The European Commission’s 2040 climate target proposes a 90% net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels, with modelling suggesting a need for 75 Mt of permanent carbon removals—33 Mt from BioCCS and 42 Mt from DACCS. The current EU project pipeline amounts to less than 20 percent of this amount. Current costs range from EUR 400 to EUR 1,200 per tonne, with limited dedicated EU funding and low voluntary market uptake. The Carbon Removal Certification Framework and upcoming EU ETS review could support scale-up, but policy and financing mechanisms remain underdeveloped. Without significant progress in project deployment, cost reduction, and market design, current removal capacity will fall short of meeting the estimated 2040 requirement.