The possible institutionalisation of the carbon removal budget concept across the UNFCCC, UNCBD, and corporate net-zero strategies

[Geoengineering News]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901126000857

Authors: Jacopo Bencini, Laura Iozzelli

29 April 2026

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2026.104390

Highlights

•The Carbon Removal Budget concept might support international climate policy.

•The UNFCCC might be a fertile ground for the institutionalisation of the novel concept.

•The UN Biodiversity regime might bring narrower options for integration.

•Corporate strategies under the SBTi might welcome the novel instrument.

•Societal and political acceptance challenges remain.

Abstract

This study provides a preliminary qualitative policy analysis exploring the possible institutionalisation of the novel Carbon Removal Budget concept into multilateral decision-making and net-zero target setting. The analysis focuses on enabling and constraining factors for institutionalisation across three domains, namely the multilateral climate and biodiversity regimes under the UNFCCC and the UN Biodiversity Convention, and corporate climate target setting under the Science-Based Targets initiative. The study draws parallels with the framing and institutionalisation of a similar epistemic object - the Carbon Budget concept - into the public discourse in recent years. Our analysis suggests that the institutionalisation of the CRB into these three domains faces both opportunities and challenges, and that recognition will play a key role. The UNFCCC appears to be the most fertile institutional ground for such policy development. While the UN Biodiversity regime appears less prepared to offer a holistic platform for institutionalising the concept, linkages can be built around goals listed in the Kunming-Montreal Framework specifically for most nature-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) applications. In the corporate sector, the SBTi draft standard currently under revision presents a timely opportunity to institutionalise the CRB within net-zero strategies, particularly for large, emission-intensive sectors.

Source: ScienceDirect