Na’im Merchant is co-founder and CEO of Carbon Removal Canada.

After a summer of floods and fires, the Canadian government is under pressure to raise its ambitions when it sets its 2035 emissions reduction targets this fall. For a more hopeful future, we must solidify Canada’s leadership in permanent carbon removal.

Of course, a key pillar to achieving climate goals is to dramatically reduce carbon emissions across the economy in the coming years. But reducing our greenhouse gas emissions is not enough. We need to invest in Canadian technologies that go beyond emissions reduction and actually remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Canada’s Net Zero Emissions Accountability Act requires Ottawa to set national emissions reduction targets to help Canada reach net zero emissions by 2050. To be truly ambitious, Canada must set a carbon removal target based on public consultation in addition to emissions reduction targets. This will help fill a gap in Canada’s plans to achieve net zero, while attracting investment and boosting the economy.

Carbon removal is the permanent removal of existing carbon pollution from the atmosphere. This is different from carbon capture, which prevents new emissions from entering the atmosphere but does nothing to remove the warming greenhouse gases that are already in the air and have persisted for thousands of years.

Moreover, UN climate experts have already agreed that, in addition to emissions reduction, carbon removal is necessary if the world is to reach net zero emissions. In the long term, carbon removal is an important lever in our toolkit for climate solutions.

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Setting a national carbon removal target commits the government to finding the most effective policies and technologies so we can scale up and reach the net zero goal. It will signal to Canadian researchers and entrepreneurs that there is economic demand for the social benefits that come with removing carbon pollution. Setting a target would also ensure that we do not over-rely on carbon removal and that the priority remains on reducing emissions.

A study commissioned by Carbon Removal Canada found that investing in carbon removal could create 90,000 jobs and increase our GDP by over $100 billion by 2050. We risk losing these benefits if major investors and entrepreneurs don’t recognize that Canada is prioritizing carbon removal. As we’ve seen in industries across the country, if we don’t value Canadian companies, we risk a brain drain to countries like the United States.

Our trading partners have already recognized the need for carbon removal and positioned themselves to capitalize on the potential economic gains. The United States has invested €1.86 billion ($281 billion) in carbon removal technologies since passing the Inflation Reduction Act, while the EU has invested €613 million and is setting standards for highly integrated carbon removal.

Fortunately, Canadian entrepreneurs and researchers are leading the world in carbon removal innovation. British Columbia-based Arca has developed an innovative approach to absorbing CO2 from mine tailings, Deep Sky is building the first direct air capture innovation centre in Alberta, UNDO has partnered with farmers in Ontario to launch a major enhanced weathering project, Airex is developing biomass solutions in Quebec, Planetary is deacidifying oceans to sequester carbon in Nova Scotia, and CarbonRun is harnessing the power of our rivers to do the same (while restoring salmon habitat).

Critics argue that carbon removal is unproven and expensive. But given the climate crisis, we should not limit the tools we can use to solve the crisis. Canada has a culture of innovation and tackling big problems – this can be one of them.

Ottawa has announced plans for a carbon capture investment tax credit that will also apply to direct air capture (a method of carbon removal), and the city is also working on a carbon removal procurement program under the Low-carbon Fuel Procurement Program, which aims to reduce the government’s own emissions.

Yet the Canadian government can do much more to accelerate progress and ensure we do not abandon our leadership. One simple and free action it can take now is to launch a consultation on how to incorporate carbon removal into our national climate goals to begin the process of setting a carbon removal target. Countries like the UK are already seriously pursuing carbon removal targets, and there is active discussion of a proposal for the EU to remove a total of 400 megatonnes of CO2 per year by 2040.

Carbon removal is not science fiction. With more investment, it will become more affordable and effective. The real question is, will we reap the benefits in Canada? Or will we hand them over to another country?