Federal carbon removal mandate: $750-per-ton market for emerging climate tech

What it does

This bill requires the federal government to purchase and remove increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the air and seawater—starting at 50,000 metric tons annually in 2026–2027, scaling to 10 million metric tons by 2036 and beyond. The Secretary of Energy must contract with private companies using approved technologies (direct air capture, seawater capture, waste gasification) at declining price caps ($750/ton in 2026–2027, dropping to $150/ton by 2037), with at least 20% of removal coming from small projects. The bill prioritizes projects that create jobs, support fossil-fuel-dependent communities, minimize environmental harm, and use domestic supply chains. All removal must be independently verified, and companies are liable if stored carbon leaks.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is a federal purchase mandate for carbon removal services, structured as a scaled procurement program with declining price caps and technology-neutral eligibility. It is fundamentally a demand-creation and market-development tool for emerging climate technologies, not a subsidy or tax incentive.

What the text implies

• The bill's 'economically feasible' price caps may become binding constraints if removal technology costs do not decline as projected, potentially forcing the Secretary to reduce removal targets or declare infeasibility—creating a built-in escape clause that could undermine the stated mandate.
• The 25% concentration limit on any single entity prevents monopoly but may fragment the market into smaller, less efficient operators, raising per-ton costs and slowing technology maturation.

The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.

Who stands to gain

Direct air capture (DAC) technology companies; Seawater carbon capture startups; Waste gasification and pyrolysis firms