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How about reversing that procedure and cloning your data volume to an external drive that's already got macOS installed on it?

That would, in a single-buttocked way, anyhow, allow you to maintain an emergency backup in the boonies where there's no Internet, or, for that matter, for immediate use in your home.

Once you've got macOS on the drive it would seem as if you could go forward with your regular CCC cloning routine and regularly overwrite your data volume with a fresh one.

And you could keep the external system volume up to date by running the dot updaters and, eventually, the macOS 17 installer. (Oh, well, you'd have to run everything multiple times, but no huge deal.)

I wouldn't love it, but I'd accept that as a viable solution for the lack of system volume cloning ability.

Without some way to recover from a failed drive without Internet, a Mac is a liability.