The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal in the West Coast

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) in the West Coast is moving from early-stage experimentation to disciplined industrial deployment. What began as a wave of pilot ventures is consolidating into a sector defined by bankability, delivery timelines and integration with existing industrial systems. The region remains technically advantaged, with extensive geological storage, established permitting in provinces such as Alberta and Saskatchewan, access to low-carbon energy, and strong industrial foundations across forestry, mining and energy.

However, a structural advantage without acceleration is fragile. Competing jurisdictions now combine similar geological capacity with faster capital deployment and stronger incentives, notably the US 45Q tax credit. While Canada’s Investment Tax Credit improves project economics, large-scale facilities still require long-term, creditworthy offtake agreements to secure financing. Capital is mobile, and projects will gravitate to markets where funding certainty is greatest.

Carbon removal is increasingly being reframed from discretionary climate expenditure to strategic asset creation. Biogenic and engineered removals, particularly under mechanisms such as Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, are emerging as bankable and tradable instruments. Capturing emissions from forestry residues, pulp mills and wildfire-prone landscapes converts unmanaged carbon flows into certified assets with material balance sheet and trade implications.

Demand remains the binding constraint. Technical readiness has outpaced durable market formation, and voluntary buyers alone cannot underwrite infrastructure-scale deployment. Significant capital requirements, long revenue horizons, fragmented standards and inconsistent policy signals continue to slow progress and heighten credibility risks.

The sector is now defined by delivery. Carbon removal is positioning itself as enabling infrastructure for hard-to-abate sectors, including aviation, maritime transport, defence and heavy industry. Maturity will be measured in operating facilities, verified tonnes delivered and coherent policy alignment, rather than announcements or ambition alone.

Overall, it has been thoroughly exciting to return to Canada at this juncture in carbon removals, carving out a space for the conversations and collaborations that will accelerate ecosystem-wide growth in the region. From these discussions across the two days, we have identified the key themes that emerged, alongside a collection of panel recordings and interviews to document this moment in CDR. Until next year!

Key Themes from Carbon Unbound West Coast 2026

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1. De-Risking Finance: Building the Bridge to CDR 2.0

‍While billions have been invested, layered risks still inhibit institutional capital. Bridging to CDR 2.0 means structuring projects that are genuinely financeable, with predictable cash flows and disciplined risk management.

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2. Scaling Demand: The “Cowboy Days” are Over

‍Demand is maturing, but is often misread as collapsing. Buyers are applying greater diligence, scrutinizing risk, and seeking defensible pricing and operational capability.

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3. The Investor Playbook: "Show Me You Can Execute"

‍Equity has fueled early growth, but infrastructure-scale CDR requires debt. Banks and institutional lenders need bankable contracts, strong counterparties, and demonstrated execution.

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4. Decarbonizing Freight & Flight: CDR a “Luxury Product”?‍

For aviation and maritime leaders, carbon removal is still viewed as a premium instrument within a broader decarbonization toolkit. Efficiency, electrification, and alternative fuels remain immediate priorities, but early procurement is not wholly off the table.

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5. Carbon Removal is Firmly on Canada’s Public Agenda

‍We closed with remarks from Wade Grant, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Quadra and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, underscoring a clear signal: the Canadian government is stepping into its role as an enabler of scale. Carbon removal is becoming embedded in Canada’s climate and industrial strategy.

De-Risking Finance: Building the Bridge to CDR 2.0

The carbon dioxide removal industry is in a transitional phase; this theme dominated discussions at Carbon Unbound West Coast this year. As Joanna Klitzke from Frontier succinctly framed while moderating her panel, De-Risking Finance for Carbon Removal Solutions,

"We need to go from CDR 1.0 to 2.0. We need to go from start-ups and pilots and early stage to big infrastructure in the ground with frictionless purchasing for the field."

With our destination defined, how do we shepherd the industry through to its next phase? From a financial perspective, our panelists agreed that while approximately $3.5 billion has been cumulatively invested in durable removals to date, this amount is insufficient to finance the next generation of commercial-scale facilities.

However, the main challenge is not a lack of interest from investors, but rather, layered risk: technology risk, construction risk, market uncertainty, policy volatility, and emerging political risk all compound. Venture capital continues to absorb early technical risk, but institutional lenders and infrastructure investors require predictable cash flows and de-risked operations before participating. As such, building the financial bridge to CDR 2.0 involves adequate risk management.

‍Listen to the full panel discussion below to hear how leading investors and financiers are evaluating CDR risk, and how to overcome the hurdles faced by developers in risk structuring.

Scaling Demand: The "Cowboy Days" are Over

On the demand side, buyers are similarly looking for sufficient risk management in CDR projects. During ‘Scaling Demand: What’s Steering Buyers’ Decisions?’, the panel explored why demand can look ‘sobering’ in topline market stats, and what is actually shaping buyer behaviour as the market matures.

While purchase volumes remain concentrated among a few major buyers, panelists stressed that a broader base of corporates is actively preparing to enter the market, with many starting small to learn. For example, Taylor Insley from Terraset highlighted the growth in mid-sized and smaller buyers who want a stake in the market but cannot yet compete at big tech levels.

The main constraint to scaling demand is, again, risk management. Buyers are wary of delivery failure, reputational exposure, and policy uncertainty. Nevertheless, this wariness is not an indication of a collapse in demand. Instead, buyers are simply taking longer, since they are demanding more credibility and applying more diligence. As Sam Israelit from Bain & Company argues,

"The end game that people are looking for is to reduce risk. And so from a buyer's perspective, which I don't hear anybody here talking about, this is all about risk management, right? That's what is holding buyers back right now. [...] The leaders in the market, we're still buying. We buy and retire 200,000 tons a year."

Or, as Sam later reiterates, the "cowboy days" are over. Buyers now expect business maturity, defensible pricing and assumptions, operational capability, clear storytelling tailored to each buyer’s needs, and more.

Listen to the full panel recording below to hear directly from buyers on what makes a project credible, and what causes deals to stall.

Decarbonizing Freight & Flight: Is CDR a "Luxury Product"?

Like most industries, there is no silver bullet to decarbonizing aviation and shipping, where businesses run on engines, international routes, and multi-decade assets. Our Breakfast Briefing brought together leaders from NYK Line, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, Air Canada, Airbus, and Vancouver Airport Authority (YVR) to explore where carbon removals fit in on the path to net zero.

Speaking from inside these two hard-to-abate sectors, our panelists explain that CDR is not yet considered a priority in their climate strategies. Or, as Thomas Goetz provocatively dubs it, “a luxury product”. The immediate focus remains on efficiency, fleet renewal, electrification, and scaling lower-carbon fuels such as SAF, LNG, ammonia, and hydrogen. But even with aggressive fuel switching, residual emissions must be considered, since their future magnitude proves uncertain.

Against this backdrop, CDR is one lever among many. The panel closed with a direct message to developers: buyers in freight and flight are willing to engage early, but only if the market can provide transparent science, credible accounting, and confidence in delivery, alongside a clearer policy framework before removals can move from “luxury” to necessity.

Listen to the full panel discussion below to hear how aviation and maritime leaders are weighing fuels vs. removals, and what they need from developers to make early procurement viable.