The Vancouver Declaration and Policy Framework were drafted by CDRANet between October 2024 and May 2025. From May through December 2025, teams of CDRANet advisors reviewed both documents for technical accuracy and policy viability. Beginning in mid-December 2025, feedback from governments invited to sign the Declaration prompted revisions to its language, culminating in the April 2026 version now in use. The Policy Framework was not changed. Both versions of the Declaration appear below: the late-December 2025 text (“original”), followed by the April 2026 text (“current”). Both share the same purpose, although their emphases differ slightly.

Original

Our planet’s climate is changing rapidly. Rising temperatures are altering the natural systems that support life, human society, and our global economy. To confront these changes with the urgency and effectiveness they demand, we must complement our carbon dioxide reduction efforts with carbon dioxide removal (CDR) as soon as possible.

The best available science supports this approach:

  • Over the past decade, the average near-surface temperature of our planet has risen faster and to higher levels than at any other period in recorded human history. There is no longer a credible pathway for limiting this warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and the 2016 Paris Agreement’s goal of holding warming to “well below 2°C” is increasingly at risk.
  • Without intervention, our planet’s temperature will continue rising long into the future. The impacts of this increase on societies, economies, and ecosystems are already noticeable and will only intensify over the coming years and decades.
  • Greenhouse gases—especially carbon dioxide—are the primary drivers of this warming. Excess carbon dioxide pollution has accumulated in our planet’s atmosphere, especially over the past two centuries, and will continue trapping heat for generations.
  • Reducing carbon dioxide emissions must remain an essential part of any long-term climate strategy, but reductions alone will not be enough to regulate temperatures. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has advised for decades that carbon dioxide removal must also play a critical role.

Developing a robust, global CDR capacity as soon as possible is a necessary step in helping limit the changes happening to our climate. However, this capacity remains orders of magnitude below where it needs to be. Government leadership and involvement are now essential given the scope and urgency of the challenge, and the unique abilities and historic roles of governments in scaling major infrastructure systems that serve the public good.

Therefore, by this Declaration, we join in common cause with governments and government institutions around the world to begin building new pathways for global, intergovernmental collaboration on the urgent, responsible, and equitable removal of excess carbon dioxide from our planet’s atmosphere.

We have reached a pivotal point in human history—one that calls for trust in science, global solidarity, shared responsibility, and bold, united action, without which the human experience on our planet will become uniquely challenging. By this Declaration, we choose to act together now, so we may better protect our present, and preserve a livable future for generations yet to come.

CURRENT

Our world is heating rapidly, and the stable climate that has long supported human civilization is beginning to erode in ways that may soon become irreversible. Confronting this crisis responsibly requires not only deep reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, but also the urgent development of our carbon dioxide removal (CDR) capabilities.

The science is clear:

  • Over the past decade, the average near-surface temperature of our planet has risen faster and to higher levels than at any other period in recorded human history.
  • Greenhouse gases—above all, carbon dioxide—are the primary drivers of this rise. Excess carbon dioxide has accumulated in our planet’s atmosphere, and this legacy pollution will continue trapping heat for generations.
  • The impacts of increasing temperatures are already significant and will only intensify over the coming decades. Adapting to these changes will not be possible in many parts of the world.
  • Simply reducing carbon dioxide emissions will not keep temperatures from reaching catastrophic levels by the end of this century. Climate experts recognize that removing carbon dioxide is also essential.

Developing our CDR capabilities is therefore among the most consequential challenges humanity has ever faced. Yet these capabilities are still emerging, and refining and responsibly scaling them to climate-relevant levels will require significant international engagement and cooperation. It will also require decisive government engagement, given the unique abilities and historic roles of governments in rapidly scaling infrastructure systems that serve the public good.

Recognizing the urgent need for collective action, through this Declaration, we come together in common cause across borders and governments to begin addressing this challenge in earnest. Building upon and working alongside existing climate agreements and programs, we will develop and mobilize new pathways and partnerships to support the research, finance, policy, governance, infrastructure development, and other elements that responsible CDR scaling requires, and devote to this challenge the priority, resources, and focus necessary for rapid and sustainable progress.

We stand at a pivotal moment in human history—one that requires trust in science, shared responsibility, and bold, united action. Through this Declaration, we act together today so we may better protect our present, and preserve a livable future for generations yet to come.

CONFERENCE IN VANCOUVER

CDR27