Political, scientific, economic, and societal aspects of CDR

The second SynCom CDR Project workshop on April 23-24, 2024, brought together Helmholtz researchers, policy makers, and industry stakeholders to discuss Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) strategies, focusing on political, scientific, economic, and societal aspects.

After a short welcome from the project leads, the first day started with an outline of the political landscape of CDR by Jörg Rüger (Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK)), emphasizing the necessity of negative emissions and Germany's strategy for net-negative emissions by 2050. The following talk by Prof. Dr. Sabine Fuss (Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC)) focused on the scientific framework, compared CDR approaches, and discussed the critical role of CDR in projections for achieving Paris Agreement goals, while stressing rigorous assessment and policy prioritization.

The following part of the first workshop day focused on three activities: a synthesis paper on biological CDR methods, an expertise mapping, and a parliamentary event on climate neutrality, BECCS, and DACCS. A breakout session discussed possible COP topics, including CDR financing and market inclusion under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, emphasizing a coordinated Helmholtz presence.

The second day of the workshop focused on the exchange between science and industry. Nine representatives from eight companies shared insights on CDR methods, discussing challenges like scalability, MRV, and the need for collaboration with scientists. They emphasized standardized methodologies, clearer regulations, and faster collaboration timelines.

In summary, the insights into the current scientific and political framework, the discussions on specific project activities between the involved scientists, and the exchange between science and industry are very valuable to advance the knowledge on CDR and the SynCom Project itself.