Carbon Removal Strategies for European Cities: Workshop on Carbon Removal in Urban Environments – 11-12/6/2026
CityCDR organized a closed-door workshop for local governments in Europe on CDR strategies. The workshop was organized in collaboration with XPRIZE and the City of Amsterdam, and brought together 18 European cities and provinces with ambitions to integrate carbon removal solutions in their urban planning and become Carbon Sink Cities.
This workshop was a first-of-its-kind convening for ambitious sustainability officials to explore using carbon removal to transform public services in areas such as waste management, adaptation and resilience, building decarbonization, and pollution. Core to this work is the idea of “challenge-led carbon removal” — that we can transform carbon removal from being a climate ‘extra’ to become a structural component of municipal service delivery and infrastructure development.
Who was there? Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Copenhagen, Den Haag, Gelderland (province), Glasgow, Greater London Authority, Greater Manchester Authority, Helsingborg, Helsinki, Lund, Nantes, North Holland (province), Oslo, Rotterdam, Stavanger, Stockholm, Tampere, Trondheim.
What did we explore?
- How to integrate CDR solutions into urban environments, looking at buildings, systems, and infrastructure.
- How ‘front-yard projects’ can build social legitimacy for CDR at scale by making it part of the day-to-day lives of residents.
- How ‘challenge-led CDR’ portfolios can (partly) replace existing public services in areas such as waste, energy, adaptation, pollution.
- How to use ’embedded CDR policymaking and funding’ to control costs, maximise impacts, and send long-term demand signals.
With a stellar team of experts, and a cohort of leading local governments, we set out on an intense 1.5 day journey to push the frontier of locally driven CDR in Europe. The workshop kicked off with a keynote address from Maxine Tillij, Director of Energy for the City of Amsterdam. Attendees then listened to expert presentations on the evolution of embodied carbon policies in cities, explored opportunities for integrated planning of embodied carbon reductions and carbon removals, how the EU Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) framework can drive carbon storing materials in construction, and how cities can do lead market development to catalyze demand.
Our second session began with a deep dive into the landscape of carbon removal solutions that are ready for deployment today, from soil carbon enhancements to marine carbon removal to distributed direct air capture. Once again breaking out into groups, attendees began working on the challenge of connecting carbon removal solutions with urban challenges and public services in their own cities. This is where the idea of “challenge-led carbon removal” comes into focus. Attendees first picked a challenge facing their city, itemized how it is currently addressed, and then formulated an alternative response using a carbon removal solution.
The final session of the workshop focused on identifying and mitigating blockers to carbon removal policymaking and procurement at the city level. Beginning with conversations about target setting and multi-level governance, attendees then reviewed various spheres of influence within their cities to begin building a stakeholder ecosystem map. The major takeaway: While one or a few people may champion this work, it will take an all-of-government approach to realize the full potential of a Carbon Sink City.
Where do we go next? The journey continues. The workshop will produce a CDR strategy development roadmap for European cities. It is followed by a workshop for African cities in Nairobi and a workshop for American cities is expected. Each workshop will produce its own regional roadmap. kshop will produce its own regional roadmap.
