The ever-increasing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions primarily Carbon Dioxide (CO2), are adversely impacting the climate at an unprecedented rate, leading to more frequent extreme climate events. Reducing GHG and counteracting climate change can be achieved by decarbonizing energy systems and challenging the status quo of current industrial practices of producing and consuming energy. One solution to reduce the GHG impact is to separate CO2 from flue gases and use it as a raw material for industrial processes and products. However, despite growing research activity, many CCU pathways remain limited by high energy demand, economic constraints, low technology maturity, and uncertain environmental performance. Existing literature review studies often focus primarily on conversion processes while providing limited assessment of commercialization barriers, scalability, and policy requirements for deployment. Our review evaluates major current pathways for utilizing CO2 in diverse fields, such as fuels, chemicals, carbonation, concrete curing, tertiary oil recovery, coal bed methane recovery, bio-products, and horticulture. The study shows the technological status, deployment barriers, lifecycle implications, market potential, and policy framework associated with these pathways based on recent scientific and industrial developments. The work indicates that CCU technologies can contribute to industrial decarbonization, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors. However, large-scale deployment will require improvements in process efficiency, renewable energy integration, lifecycle assessment methodologies, and supportive policy frameworks to enhance economic competitiveness and ensure meaningful climate benefits.