The carbon removals opportunity: across peoples and places

By Donagh Cagney

Garbage collection may not always be glamorous, but it is a vital service – the minute it stops, everyone knows about it. It’s an equally important economic sector – in the EU more than 1 in every 100 jobs is in waste and wastewater management.1 

CO2 removals will play a similar role – as a service we simply can’t do without, and one that will generate richer and more resilient societies. 

The 5 – 10 gigatons of CO2 that must be removed annually by 20502 translates directly into jobs, commercial deals, and investments. Two recent reports estimate a global industry worth circa $1 trillion annually, if carbon removals are deployed at scale by 2050. 3  

Big numbers are always impressive. But in a time of increased political volatility and popular discontent, permanent carbon removal’s potential to provide economic and social stability is equally important.  

Permanent removal approaches are diverse.
They tap into and support different industrial supply chains that already exist today. 

In Europe, biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) will reinforce the biomass and waste management sectors, while carbon removal’s need for solvents will benefit the chemicals sector. Enhanced rock weathering should be a boon for the mining sector. 

People with technical skills from the oil & gas sector will be in demand, as will electrical engineers, logistics workers, and knowledge workers focused on monitoring, verification and reporting activities, project development and finance. 

Carbon removal jobs are likely to be spread geographically too. 

Direct air capture will likely be situated in areas with abundant renewable energy and nearby carbon storage options. BioCCS will do well where biomass and waste is already being used for power generation and district heating – such as central Europe and the Nordics. Enhanced rock weathering will primarily be done at farms in warm and humid regions across the continent.  

Like garbage collection, the world’s future carbon removal industry may not be the most glamorous of activities. Much of it will happen discreetly, in the background and out of the public’s sights.  

But just like garbage collection, carbon removals will allow millions of people across the globe to earn a living making the world a cleaner, healthier, safer, more stable and pleasant place to live.