Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and carbon capture and storage (CCS) both aim to reduce climate change by storing CO₂, but they work differently. CDR removes CO₂ already in the atmosphere, like vacuuming dust already in a room, while CCS captures CO₂ at the source, such as from factories, before it enters the air—like a window screen catching dust before it enters a room. CCS helps reduce the emissions of a source, but can never capture more than what’s produced at a specific site. CDR, on the other hand, is not tied to a specific source of emissions. It can be a negative emissions solution by removing more CO2 than it produces. Some CDR methods, like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, include CCS technologies and processes. Both CDR and CCS are important tools, but they serve different roles in the effort to address climate change.

  • Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and carbon capture and storage (CCS) are often confused and used interchangeably. Both can store carbon for a long time, but it's important to understand how they work differently to fight climate change.

    CDR and CCS target different sources of carbon dioxide (CO₂). CDR removes CO₂ already in the atmosphere — this is called emissions removal. CCS, on the other hand, stops CO2 from entering the atmosphere during an industrial process — this is called emissions reduction.

    Think of Earth as a big, cozy house, where CO2 is the dust that has built up over time. To make the house comfortable again, we would need to use a vacuum cleaner to clean up the dust already there. CDR is the vacuum cleaner in this analogy. Another approach to preventing dust is installing window screens with fine mesh to catch the dust before it even enters the house. Using CCS to limit the amount of dust that can spread around is the window screen in this analogy. Both the window screen — CCS — and the vacuum cleaner — CDR — will keep the dust from spreading in the house. The amount of dust in the house is under control as long as it is securely stored in a dust bin, just as CCS and CDR have the potential to store CO₂ durably (kept out of the atmosphere for thousands of years). Dust will still come from other sources that are hard to stop, like our clothes, pets, or kids. These are hard-to-abate sources that keep adding dust. That's where the vacuum — CDR — comes in handy.

    The key difference between CDR and CCS is the CO2 source. If it is captured from a point source before it enters the atmosphere, like from the flue of an oil refinery, it is CCS. If it is pulled from the atmosphere, it is CDR. CCS can never capture more emissions than what the point source emits. In contrast, CDR is a negative emissions process, meaning it removes more emissions from the atmosphere than it produces. CDR can address the emissions currently too difficult to eliminate with reduction efforts alone, as well as emissions accumulated in the atmosphere over the past 200 years.

    Furthermore, CCS only works for certain emissions. Emissions sources like fossil fuel combustion for home heating, cooking and transportation are too dispersed to feasibly capture CO2 from. CCS is better suited for industrial emission sources, but even for these, it is not able to fully eliminate emissions, just as a window screen doesn’t stop all dust from coming into the house. The Quest Carbon Capture and Storage project captured 75 per cent of the emissions from the point source in 2023. Recent analysis suggests that the Boundary Dam Carbon Capture Project has achieved an average capture rate of 57 per cent of the plant’s emissions.

    CDR includes different methods and techniques to remove and store carbon in various forms. These range from enhancing natural processes, such as planting trees in areas where there were none before (afforestation), to technological solutions, such as direct air capture with carbon storage (DACCS). 

    Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is another CDR method that includes CCS as a subset within the process. BECCS captures CO2 from biomass – organic material from plants and animals – that is used to produce energy. Since the biomass (e.g. trees and agricultural crops) contains CO2 that was previously absorbed from the atmosphere, the process can be considered a CDR method, provided the biomass meets certain sustainability criteria. Here, the CCS process is part of the overall CDR method.

    Technology-based CDR methods, such as DACCS, are still in the early stages of development. Capturing CO2 from the atmosphere requires more energy and advanced technology than CCS due to the low concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere (0.04 per cent). On the other hand, the CO2 concentration in industrial emissions is much higher (3 to 33 per cent). 

    The following, highlight the main distinctions and overlaps between CDR and CCS:

Last Edited - Sept. 20, 2025

Download PDF