Who cares about carbon dioxide removal? Assessing actors, policy positions, and participation modes within European and United Nations public consultation processes
Creators: name: Losi, Lucilla
name: Fritz, Livia
name: Sovacool, Benjamin K.
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2025
Subjects: subject: Medicine
subject: Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Science Policy
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Developmental Biology
subject: Computational Biology

description: In addition to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, alternate strategies to mitigate climate change are entering the policy debate, such as Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR), which aims to absorb CO<sub>2</sub> from the atmosphere. Despite being in the early stages of development, these interventions have already been indicated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as necessary contributors to the net zero transition. CDR has been at the centre of two public consultation processes in 2023, one by the European Union and one by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. These two consultation processes provide an opportunity to have an initial understanding of the types of actors participating in such consultations and their positioning regarding key issues in the governance and deployment of CDR interventions. This study maps the stakeholders participating in these consultations according to their defining characteristics and analyses the content of their submissions to identify the main arguments presented. In both cases, most participants are based in the Global North, are for-profit actors and focus their activities on farming or greenhouse gas removal. The analysis of the content of the submissions reveals a wide range of positions that can be divided into <i>expansive</i> and <i>restrictive</i>. <i>Expansive</i> stances are mostly emphasized by actors from the for-profit sector, whereas the <i>restrictive</i> positions are emphasized by non-governmental organizations. This divide suggests the need for a governance set-up capable of balancing diverse perspectives while ensuring an equitable and effective deployment of these technologies to address the global challenge of climate change. Participation in public consultations on carbon dioxide removal remains skewed towards the Global North, for-profit sector, and actors whose main activities concern farming.Consultation mechanisms require targeted efforts to include a diversity of voices, while addressing existing imbalances with transparency and accountability.Recognizing a divide in CDR positions between expansive (mostly by for-profit actors) and restrictive (mostly by NGOs) is fundamental to design policies that balance economic incentives with environmental safeguards.Policy processes should actively seek the engagement of marginalized actors in structured dialogues to integrate varied viewpoints into equitable regulations. Participation in public consultations on carbon dioxide removal remains skewed towards the Global North, for-profit sector, and actors whose main activities concern farming. Consultation mechanisms require targeted efforts to include a diversity of voices, while addressing existing imbalances with transparency and accountability. Recognizing a divide in CDR positions between expansive (mostly by for-profit actors) and restrictive (mostly by NGOs) is fundamental to design policies that balance economic incentives with environmental safeguards. Policy processes should actively seek the engagement of marginalized actors in structured dialogues to integrate varied viewpoints into equitable regulations.