Carbon Direct has launched CDR 2.0, a framework aimed at accelerating the deployment of high-durability carbon dioxide removal (CDR) projects and converting corporate climate commitments into operational assets.
The initiative sets out five pillars designed to address structural barriers that have slowed the scaling of the CDR market. Despite billions of dollars in forward commitments, many projects have failed to reach final investment decision (FID), with capital remaining undeployed and buyers cautious amid credibility concerns in the wider voluntary carbon market.
CDR 2.0 applies project finance principles commonly used in energy infrastructure to engineered and hybrid CDR pathways, including direct air capture (DAC), bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS), enhanced rock weathering (ERW), and abiotic marine CDR.
Dr Julio Friedmann, Chief Scientist at Carbon Direct, said the market had developed goals and principles but lacked the practical structures needed to deliver operational projects. He described the framework as a shift from “the purchase of promises to the procurement of performance”.
The five pillars include: ensuring technologies are at high technology readiness levels (TRL 8 or above) for commercial-scale deployment; strengthening project assurance through rigorous engineering and oversight; establishing investment-grade technical standards for measurement, monitoring, reporting and validation (MMRV); introducing bankable contracting structures such as binding offtakes and take-or-pay agreements; and simplifying transactions through standardised contracts and syndication infrastructure.
Earlier this month, Carbon Direct’s 2026 State of the Voluntary Carbon Market report said the sector is at an inflection point, with infrastructure and standards improving but buyer hesitation threatening to stall projects. The company said CDR 2.0 aims to close this gap by providing the structure needed to move projects to FID and into operation.
