CDR Roadmap
Explorer
Three modelled roads to net-zero: how much carbon removal each future needs, when it scales, which methods do the work, and where.
Total carbon removal, three roads
Carbon Removal, 2020–2100, in gigatonnes of CO₂ per year (Gt CO₂/yr). Drag the slider to read each road at a given year.Fast Lane
Techno-world. High near-term emissions, then a steep late-century drawdown driven by large-scale novel removal.
Total CDR to 2100 → SSP2-ML-UPTAKECrossroads
Disorderly world. A middle path balancing conventional and novel removals across an uneven planet.
Total CDR to 2100 → SSP1-VLLO-UPTAKELong Road
Cooperative world. Early, sustained mitigation with the smallest reliance on late-century removals.
Total CDR to 2100 →Removal is small today and must grow fast
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) takes CO₂ out of the atmosphere and stores it. The world removes about 2.2 Gt CO₂/yr today — almost all of it conventional, land-based removal. Every 1.5 °C pathway needs much more, and needs novel methods to carry a growing share.
Each scenario here is a different bet on how that scale-up plays out. The gap between what countries pledge and what the most ambitious pathway needs reaches about 5.2 Gt CO₂/yr by 2050.
State of CDR Ed.3 (Ch.9). See Methods.