The roadmap details the potential for a novel Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) industry that could help Australia, and the rest of the world, reach net zero. CDR refers to approaches that remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. CDR differs from carbon capture and storage (CCS), which seeks to remove carbon before it enters the atmosphere.

Achieving net-zero emissions to meet the goals of the international Paris Agreement is only possible if countries simultaneously remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and reduce emissions. Australia is projected to require between 133–200 megatonnes (Mt) of CO2 removed from the atmosphere per year by 2050.

The roadmap estimates the capacity and cost of a selection of novel CDR technologies and identifies the next steps required to develop and deploy them at scale in Australia. The following approaches are considered:

• direct air capture and storage
• biomass carbon removal and storage
• ocean alkalinity enhancement
• enhanced rock weathering.

The roadmap outlines Australia’s potential to develop and deploy these CDR technologies to complement other emission reduction approaches and nature-based CDR (in which carbon is stored biologically on shorter timescales, from decades to a century). It provides a framework for government, industry, researchers and communities to foster the responsible development of a new CDR industry.

The report is accompanied by a modelling appendix.