Clearing the air: How Canada can be a global leader in carbon removal

Ramping up large-scale carbon removal is increasingly becoming an imperative. In this special report, we look at what could help nurture the nascent sector.

Even if every person, company and country stopped emitting carbon tomorrow, the Earth’s temperature would continue to rise for years because of all the GHGs that have already been released. To ensure global temperatures remain within a safe range, it’s increasingly clear that carbon removal solutions need to play a much larger role in GHG reduction.

It’s estimated that, by mid-century, around 10 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide needs to be removed from the atmosphere each year. That will require a massive scale-up of carbon removal solutions. (It’s important to distinguish between carbon removal and carbon capture. Removal is the extraction of carbon dioxide that is already in the atmosphere, while capture is associated with preventing carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere by intercepting it at the industrial source.)

Canada is emerging as a leader in this space with 40 organizations working on carbon removal initiatives. The suite of technologies, many still in the testing phase, includes highly engineered approaches, such as direct air capture (DAC), sequestering carbon in building materials and the production of biochar using pyrolysis, as well as solutions aimed at increasing the absorptive capacity of oceans, rivers and even mine tailings.

Canadian advantage

• The bulk of the country’s electricity — 80 percent — is generated from renewable sources, providing clean and affordable power for direct air capture projects.
• Canada’s geology, particularly the saline formations found across Saskatchewan and Alberta, is well suited for carbon storage. It’s estimated that between 198 to 678 gigatonnes could be sequestered across the country.
• The country’s stable political environment, potential government support and skilled workforce make it an attractive destination for investment.
• A quarter of the finalists for the global XPRIZE Carbon Removal challenge for CDR innovation are Canadian.

In this special report we look at the current funding landscape, the latest startup milestones as well as the challenges and opportunities in carbon removal.

Download the full report