A common element of proposed climate strategies is to initially focus on the low-hanging fruit—such as building wind and solar power and retiring coal plants—followed by CCUS deployment to control emissions from the remaining combustion sources and for carbon removal. For this approach to succeed, the groundwork must be laid now. The National Academies report found that work on carbon capture must be accelerated over the next 10 years to provide options for deployment in 2030–2050. The clock is ticking for decisions on how CCUS will play in America’s energy and decarbonization policy.