# 119-s-5170: Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act of 2026 119-s-5170, Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act of 2026, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE] (D-DE); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-10). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5170 - As of: 2026-09-10 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: 119-s-5170 - Congress: 119 - Title: Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act of 2026 - Status: introduced - Introduced: 2026-07-29 - Sponsor: Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE] (D-DE) - Cosponsors: 1 - Policy area: Environmental Protection - Touches household money: yes - Last recorded action: 2026-09-10 ## Summary **Creates a federally administered carbon dioxide removal program.** This bill would set up a federal program to buy CO2 removed directly from ambient air or seawater using eligible technologies. It would set stepped annual removal targets that rise to 10 million net metric tons per year by 2036. - Project developers: The program would create a market for removals and require lifecycle-based accounting of net greenhouse gas emissions. Feasibility is tied to per-ton price caps that decline over time. - Workers and small businesses: It would prioritize domestic job creation and partnerships with labor, minority-owned, and women-owned firms, and aim for at least 20% of annual removals through 2035 to come from small removal projects. - Communities and oversight: It would require independent third-party measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification with standards to be set within one year, require community risk mitigation and enforceable community benefits agreements, and promote economic development in fossil-fuel regions. ## Cosponsors (1) - Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI] (D-RI), 2026-07-29T00:00:00.000Z ## Provisions PRIA read - Federal CO2 removal targets: benefit, high. If enacted, the Secretary would be required to procure lifecycle‑accounted CO2 removals at set annual levels: 50,000 tons for each of FY2026–2027; 500,000 tons for each of FY2028–2030; 5,000,000 tons for each of FY2031–2035; and 10,000,000 tons for FY2036 and each year after. Each fiscal year’s req… - Funding authorized for the program: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would authorize whatever sums are necessary to carry out the CO2 removal procurement program. No specific dollar cap is set in the bill; actual funding would still require later appropriations by Congress. This authorization enables federal purchases and related program activit… - Community and labor project priorities: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Secretary would give priority to projects that minimize lifecycle emissions, boost technology diversity, and support domestic jobs. Projects that partner with labor organizations, or that include small, minority‑owned, or women‑owned businesses, or that source materials domestically… - Measurement, verification, and reporting: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Secretary would set standards within one year for measuring, monitoring, reporting, and verifying removals. Independent third‑party verifiers would be required to follow those standards and be overseen by the Secretary. The Secretary would also deliver public reports to Congress eve… - No double counting of removals: benefit, low. If enacted, the bill would bar counting the same carbon removal under this program if it was already used to comply with another greenhouse gas program. The Secretary would determine whether a removal was previously counted and disallow double counting toward the program’s requirements. - Per-ton price caps for removals: mixed, high. If enacted, the Secretary would treat removals as economically feasible only if they can be done at or below specified per‑ton price ceilings. Those ceilings (adjustable for inflation) would be $750/ton for FY2026–2027; $500/ton for FY2028–2030; $300/ton for FY2031–2033; $200/ton for FY2034–2036; a… - Contract rules and small-project access: mixed, medium. If enacted, the Secretary could use competitive processes and sign contracts up to 15 years to meet removal targets. The bill would define a "small removal project" as one that removes no more than 5% of a year’s required tons and would require at least 20% of annual removals from 2026 through 2035… - Which removal technologies qualify: mixed, medium. If enacted, the Secretary would decide which technologies qualify. Eligible technologies would generally be equipment placed in service after January 1, 2022 that remove CO2 directly from ambient air or seawater. The bill would exclude CO2 from subsurface springs, most natural photosynthesis remova… ## Related bills - 119-s-4949: Water Resources Development Act of 2026 - 119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026 - 119-s-2823: FAMILY Act - 119-s-2763: Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act - 119-s-3869: Healthy Families Act - 119-s-2231: GLOBE Act of 2025 ## Sources - [119-s-5170 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/5170) ## Related - [119-s-4949: Water Resources Development Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4949) - [119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3990) - [119-s-2823: FAMILY Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2823) - [119-s-2763: Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2763) - [119-s-3869: Healthy Families Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3869) - [119-s-2231: GLOBE Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2231) - [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5170 (as of 2026-09-10).