Natural carbon sinks offer potential for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from the atmosphere by using the natural carbon cycle (e.g., Geden and Scott, 2019). This project analyses a cluster of selected CDR measures that make use of terrestrial natural carbon sinks, focusing on their co-benefits and costs with the aim to gain important knowledge for the design of an efficient regulatory framework. Natural CDR measures come along with opportunity costs of land use which may be reduced or offset by environmental, economic and social co-benefits in the form of ecosystem services (e.g., improvement of soil water storage or recreational value of landscapes). These co-benefits can create extra-value for key stakeholders and, thus, motivate the implementation ofnatural CDR measures. However, both co-benefits and opportunity costs of land use vary due to i) CDR measure-specific heterogeneities, ii) spatial heterogeneities and iii) actor-specific heterogeneities. In light of these heterogeneities the question arises how limited land resources can be allocated efficiently to in-crease added societal value.

We contribute to answering this question by i) assessing the potential of different CDR measures linked to site-specific conditions, ii) identifying and assessing the associated co-benefits and costs related to the implementation, with particular emphasis on how costs and co-benefits differ between measures and between locational settings and to whom they accrue, and iii) analyzing how heterogeneities can be considered in policies for more efficient regulatory frame-works to activate natural carbon sink potentials.