
The world's first ‘Direct Air Capture and Storage’ plant near Reykjavik, Iceland.
© picture alliance/KEYSTONE | ANTHONY ANEX
Carbon Management
With the adoption of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions targets in European and German climate policy, so-called "hard-to-abate emissions" have increasingly become the focus of climate policy discussions. In addition to drastically reducing emissions, the capture of CO2 and its subsequent use or permanent storage will have to play an important role - as has been shown in international and national mitigation modelling. Consequently, “carbon management” has been taken up in a variety of political initiatives at the national, international and supranational level.
The umbrella term carbon management encompasses technologies that capture CO2 and then either use it as a resource (carbon capture and utilisation, CCU) or store it permanently (carbon capture and storage, CCS). The wide range of applications in industry – particularly in sectors where process emissions occur – make carbon management a much-discussed interface between industrial and climate policy. Provided that the captured CO2 originates directly or indirectly (via biomass) from the atmosphere, these processes can achieve net-negative emissions and remove CO2 from the atmosphere (Carbon Dioxide Removal, CDR). In contrast to CCS/CCU applications where fossil CO2 is captured, CDR methods can help to offset residual emissions, bringing net-zero and net-negative targets within reach.
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The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal 3rd Edition 2026
Oxford, June 2026, 295 pagesdoi:10.17605/OSF.IO/ZRD65
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Chapter 5: Policymaking and governance
in: Morgan Edwards, Oliver Geden, Matthew Gidden, William Lamb et al. (eds.), The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal 3rd Edition 2026, Oxford, June 2026, pp. 107-132doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/62548
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Chapter 1: Introduction
in: Morgan Edwards, Oliver Geden, Matthew Gidden, William Lamb et al. (eds.), The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal 3rd Edition 2026, Oxford, June 2026, pp. 17-33doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/5K2SF
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Marine carbon dioxide removal: an emerging topic for ocean governance and the sustainability agenda
in: Barbara Neumann, Daniela Diz, Ben Boteler (eds.), The Elgar Companion to Ocean Governance and the Sustainable Development Goals, pp. 379–402, 12.05.2026doi:10.4337/9781803923574.00031
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Short-term action is key for gigaton-scale Direct Air Capture by 2050
in: Nature Communications, 17, May 2026doi:10.1038/s41467-026-72691-3
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Foresight Workshop Report: Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement Scenarios for Germany in 2040
in: ASMASYS – Assessing Marine Carbon Removal:Synthesis, Scenarios and Governance (Milestone 1.1.1), 2026doi:10.3289/CDRmare.62