The UN has acknowledged that carbon removal is now necessary to bring temperatures back to the 1.5C goal, but the harder question is who foots the bill. A new Energy Transitions Commission report names removals among four major climate efforts that are falling short, alongside coal phase-out, methane cuts, and deforestation. Adair Turner, who co-chairs the commission, says removals will never be a win-win like EVs, so governments, companies, and philanthropists need to fund them directly. Demand for carbon removal credits is already weak. BloombergNEF counted just 23 million credits bought in 2026 through mid-August, with Microsoft's pullback as a major cause. The article is worth reading for anyone tracking carbon markets, because it connects the UN's policy signal to the real-world financing gap that determines whether removal projects actually get built.
