Summary/Abstract
This paper explores the political dimensions and policy implications of expectations for “negative emissions” in the European Union (EU), considering its largely successful leadership role in mitigation action and corresponding low-carbon technology development and deployment. Carbon dioxide removal and especially Bio-Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage present significant challenges to the EU’s dominant climate policy paradigm and low-carbon policy experience. Considering this challenge, the paper assesses expectations for widespread implementation of carbon dioxide removal in the EU to be unrealistic, and explores possible pathways for its more limited introduction.