A three‑country comparison highlights Europe’s significant carbon dioxide removal potential
May 29, 2026
A new comparative assessment by Carbon Gap and Sweco evaluates the potential of carbon dioxide removal in Finland, Germany and Poland. The study analyses around ten CDR methods across both nature‑based and engineered approaches, combining technical potential with societal and policy readiness.
Across all three countries, the results show that CDR can play a critical role in addressing residual emissions and supporting the transition to climate neutrality. However, the scale, timing, and feasibility of deployment vary depending on resource availability, policy frameworks, and infrastructure development. The assessment combines method‑specific resource analysis, a review of climate and energy policy and legislation, and insights into public and stakeholder acceptance, based on interviews and a citizens’ panel.
“Conducting these bottom-up assessments has been extremely insightful and has highlighted the limits to how quickly CDR can be deployed. Even countries with significant theoretical potential may only be able to deploy several tens of MtCO₂ per year by 2050, because building the necessary infrastructure takes time. That is why it is so important for countries to start planning for and deploying CDR now”, says Sylvain Delerce, director of Research & Innovation in Carbon Gap.
“It was insightful to compare how similar carbon removal approaches perform in very different national contexts. Each country has distinct policy frameworks, structural conditions, and resource bases that determine the most effective pathways. Carbon removal is inherently context‑dependent and requires coordinated policy, infrastructure and market development,” says Heini Vassinen, Head of Green Transition Advisory Services at Sweco.
Germany is positioning itself as a leader in carbon removal
Germany is aiming to take a leading role in carbon dioxide removal as part of its pathway to climate neutrality by 2045. The federal government allocated €500 million in 2025 for CDR‑related measures and has established a dedicated function within the administration to coordinate carbon removal policy and implementation. The analysis identifies strong potential for Germany to deploy both nature‑based and engineered CDR to address residual emissions. However, the development of geological CO₂ storage may become a bottleneck, particularly for storage‑dependent pathways such as BECCS and DACCS. Germany’s relatively balanced mix of CDR approaches provides resilience, but scaling will depend on infrastructure development and long‑term policy clarity.
Report: Germany’s potential to deploy CDR at scale and speed
Poland has high potential but requires accelerated policy development
Poland has significant carbon removal potential, supported by extensive forests, agricultural land, peatlands, biomass resources, and mineral inputs. Nature‑based approaches are expected to play a dominant role in the near term, while engineered methods could scale with the right policy and infrastructure framework.
Poland also holds substantial geological CO₂ storage capacity, but this remains largely underdeveloped and is currently prioritised for industrial emissions reductions (CCS) rather than atmospheric carbon removal (CDR). Unlocking this storage potential could enable Poland to become a regional carbon management hub, supporting neighbouring countries with limited storage capacity. However, Poland currently lacks dedicated CDR targets, a national climate neutrality target, and an integrated long‑term strategy, which risks delaying deployment and leaving significant potential untapped.
Report: deploying CDR in Poland
Finland Has Significant Potential to Leverage Nature‑Based and Technological Carbon Dioxide Removal Methods
The results of the report show that Finland has significant potential to utilise both nature-based and technological carbon removal methods to achieve the climate neutrality objective. According to the Government’s Climate and Energy Scenarios (PEIKKO), Finland will face an estimated CO₂ equivalent emissions gap of 16–19 million tonnes by 2035, and with the current development, it will not achieve the carbon neutrality target without additional measures and the introduction of carbon removal. The report presents three realistic carbon removal scenarios that help Finland close this emissions gap.