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Toward a New Carbon Economy

The article reframes the energy transition by emphasizing that carbon, a core feedstock for plastics, fertilizers and pharmaceuticals, will remain vital even as the world decarbonizes. It proposes a "new carbon economy" where carbon dioxide is deliberately captured, transformed, transported, used, reused, and stored to meet material demand while achieving net‑negative emissions. The framework groups five interlinked activities—point‑source capture, carbon‑dioxide removal, utilization, storage, and transportation—and highlights the current lack of coordinated infrastructure. RMI argues that broad stakeholder collaboration is essential to unlock investment and avoid misallocation of scarce carbon resources.