We currently produce around 50 gigatons (50.000.000.000) of CO2 per year. The cost estimates for removing one ton of CO2 range between 100-10.000 USD. Let's assume we can really get to 100 USD. That means just in order to capture a single year worth of CO2 output will cost us 5 Trillion USD (5.000.000.000.000), which is around 6 % of the worlds' GDP. And that doesn't even take into account if we'll actually be able to do it (which I strongly doubt).
So IMHO all these carbon removal efforts are just the next magic technology that's proposed in order to keep us from effecting real change. We already know how to stop climate change (rapidly decrease our CO2 output), but instead of doing that we're chasing solutions that might never become viable. And once it will become clear that CO2 capture won't work the next magic solution will probably be geo-engineering, which is just as unrealistic IMHO.
BTW I'm not saying that CO2 capture or geo-engineering will never work, just that it probably won't work in the timespan that's available to us.
So IMHO all these carbon removal efforts are just the next magic technology that's proposed in order to keep us from effecting real change. We already know how to stop climate change (rapidly decrease our CO2 output), but instead of doing that we're chasing solutions that might never become viable. And once it will become clear that CO2 capture won't work the next magic solution will probably be geo-engineering, which is just as unrealistic IMHO.
BTW I'm not saying that CO2 capture or geo-engineering will never work, just that it probably won't work in the timespan that's available to us.