Spiers Memorial Lecture: CO2 utilization: why, why now, and how?

This introduction to the Faraday Discussion on carbon dioxide utilization (CDU) provides a framework to lay out the need for CDU, the opportunities, boundary conditions, potential pitfalls, and critical needs to advance the required technologies in the time needed. CDU as a mainstream climate-relevant solution is gaining rapid traction as measured by the increase in the number of related publications, the investment activity, and the political action taken in various countries.