Sponsors (2)
Official title: Require the Secretary of Energy to remove carbon dioxide directly from ambient air or seawater, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 29, 2026 by Christopher A. Coons · Last progress July 29, 2026
The bill aims to scale federal procurement of durable CO2 removals to drive climate progress, jobs, and innovation, but does so with significant potential costs to taxpayers, governance and implementation risks, and possible local environmental and priority-diversion trade-offs.
Taxpayers and the climate benefit because the federal government will procure durable CO2 removals at scale, helping reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases and support national mitigation targets.
Utilities, energy companies, researchers, and workers benefit because a federal offtake program and associated procurement can create market demand that accelerates private investment and job growth in carbon removal technologies.
Nearby rural and urban communities gain protections because projects must measure, monitor, report, verify, and mitigate environmental impacts and prioritize projects that quantify and reduce risks to local communities.
Taxpayers could bear large and open-ended costs because the federal government will fund millions of tons of CO2 removal annually and authorizes appropriations 'as necessary.'
Public funds risk being diverted to nascent or expensive removal technologies if procurement price mechanisms allow high per-ton payments, raising cost-effectiveness concerns.
Local communities may still face environmental or land-use harms (land, water, energy use) from CDR projects despite mitigation requirements; actual risk depends on enforcement and standards.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Directs DOE to procure escalating lifecycle-measured CO2 removals using eligible technologies and to report program design options to scale to gigaton-per-year removal by 2050.
Directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a federal carbon dioxide removal (CDR) procurement program that buys or otherwise secures escalating quantities of CO2 removals using qualified technologies on a lifecycle basis starting in FY2026, subject to declining price caps and economic feasibility. It defines key terms (eligible technologies, lifecycle basis, durable storage, small removal project), sets procurement/price thresholds and conditions, and requires a detailed interagency report within one year evaluating program design options and financing to scale to gigaton-per-year CDR by 2050.