CDR Marketing in 2026

To the purists out there, marketing the fight against rapid climate change seems crass.  Shouldn’t everyone already grasp the big picture?

Problem is, they don’t.  Building the case will take decades.  Billions of people will absorb trillions of messages and examine their validity.  They will test the message against their lived experience, previous internalized opinions, and countervailing messages.  This will be long and hard work.  

Some messages, to some audiences, may resonate now, while other messages may feel less relevant.  As I communicate this year, I’ll be talking about the following six ideas:

1.To the general public, rapid climate change is real  

Extreme weather events, megafires, droughts, floods, die-offs, statistical long-term warming, and ocean warming can all be connected to rapid, secular climate change.  We need to reinforce this connection every day because humans are forgetful.

2.To the general public, the buildup of man-made greenhouse gas in the air has a lot to do with rapid climate change

Many of us live in petro-states where denialism is the norm.  Some voices say, “Don’t blame energy companies.  Instead focus on the problem.”  I think this is a good way to drive broad participation, as long as we all actually DO focus on the problems, and solving them, instead of simply absolving the culprits.  Collectively, I think the culprits are businesses, governments, institutions and individuals.  We must collective come to terms on how to solve this.

So, following the “focus on the problem, not the culprits“ logic, the PROBLEM is that humans are putting too much greenhouse gas into the air.  The SOLUTION is to collectively a) take steps to slow down emissions into the air, and b) take steps to remove previous human emissions from the air.  Together we have to figure out how to accomplish these two things.  BUT LET’S NOT LOSE TRACK THAT THE GOAL IS TO REDUCE GHG CONCENTRATIONS IN THE AIR.

3.To the general public, we can and should do something about it.

Climate communicators constantly strike a balance between doom and hope.  DOOM because societal movement is so slow and painful, and HOPE because the attitudes, levers, and will for change are gradually coming into reach and focus.  

Most of the people surrounding me everyday jokingly and nervously think about the end of times due to cataclysm.  For this group my communication needs to be hopeful.  Humans have done great things in the past, and they can fight climate change too!

For those of you surrounded by the hopium crowd, you need science and analytics to filter and direct the most useful ideas in a clear-eyed way.  

4.To the climate concerned, CDR matters

I’ve actually seen a lot of progress in 2025 on this one.  Scientists, practitioners, buyers and investors–people who think of themselves as “in the know”–seem to acknowledge there is no climate success without some significant amount of CDR.

The doubters seem to think that, because industries and governments and industries and people say they are decarbonizing, and because they project their success to cover all decarbonization needs, we should not worry about other paths.  This is where the “All of the Above” crowd appropriately steps in, suggesting that every pathway is necessary and valuable.

What they don’t emphasize enough is that the “models” allowing us to moderate climate change are CERTAINLY wrong, as all models are.  It is certainly true that the inputs and solutions to the model will not play out the way we think.  

This doesn’t mean we should stop modeling.  It DOES mean we need abou twice as many solution on the table right now than we think we need.  Most solutions won’t work out.  Some will work out better than expected.  “All of the Above” is exactly right, because most solutions will fail.  

5.To the CDR world, Durability matters

Among the common CDR requirements–additionality, leakage, Co-benefits, measurability, and scalability–the least understood is long-term durability.  It is usually claimed without clear precedent and without existing analog.  I believe the false distinction between nature-based and engineered CDR will ultimately yield to Durability.      

Focus on Durability does NOT render short-term CDR useless.  Instead, we should more carefully focus on the length of time a particular method is likely to remove greenhouse gas.  Ultimately, Durability could become the primary variable distinguishing differences in price, the other variables being a bit more binary or categorical than a continuum.   

6.To buyers of durable CDR, Biomass Direct Storage (BDS) is the most material-efficient CDR path available

My parochial plug to the community is on behalf of Biomass Direct Storage (BDS), which I happen to practice, and which buyers and investors should consider including in their portfolios.

My marketing claim for BDS in 2026 is this: if your primary objective is durable CDRl, BDS is the pathway for you, head and shoulders above the competition.  This is because it converts the highest proportion of biomass to durable CDR:

• Less than 5% of the co2 payload is emitted in the production process

• 91% of the stored material stays stored “forever.”

• Co-benefits include megafire avoidance and local job creation (>70% of project budgets).

Consider this in contrast to other bio-based pathways where:

• Some kind of combustion is required, which ALWAYS releases greenhouse gasses into the air and destroys biomass.

• Such combustion often ACCELERATES decomposition over its natural course, frontloading the greenhouse gas problem. 

• Unlike BDS, capital- and carbon-intensive factories need to be built.   

• Materials must be transported further and more frequently.

We grant that other methods deliver co-benefits, like useful materials, industrial heat, and bio-energy. However, these co-benefits are usually delivered at the expense of less CDR, and maybe even accelerated greenhouse gas emissions.

To the CDR buyer, the question is whether you favor the most efficient CDR use of raw materials, or do you want to sacrifice some CDR in favor of other benefits? 

How’s this for a tagline:  Biomass Direct Storage:  The CDR Pure Play!

Needs improvement?  We’ll workshop it.  

Conclusion

It’s possible to think of this communication path as a funnel, kind of the way the sales process works.  For any individual or institution that has passed through step 1, they are ready for step 2, and so on.   Good luck to you as you communicate climate to your constituencies!