CDR-PoEt Policy Brief: How Should Targeted Carbon Dioxide Removal Be Governed? 15 Guiding Questions for the Assessment of Policy Instruments to Manage CO₂ Removal

Germany aims to be greenhouse gas neutral by 2045 and negative from 2050 onwards. To achieve this, emissions which cannot be avoided or are very hard to avoid — so‐called residual emissions— must be balanced out with “negative emissions”. The way to do this is the targeted removal of CO2 from the atmosphere (Carbon Dioxide Removal, CDR). To remove sufficient CO2, it is necessary to incentivize CDR processes and projects through appropriate policy instruments—such as regulations, funding programs, or public information campaigns. Developing and implementing these policy instruments poses a challenge for decision‐makers. Our new assessment framework for policy instruments can assist in this process. In it, we propose fifteen guiding questions that decision‐makers should use for orientation when developing policy instruments to control, promote, and regulate CDR. These guiding questions help incorporate various societal values and goals into the decision‐making process and enable transparent and traceable communication of decisions.