April delivered a mixed but active month for the carbon removal market. Offtake volumes increased strongly month-on-month, driven by a wave of biochar and BECCS agreements, while issuance pulled back after a particularly strong March. Investment rebounded sharply, nearly doubling month-on-month, led by two significant DAC raises, and retirements dipped slightly, pushing the retirements-to-issuance ratio down to 45%.
Despite the softening in issuance and retirements, demand-side activity remained healthy. Ten offtake transactions were recorded across a diverse mix of buyers and pathways, and portfolio-based procurement continued to feature prominently, with brokers such as Supercritical, ClimeFi, and Klimate structuring multi-supplier deals for corporate buyers.
Monthly highlights
Total offtake reached 1,647,198 credits across ten disclosed transactions during the month, up 9.45% month-on-month.
Biochar and BECCS dominated contracted volumes. The standout deal was Microsoft securing 626,000 BECCS credits from Carbon Alpha (Svante), one of the largest single BECCS offtakes recorded so far in 2026. Altitude Carbon also signed a large 425,000-ton biochar agreement with Engrow Carbon Energy, further reinforcing the scale at which biochar supply is being contracted.
Other notable deals reflected the continued breadth of buyer engagement. JP Morgan Chase secured 60,000 credits from Graphyte via biomass direct storage, while Boeing continued its multi-pathway procurement approach through a Supercritical-facilitated package spanning biochar and ERW credits from Ground Up, Planboo, Varaha, Exomad Green, and NetZero, totaling approximately 20,000 credits. Engie entered a DAC-focused strategic partnership with Deep Sky for 15,000 credits, and NTT Data announced a procurement through Climeworks covering a mixed CDR portfolio.
The role of brokers and facilitators in structuring transactions continued to grow. Supercritical structured Boeing's multi-supplier package and also brokered a standalone 500,000-ton biochar agreement with Exomad Green, one of the largest single biochar volume commitments of the month. ClimeFi enabled Sensirion's durable removal portfolio, and Klimate facilitated Vodafone's mixed CDR procurement.
Overall, deal flow continued to shift toward portfolios of both suppliers and buyers, rather than one-to-one bilateral agreements, a structural trend that has been building steadily throughout Q1 2026.
Total disclosed investment reached $43.8 million during the month, up 93.60% month-on-month.
DAC companies captured the majority of disclosed capital. Rivan, a UK-based synthetic fuel and DAC developer, raised $33.8 million (€28.7M) in a round led by IQ Capital and Plural, with the capital earmarked for scaling domestic synthetic fuel production across Europe. On the project finance side, Capture6 Corp secured project-level financing for Phase 2 of its Monarch DAC facility, backed by Regenerative Social Finance and the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (IBank), though volume and financial terms were undisclosed.
Outside DAC, Carbon Upcycling raised $10 million from ATEL Ventures to advance its CO2 utilization technology targeting cleaner concrete production.
The rebound in investment signals continued confidence in carbon removal infrastructure, particularly as DAC projects move from pilot into scale-up phases.
Total issuance reached 127,157 credits during the month, down 15.96% month-on-month following March's particularly strong numbers.
Biochar remained the dominant pathway by a significant margin, accounting for 82.72% of total issuance. SRCNatura Sure led with 48,000 credits, the single largest contribution this month, followed by Exomad Green with approximately 21,000 credits and Varaha with approximately 15,800 credits. Together, these three developers accounted for over two thirds of total supply.
A long tail of smaller biochar contributors remained active, including Atmosfair, Climeverse, Accend, Truecoco Ghana, Pacific Biochar, and Climate Future, reflecting continued breadth of supply across the pathway.
Non-biochar issuance remained limited. Vaulted Deep contributed approximately 10,200 credits under bio-other (biomass storage), while Alt Carbon generated approximately 9,200 credits via enhanced rock weathering, a notable volume for that pathway. OCO Technology contributed 1,575 credits under utilization.
Issuances by Sector
Total retirements reached 57,051 credits during the month, down 23.67% month-on-month. The retirements-to-issuance ratio stood at 45%, down from 49% in March.
BCG led retirements with 24,168 credits, followed by Mitsui & Co with 2,095 credits and JP Morgan Chase with 938.9 credits. Other notable retirees included Generation Investment Management (745), Workday (531), and Ageas (427).
While retirements continue to lag new supply, the breadth of retirees, spanning financial services, insurance, consulting, and technology, reflects the expanding diversity of the corporate buyer base actively utilizing carbon removal credits.
Top 10 Retirees
Q1 2026 in Context
The picture heading into Q2 is one of a market actively scaling, with biochar anchoring supply, DAC attracting serious capital, and portfolio-based procurement becoming the norm for corporate buyers.
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