The Big Question in Carbon Removal: Can Projects Really Deliver?
As the world urgently seeks ways to combat climate change, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) projects are gaining traction. However, a significant challenge has emerged: ensuring these projects actually deliver the carbon removal they promise. At Climate Week NYC 2026, Relae and Microsoft unveiled a new framework to address this 'delivery risk,' a vital step for scaling effective climate solutions. This framework aims to boost confidence in carbon removal efforts, making sure ambitious commitments translate into real-world impact for a healthier planet.
The carbon dioxide removal (CDR) market is maturing, moving past early development towards larger, more impactful projects. With this growth, a crucial question has arisen: can projects consistently deliver the amount of carbon removal they’ve agreed to, and on time? This challenge, known as delivery risk, goes beyond whether the technology works; it encompasses everything from financing delays to operational hurdles.
To tackle this, Relae (formerly Carbon Direct) and Microsoft have updated their respected "Criteria for High-Quality Carbon Dioxide Removal" for 2026. For the first time, this new version includes a specific way to assess delivery risk, ensuring that quality and reliability go hand-in-hand.
The framework introduces TECOP, which looks at five key areas: Technical, Economic, Commercial, Organizational, and Political risks. These factors help assess if a project has the right technology, funding, contracts, management, and external conditions to move from a plan to actual carbon removal. This holistic view recognizes that different types of carbon removal projects, whether factory-based or nature-based, face unique challenges in their execution.
This focus on delivery couldn't be more timely. While the CDR market saw rapid expansion, with contracted volumes soaring in 2025, the actual delivered tonnes lag significantly behind. For instance, in early 2026, durable CDR buyers committed to millions of tonnes, yet only a fraction were actually delivered CDR.fyi blog. This gap highlights why buyers need confidence that their investments will yield tangible climate benefits, driving the urgency for robust delivery frameworks.
Microsoft, a major player in the CDR market, has committed to removing over 78 million metric tons of CO2 from more than 60 projects Microsoft Corporate Responsibility. Their significant purchases have helped grow the market but also concentrated demand. The new delivery framework helps ensure that these large-scale commitments translate into verifiable climate action, underscoring the importance of making sure every promised tonne of carbon removal truly happens. This collaborative effort emphasizes that to effectively address global warming, our climate solutions must not only be innovative but also reliably executed.
This latest edition of the criteria, drawing on lessons from hundreds of projects, adds delivery risk as a distinct assessment area. It complements the existing six principles for high-quality CDR, which cover critical aspects like environmental impacts, social benefits, and accurate measurement. Now, buyers can ask not only if the removal is scientifically sound and meets quality standards but also whether the developer can actually deliver it, and what might stand in the way. This forward-looking approach is vital for building a trustworthy and effective carbon removal industry, ensuring that our collective efforts truly contribute to a sustainable future.