The UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance has published a request for information about asset managers’ carbon dioxide removal investments in a bid to help grow the market.

In a statement, it said there was a need for carbon dioxide removal even under the most ambitious decarbonisation pathways, even more so “if decarbonisation falters”.

Phasing in investments in carbon removal solutions, both nature-based and technology-based, “cannot wait” given current deployment levels of carbon dioxide removal, the Alliance said.

“That is why the Alliance is publishing this request for information, seeking to contribute to capacity building and knowledge sharing, and ultimately investment scaling in this space,” it added.

In a similar vein to a blended finance call-to-action from the Alliance, asset managers are being called to drive the design of scalable investment vehicles for carbon dioxide removal and to support further work addressing the barriers to investment in this market.

The asset owner group said it recognised there were limitations to carbon dioxide removal solutions with commercial viability and uncertainty about long-term demand. It is planning further work on the barriers to investment and on policy solutions that could support the carbon dioxide removals market.

The Alliance is seeking responses from asset managers that have an existing vehicle that meets certain requirements or asset managers who intend to invest significantly in the carbon dioxide removal sector.

Asset managers are being told that by engaging with the Alliance’s work, they “will support asset owner clients in meeting their investment needs and priorities, including achieving appropriate risk-adjusted returns in line with their fiduciary duty and net zero commitments”.

In 2023 the Alliance was forced to clarify that although members are currently banned from counting offsets as a means of reaching portfolio or sector-level climate goals, they are encouraged to contribute to removals technologies. 

It set out its position on carbon dioxide removals investment in a paper in 2021, with Günther Thallinger, member of the board of management at Allianz SE, one of the NZAOA’s members, saying the Alliance believed an “incentives + mandate” approach must be applied to the development of carbon dioxide removal technologies and deployment of nature-based solutions.

The deadline for responses to the Alliance’s request for information from asset managers is 7 March 2025.

The latest digital edition of IPE’s magazine is now available