Active

Carbon Gap

Brussels, Belgium and London, United Kingdom

This project advances policies that maximize Europe’s contribution to the rapid and responsible global scale-up of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) needed for effective climate change mitigation.

While global removals currently total ~2 billion tonnes annually, durable, permanent carbon removal represents less than 0.1% of total removals, with the remainder coming from natural systems. To meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and achieve net-zero, the world must pair rapid emissions reductions with large-scale removal of atmospheric CO₂ (~10 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year by 2050).

CDR technologies, therefore, need to grow faster than any other climate technology. With voluntary CDR demand faltering, only policy can unlock the path to climate-relevant scale. Europe plays a critical role in scaling CDR deployment. Europe has the fiscal capacity for investment in research and development, infrastructure, the political appetite for progressive climate policy, and the diplomatic weight to champion CDR best practices on the global stage. Ambition across the region is growing, and now is the time to act.

The role of the EU CDR Strategy pillars in EU policy between 2024-2040

CDR in Europe faces several structural challenges: unclear regulation, limited public investment, permitting barriers, slow measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) development, and fragmented national strategies. In the face of these challenges and without coherent EU-level governance for CDR, this nascent sector is sorely missing the clear market signals needed to scale.

Carbon Gap fills a crucial void by working with policymakers, regulators, and scientific experts to ensure Europe adopts the robust policy frameworks needed to effectively drive demand, support supply, govern, and regulate the market for CDR. They serve as trusted advisors to decision-makers, engage directly with elected representatives, and work to coordinate and align the wider European CDR ecosystem. Through their advocacy, Carbon Gap helps position Europe to lead the world in safe, science-based carbon removal.

How does it work?

Carbon Gap focuses on creating and strengthening policies that enable Europe to scale high-integrity CDR. Here’s how:

1. Engagement with policymakers: Carbon Gap’s team works closely with policymakers to influence the course of climate policy, designing and crafting policies alongside them, and seeking to secure support for CDR in line with established science.

2. Political advocacy: they engage with key EU and country-level politicians (i.e., elected officials) to secure high-level support for CDR and ensure buy-in when it comes time to approve the policies they help shape.

3. Ecosystem coordination: they provide leverage to the CDR ecosystem, delivering tools and reports that unstick stalled debates and allow key stakeholders to effectively advocate for policy changes that are rooted in scientific evidence.

Christoph Beuttler, Chief Executive Officer steers Carbon Gap activities and team to lead carbon removal (CDR) deployment and support policies development in Europe.

Why this project?

We are excited to support Carbon Gap because their policy leadership directly shapes the future of carbon removal in Europe and beyond. All eyes are on Europe to deliver much-needed policy support, especially given the retreat of ambitious climate policy in the United States (US) and elsewhere. While continued support for bipartisan legislation in the US is critical, the European Union (EU) is currently well-positioned to lead globally on CDR policy.

Carbon Gap works to accelerate the development of credible, science-aligned pathways for scaling durable CDR, ensuring public trust, environmental safeguards, and high-integrity outcomes. Some of their recent accomplishments include:

1. Setting the EU agenda: Carbon Gap’s 2024 EU CDR Strategy helped set the agenda for policy progress, presenting 18 clear, actionable recommendations, more than two-thirds of which have already seen tangible advancement.

2. Building ambition among policymakers: Carbon Gap has helped place the integration of CDR into the European Union and United Kingdom Emissions Trading Systems firmly on the agenda and put forward the initial proposal for an EU-level CDR purchasing program (now set to become a central EU Commission scheme).

3. Influencing EU-level regulation: Carbon Gap contributed technical expertise to the development of the EU Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF) Regulation, pushing for stronger integrity criteria, permanence safeguards, and transparent MRV rules.

4. Driving national adoption of CDR strategies: They advised multiple European countries on integrating CDR into national climate plans - with clear signs of progress in Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, helping regulators understand how durable removals complement mitigation, industrial policy, and energy planning.

5. Distilling CDR knowledge: Carbon Gap’s Policy Tracker, described by the European Commission’s Fabien Ramos (a key EU policymaker) as “the place to go to learn about CDR policy in Europe,” enables stakeholders to explore European CDR policies, compare progress across regions, countries, and cities, discover relevant CDR funding opportunities, and identify under-explored topics via its research gaps database.

6. Advancing high-quality research & evidence: They undertake their own research to develop thought-leadership pieces on relevant CDR policy topics, including compliance options to drive demand, the need for separate CDR targets, and the economic opportunities for early-acting countries.

Showcasing Carbon Gap's Carbon Removal Policy Tracker – the go-to tool for demystifying European carbon removal policy and funding.

Press mentions

Carbon Gap CDR Readiness Project Is Outlining The Potential In Five New EU Countries

Carbon Removal is the UK’s next industrial frontier

Britain is falling behind in the carbon removals race - that has to change

Non-profit calls on the EU to come up with a dedicated CO2 removal strategy

We need to talk about carbon removal

Project updates

Jan2026

What our projects are working toward in 2026

Looking to the new year, Wren subscribers will help scale climate solutions, advocate for smart policy, and protect nature-based projects that deliver real, measurable impact....

Read update →

Jan

2026

Dec2025

Building the policy foundations for carbon dioxide removal in Europe

Achieving net-zero will require a dedicated, high-standard European Union CDR strategy. Our partner’s 18 policy recommendations help prioritize actions to reach these climate goals....

Read update →

Dec

2025

Where is the project located?

Carbon Gap is a registered charity in both the United Kingdom and Belgium(also the locations of its two main offices) with staff also based in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland.

While their advocacy work is centered in Brussels and a handful of key European capitals, their research, convenings, and country-readiness work span a much broader range of countries right across Europe.

Who is behind this project?

Carbon Gap is a team of over 20 experts in climate policy, science, and environmental governance.

Carbon Gap's team of policy experts.

• Christoph Beuttler, Chief Executive Officer: A leading voice in European carbon removal, with deep experience in carbon management, climate policy, and industrial decarbonization.

• Alexander Mäkelä, Chief Policy Officer: An EU policy specialist who oversees Carbon Gap’s policy strategy and its Nordic policy work.

• Sylvain Delerce, Chief Scientist: An engineer with a PhD in geochemistry who develops Carbon Gap’s country-level CDR strategies and oversees its policy work in France.

• Rodica Avornic, Policy Director: A CDR policy expert who leads Carbon Gap’s EU advocacy campaigns to support CDR supply and develop robust governance and standards.

• Phillip Wilson, Chief Operating Officer: An operations expert and entrepreneur with experience in design, marketing, and launching startups, who oversees Carbon Gap’s operations and communications.

• James Townsend, Chief Growth Officer: A strategy expert who leads Carbon Gap’s fundraising efforts and United Kingdom policy work.

• A Europe-wide team of policy analysts, scientists, advisors, and climate governance experts advancing Carbon Gap’s mission every day.

Together, they work to ensure Europe adopts the coherent, high-integrity policies needed to scale CDR safely and responsibly.

How is the money spent?

Receipts and documents

We keep a public record of all payment receipts we've received from our project partners. You can browse the receipt ledger here.

Funding from Wren supports Carbon Gap’s efforts to ensure that Europe enacts a high-integrity, science-based carbon removal policy. Contributions help enable:

1. Policy analysis & advocacy: Supporting the development of EU and national CDR strategies, MRV standards, durable removal targets, and driving RD&I funding.

2. Evidence-based research: Expanding and maintaining the open-source Policy Tracker databases and developing thought-leadership pieces on key topics.

3. Stakeholder engagement & coalition-building: Bringing together policymakers, scientists, NGOs, innovators, and industry groups to align around best practices and policy priorities.

4. Public communication & education: Publishing accessible resources, hosting events, and briefing decision-makers to ensure high-integrity CDR is understood and supported.

Carbon Gap estimates that their work on key policy files could remove CO2 from the atmosphere at a cost of $0.55 per tonne, based on the estimated impact of their work on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), UK ETS, and EU public CDR procurement between 2025 and 2031. This estimate only considers near-term volumes, meaning their work could be even more cost-effective in the long term. While this is an indicative estimate and models do vary, it highlights Carbon Gap’s significant potential for impact.

Oscar Schily helped facilitate a workshop focusing on the challenges and solutions of scaling CDR in Germany and Europe.

2026-2027 priorities for Carbon Gap include:

• Integrating CDR into the EU and UK Emissions Trading Schemes: Ensuring parallel integration processes are on track to deliver ≥50 Mt CO2 removed per year by 2040 while safeguarding emissions reductions and maintaining a diverse CDR portfolio.

• Advancing public CDR purchasing: Supporting European and national governments to directly purchase high-durability removals.

• Driving sector-specific mandates for CDR: Integrating CDR into policies such as the UK sustainable aviation fuel mandate to stimulate targeted demand.

• Lowering the cost of capital: Unlocking financing for suppliers via EU instruments, including the European Competitiveness Fund and the Industrial Decarbonisation Bank mandate.

• Improving allocation of RD&I funding: Securing dedicated CDR funding under the next EU framework programme for research and innovation.

• Establishing clear targets: Ensuring separate targets for CDR and emissions reductions are enshrined under EU legislation.

• Enabling a high-integrity CDR market: Implementing robust certification methodologies under the EU CRCF with clear use cases for verified removal methods.