2024 Q1 Durable CDR Market Update - Blossoming Biochar
The durable CDR market remains nascent and highly dependent on large transactions. The overall trend is positive but has not yet achieved a solid foundation. Each quarter brings its own developments and surprises, underscoring the challenge of making long-term predictions based solely on short-term data.
The key to sustained growth in the CDR market lies in attracting more buyers and encouraging existing ones to increase their investments. Durable CDR is a market led by forward-thinking companies and executives who proactively invest without any legal or regulatory requirement.
This quarter, Biochar was the clear method leader, led by two large transactions from Global South companies: The Next 150 and Exomad Green. As in 2023, when it accounted for 67% of all durable CDR purchases, Microsoft was in a league of its own as a purchaser in Q1 2023, followed by Karbon-X, Shell Environmental Products, and BCG.
An increasingly concerning issue is the trend towards opaqueness in market transactions. Transparency is essential to building trust in the market, and trust is the foundation of relationships, increased business, and, thus, increased carbon removal. Transparency includes clear and robust measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) and sharing progress with the community. Achieving multiple gigatonne output of CDR will take a village; let’s celebrate the progress and encourage the ongoing efforts of well-intentioned parties to advance CDR technologies.
