As the global community prepares for COP30, the State of Carbon Dioxide Removal has released a new Insight Report that signals G20 pledges are falling short on carbon dioxide removal (CDR) as a complementary measure to the emissions reductions needed to reach time-sensitive climate goals.
While emissions reductions are central for reaching 2035 climate targets, the report signals the need to also supercharge the CDR sector in order to stay aligned with Paris Agreement ambitions.
With this deadline steadily approaching, the report summarizes that only seven G20 members—Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—have updated their 2035 climate pledges as of September 2025.
At the same time, most G20 members have not specified how much CDR they will deliver by 2030 or 2050, and only a few countries have indicated measurable targets, with the UK being the only one to include novel technologies like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).
Generally, the CDR volumes proposed across the G20 amount to 214–265 MtCO2 by 2030, which is a slight increase to the current approximate 2 GtCO2 of CDR per year, achieved mostly through land-based operations like planting trees.
In contrast, an earlier global assessment called The State of CDR Edition 2 concluded that around 7–9 GtCO₂ of CDR per year is needed to meet 2050 targets, coupled with rapid emission cuts.
Currently, nine G20 countries are yet to clarify how CDR from land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) will contribute towards their climate targets. Available data shows that China has a dedicated forest stock target equivalent to an additional 48 MtCO2 of CDR by 2030, and India projects that it will exceed its LULUCF target.
On the other hand, public data indicates that the EU is straying away from meeting its land sink goal, while countries like Japan, South Korea, and Türkiye expect a drop in their current CDR levels.
The authors of the report established core conditions that indicate a G20 member is more likely to make CDR delivery, taking into account factors like net zero targets being set in law, CDR scaling policies and measures in place, and sector-level projections on developing and integrating carbon removals over time.
South Korea, the EU, and the UK emerged as the only members to meet these criteria, while larger-potential regions like India, China, and Indonesia are yet to release detailed CDR scaling plans.
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With these insights at hand, the report authors call for action now that would lay the groundwork for the scaling of CDR in the upcoming decades, stressing that near-term policy should also work in this direction in the next five years, and highlighting that CDR should be pursued simultaneously with dedicated emission reduction plans.
The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal brings together leading experts from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Oxford, and University of Maryland.
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Commenting on the newly released report, Dr. Steve Smith, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford, stated, “Halting climate change will require rapid decarbonization and rapid development of carbon removal. The UK and other early movers are showing that it’s possible to make headway on both. If we are to reach the billions of tonnes that the best available science suggests is needed by 2050, then we ought to be well on the way by 2035.”
