engaging with CDR now offers a strategic advantage, not just a future compliance requirement. Companies that build knowledge and relationships in this market today are positioned to secure better pricing and supply terms before demand outstrips availability, which could happen as soon as 2030, and to help shape quality standards before regulators set them. Canada offers advantages here: extensive geological storage capacity, a stable policy environment, and a maturing ecosystem of developers and buyer-support organizations, including the CDR Centre, MaRS Discovery District, and the Advance Carbon Removal Coalition.
CDR readiness relies more on organizational alignment across sustainability, finance, legal, and communications than on technical sophistication, which is a common assumption. Companies that have measured their emissions, established credible targets, and shown progress in reducing emissions are often nearer to CDR readiness than they might think.
Ready, Set, Remove covers why removals are becoming a corporate priority, how to build internal alignment before procurement, common misconceptions about CDR, and a readiness checklist teams can use directly.
What buyers are telling us
The report builds on Growing Curiosity, the CDR Centre's 2025 scan of prospective Canadian CDR buyers. We found that most organizations said they'd be more likely to purchase carbon removal if peer organizations were already doing so. Price wasn't the top concern; delivery risk, reversal risk, reputational exposure, and uncertainty about local impacts ranked higher as barriers.
The CDR Center's 2026 buyers survey, currently underway with 45 prospective Canadian CDR buyers and set for publication this fall, points to a similar gap. Among organizations that don't intend to buy CDR credits, 53 per cent cited not knowing how CDR fits into their sustainability strategy as a reason. Ready, Set, Remove includes a section that addresses exactly that: where carbon removal fits within a corporate sustainability strategy, across environmental, social, and governance considerations. Watch for the full 2026 buyers survey later this fall for a deeper look at where the Canadian CDR market stands.
To learn more about the research behind this blog please check out our full primer https://www.pembina.org/pub/ready-set-remove.
