Nonprofit clean energy institute RMI has published The New Frontiers Report for CDR (NFR), an assessment mapping critical technological and process innovation opportunities across 14 carbon dioxide removal (CDR) pathways.

The study explores historical progress over the past three decades, near-term project pipelines over a five-year horizon, and deployment constraints to identify priority innovation areas capable of delivering step-change cost reductions and scale.

The report covers biogenic (bCDR), geochemical (gCDR), and synthetic (sCDR) approaches, analyzing cost structures across eight specific categories alongside supply chain, resource, and land-use tradeoffs.

The analysis also details cross-cutting enabling technologies, including automation, remote sensing, advanced materials, and synthetic biology, that hold potential to accelerate cost-competitiveness across multiple CDR approaches simultaneously.

Building on the report’s baseline findings, RMI has proposed a follow-on initiative to establish Rapid Development Plans (RDPs) for high-impact innovation areas.

These RDPs will formulate targeted roadmaps outlining the specific research, demonstration, and capital deployment steps required to transition early-stage breakthrough ideas into commercial-scale applications.

The report comes as updated climate modeling, including UNEP’s 1.5°C Overshoot Report and IPCC scenarios, reinforces the necessity of gigatonne-scale carbon removal to stabilize global temperatures mid-century.

By directing public and private capital toward foundational technical bottlenecks today, RMI aims to ensure carbon removal solutions achieve the cost efficiency and deployment velocity required for global climate targets.

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