Amine blends represent the leading absorbents for post-combustion CO2 capture, yet they still have considerable issues associated with their use, such as high energy requirements, corrosivity, cost and toxicity. At least one amine component is usually considered to operate as base, and on this hypothesis phenol (pKa 9.95), as its conjugate base, can potentially act as an amine-free alternative in such blends. We report the first detailed study using phenoxide based capture reagents, including different blends of ethanolamine and potassium phenoxide. CO2 absorption rate and speciation of these solutions was compared with that of comparable amine blends, and whilst potassium phenolate alone showed poor kinetics, its use in combination with monoethanolamine (MEA) showed interesting and potentially beneficial properties. This work is the first to use phenoxides as a base in CO2 capture solvents and demonstrates the viability of this diverse family of compounds for industrially relevant CO2 capture solvents.