Carbon Removal Newsroom
By Nori
Carbon Removal NewsroomMay 30, 2023
Robert Höglund's Cautious Optimism on Carbon Removal
Robert Höglund refers to himself as a "chronicler of CDR" or Carbon Dioxide Removal. He has established himself as an authority in this area, providing enlightening insights through his popular blog, Marginal Carbon. His significant contributions to Milywire, a CDR fund, coupled with his extensive involvement in various roles as a Climate Advisor, have further solidified his status as a thought leader.
Recently, Robert attended Carbon Unbound, the world's first conference solely focused on carbon removal businesses. His reflections from this groundbreaking event, which he shared under the intriguing title "Cautiously Optimistic Removers," shed light on the current state and future direction of the CDR sector.
Radhika and Robert delve into his eight key insights from the event, uncovering the crucial issues facing the CDR sector - from the challenges of scale and certification standards to the essential role of public engagement.
This episode is an inside look at the pressing issues of carbon removal and their significance in our increasingly carbon-conscious world. Why, despite the hurdles, is Robert’s mood was one of cautious optimism? Tune in to find out.
On This Episode
Resources
Robert’s Blog Post about the conference
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Differentiating Emissions Cuts and CDR
Following 2015’s UN Paris Agreement, each signatory country submitted a strategy indicating how they intend to decarbonize their economy. While much of the work comes from cutting emissions, plans can also include a ‘residual emissions’ category- that’s where carbon removal comes in.
But recent research from our panelist Holly Buck and her colleagues found no standard definition of residual emissions.
Residual emissions are significant; most come from agriculture, industry, and mobility. Crucially, land-use sinks won’t offset all residual emissions by 2050- meaning many countries hope new CDR technologies are reliable.
For the world to meet climate goals, countries must achieve the ambitions set out in their plans. If those plans are not well-defined, it is unlikely they will achieve success.
Also on this episode, the panel discusses Climeworks’ call to differentiate CDR from emissions cuts, as well as Stanford’s new CDR program and some controversy surrounding it.
One of the authors, Holly Buck, joins us today to talk about this important research. And returning to our policy panel is another leading expert in the legalities of CDR- Wil Burns, the Co-Director at the Institute for Carbon Removal Law & Policy at American University.
On This Episode
Resources
Holly’s Research on Residual Emissions
Chronicle of Higher Education Article on Stanford + Oil Companies
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Inside Planetary's Public Outreach
Last year Planetary Technologies won the Carbon Xprize Milestone award for their ocean-based CDR method. That same year they started testing their ocean alkalinity enhancement process in a small trial in England, partnering with the local water company. The test showed improved alkalinity and reduced CO2 in local waters. Now the company plans to do a longer, 120-day test this summer, hoping to remove 200 net tons of CO2 from the water.
Planetary has conducted public outreach about their plan, and published a public code of conduct laying out how they intend to make the experiments safe.
But last month protesters gathered at Gwithian beach in North Cornwall, expressing concerns about the potential impact on the bay's marine ecosystem.
In a Guardian article about the project Mike Kelland CEO of Planetary Technologies said “People often say to me: ‘You wouldn’t want to swim in this stuff, would you?’ But the answer is that we already do because it’s already widely used in wastewater management.”
He said that the company would be transparent and diligent in their evaluations and monitoring during the study.
Joining us on this episode are two people who are working firsthand on the issues of public acceptability and community outreach that we’ve set out to explore CRN- Will Burt, Chief Ocean Scientist at Planetary and Pete Chargin, Planetary’s VP of Commercialization and Community Relations.
On This Episode
Resources
Planetary’s public code of conduct
Guardian article on Planetary’s proposal
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The Business of Enhanced Rock Weathering
In December 2022, the carbon credit platform Puro added a methodology for enhanced rock weathering (ERW) credits. This announcement opens the door for the ERW to be sold into the billion-dollar voluntary carbon marks.
ERW is one of the oldest known forms of carbon removal, long studied by geologists. But it is only recently that a growing number of startups are applying the science of this technique on a larger scale.
Other businesses are taking note. Microsoft is expanding its carbon removal portfolio to include ERW credits purchased from UNDO. They will pay the Scottish company to spread basaltic rock onto farmland, hoping to sequester 5000 tons of CO2 over the next few decades.
ERW can potentially deliver massive amounts of CDR if scaled up. Nearly every country has the necessary basaltic rock to spread on its farmland and it doesn’t require any new technological innovations. But an industry large enough to affect global temperatures will need to build lots of new infrastructure, supply chains, and rock crushers.
That’s going to take significant investment, along with MRV, that can grow with the industry.
Is all that possible? Today we’ll discuss this exciting technique's business dimensions with our business panel. Welcome, Susan Su and Na’im Merchant.
On This Episode
Resources
Energy Monitor Article on ERW Business
Climeworks Expansion Announcement
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State-Level CDR Policy Advocacy with Toby Bryce
About one year ago we were joined on this show by Toby Bryce, who works with the volunteer-advocacy group the OpenAir Collective on a variety of projects that support the growth of carbon removal. Toby told us about the groups work advocating for state-level legislation called the Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act in New York State.
Since then, the legislation has been proposed in several more states, and the group’s network of policy advocates has grown along with it.
Today we’ll talk to Toby about what’s going on with CDRLA, and what kind of political dynamics he’s found as OpenAir wades into state-level policymaking.
Radhika and Toby will also delve into some of the bigger questions about the public acceptability challenges of growing carbon removal. What should advocates and CDR companies be doing to communicate with the public, and what are the stakes?
On This Episode
Resources
Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act
Co Biochar to Oil Wells Legislation
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SVB + CDR
The ramifications of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse two weeks ago are still rippling across the global economy. SVB was a major lender to VCs, and served silicon valley: two factors that meant its rapid demise will affect the climate tech industry.
SVB worked with 1550 climate tech companies, and gave the industry billions in loans.
Other banks may fill the void to support this lucrative sector, but many carbon removal companies are now spending time figuring out their financial stability, rather than developing their CDR products.
Peter Reinhardt, Founder and CEO of Charm Industrial, told Semafor that “…the SVB collapse will cause a one to two-quarter delay on a lot of things in climate tech. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you look at how much needs to get deployed in the next decade, losing half a year is really not good.”
The business panel also discusses some other recent CDR business news:
South Korea’s announced carbon exchange a new alliance of carbon removal companies Na’im’s work as the ED of the brand-new org Carbon Removal CanadaOn This Episode
Resources
NYT Article on SVB’s climate lending
Semafor Article w/ Reinhardt quote
Na’im on diverse sources of funding
South Korea’s new carbon exchange
Carbon Removal Canada jobs- work with Na’im!
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Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change
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Regulating Ocean CDR Research
The Canadian company Planetary is currently seeking regulatory approval to release Magnesium Hydroxide into the ocean off the coast of Cornwall, England. Another ocean CDR firm, Running Tide, announced last week that they are partnering with global consulting giant Deloitte to evaluate the quality of their carbon credits. Last month, a research team at MIT received news coverage for their ocean carbon capture technique which they say is a breakthrough that is more effective than direct air capture.
These recent announcements indicate real and widespread interest in researching techniques that pull CO2 from the ocean. But how is research into these approaches governed? And what important regulatory issues have yet to be resolved, that will have a big impact on the climate?
On this episode, we’ll take a look at the state of ocean CDR research governance with one of the field’s foremost experts, Wil Burns.
Wil talks us through some the main international agreements that govern the seas, and experiments within them. What does existing law mean for plans to test ocean CDR?
The panel also discuss the recent news of a geoengineering experiment in England that was leaked to the press.
Holly Jean Buck is also back with us as part of our regular policy panel.
On This Episode
Resources
Coverage of MIT Ocean Capture announcement
2022 London Protocol Announcement on Geoengineering
UN Treaty on Ocean Biodiversity
Project Vesta Beach in Southhampton, NY
Holly’s Research on What Farmers Think of Carbon Sequestration in Soils
Haida Salmon Music Video- “40 Million Salmon Can’t Be Wrong”
Connect with Nori
Innovations in Remote Sensing for Blue Carbon
Blue carbon has emerged as a popular climate solution, with offset marketplaces like Verra and Gold Standard eyeing blue carbon methodologies and Salesforce and the World Economic Forum teaming up to announce their own blue carbon credit framework at COP27 last year.
Crediting for blue carbon usually means protecting ecosystems like mangrove forests, seagrass beds, and salt marshes. It can also include restoring these ecosystems when they’ve been degraded or destroyed.
A recent paper published in the journal “Earth Science Reviews” titled “Remote Sensing for Effective Blue Carbon Accounting” reviewed the potential for new technology to improve the remote sensing of blue carbon ecosystems.
Carbon markets continue to grow, and billions of dollars will likely flow toward blue carbon projects. So how well can scientists even tell when ecosystems are sequestering CO2? And what is the promise of new technologies to improve those estimates?
Joining Radhika on this episode are Holly Jean Buck and Shannon Valley.
On This Episode
Shannon Valley
Resources
Article about Gold Standard Blue Carbon Project
Salesforce Blue Carbon initiative
Paper: Remote Sensing for Effective Blue Carbon Accounting
Bloomberg NEF Report on Potential Growth of Carbon Markets
Vox Article about Palm Oil Industry
WSJ Article about Indonesia Deforestation
Inside Climate News Article on Satellite Monitoring of Flood Zones
Report on 50 Years of Endangered Species Act
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EU Carbon Price Hits All-Time High & New CO2 Legislation in Alaska
The Emission Trading Systems is the cap-and-trade carbon market that Europe has been using since 2005 to decarbonize its economy. Companies have to pay to pollute, and this week that price hit an all-time high as it traded for over 100 euros/ton. In the first segment of today’s show Na’im Merchant and Asa Kamer discuss the significance of that milestone, what it might mean for the CDR industry, and news that Lanzatech became the first carbon capture company ever to go public.
On the other side of the planet a different government made steps towards capitalizing on the money flowing towards carbon markets. Earlier this month, Alaska’s GOP Governor proposed a package of bills that would expand the state’s ability to store carbon via both forestry projects and underground storage of CO2 if passed. Will these ambitions contribute to actually increasing carbon sequestration?
On the second segment of today’s show we explored this topic with one of the people behind Alaska’s push toward carbon management: the state Department of Natural Resource’s Deputy Commissioner John Crowther.
Radhika is out this week, this episode is hosted by CRN producer Asa Kamer.
On This Episode
Resources
CCUS Investment Hits All-Time High
Alaska Governor’s Proposed Legislation
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CDR Axed from Climate Plans
Should carbon removal be included in institutional climate plans? It’s a debate that’s taken place across business, government, and science in recent years.
The rise of the net-zero framework has sharpened the focus on how and when organizations should decarbonize. And how carbon removal fits in.
Last week two influential organizations weighed in on how they plan to use carbon removal in the coming years.
The Net-Zero Owner Alliance, a UN-convened group of 84 large investors, declared that their members will not be able to invest in carbon removal to reach their climate goals until at least 2030.
And the European Commission released its draft Green Deal Industrial Plan, a new set of policy objectives to build out their climate infrastructure. It includes support for many decarbonization technologies, but at least one CDR NGO says it doesn’t do enough for carbon removal.
We’re pleased to announce the return of long-time friend of the show Holly Jean Buck. Welcome back, Holly!
On a less happy note, it is the last episode for Chris Barnard as a regular panelist. Chris, you will be missed.
On This Episode
Resources
European Commission’s Green Deal Industrial Plan
Carbon Gap post about Green Deal
Reuters article about US/EU trade dynamics
Clean Energy is Cheaper Than Coal Across Whole US, Study Finds
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The State of CDR report
In January, a team of researchers led by the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment released a report titled “The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal.”
The authors called it the first global assessment of the field and what gaps need to be closed to scale carbon removal.
The 101-page report covered how much CDR currently exists, the research landscape, existing policy support, and the gap between current plans and what will be needed to reach climate goals.
It contained some good news: CDR is scaling fast, and managed forests are doing a lot of drawdown already- and some bad: we’re not on track to have enough.
Today we’ll review this comprehensive snapshot with our science panel: Dr. Jane Zelikova and CRN producer Asa Kamer.
On This Episode
Asa Kamer
Resources
CarbonBrief article about the report- w/ charts
Bloomberg article on potential of voluntary carbon markets
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Where Are the Buyers?
Where are the buyers? That’s the question CDR-observer and climate advisor Robert Höglund asked in a much-discussed recent post.
Höglund points out that while significant growth occurred for CDR through voluntary markets in 2022, the number of large buyers is low and growing slowly.
He called the market “upside down”: lots of marketplaces, fewer companies doing removal, even fewer buyers.
Today we’ll look at his post and use it as a jumping-off point to discuss some recent headlines in the business of carbon removal. Including-
· CDR startups announcing new funding from oil and gas companies
· The Guardian’s recent reporting claiming the climate benefit of Verra’s carbon offsets is overstated
· Patch’s new offtake agreement format
· Climeworks’ third-party verification of their DAC process
· Should CO2 credits also include co-benefits?
On This Episode
Resources
Captura & 44.01 new fundraising
Verra’s response to the article
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DAC Hubs w/ Jason Hochman of the DAC Coalition
In 2021 the U.S. congress passed the bipartisan Infrastructure bill, which alongside funding for roads and bridges, included $3.5 billion for 4 DAC demonstration hubs. Each will be a large-scale DAC facility, and they may be the first engineered CDR built at scale in the U.S.
Since the bill was passed, DAC-watchers and interested entrepreneurs have been waiting for more information on what the funding would be spent on and who would be eligible to receive it.
In the meantime, the DOE under the Biden administration has been filling out its DAC expertise with industry experts such as Jen Wilcox, Noah Deich, and Rory Jacobson, among others joining the department. This has led to anticipation and expectations that the DOE’s planning for the DAC hubs projects would be sophisticated and well thought-out.
DOE gave the most in-depth look yet at the DAC hubs program last month with the release of a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).
On this show we speak with Jason Hochman, Co-founder and Senior Director of the DAC Coalition, a group” bringing together diverse, leading global innovators…to educate, engage, and mobilize around Direct Air Capture”. Chris Barnard is also on this episode's policy panel.
On This Episode
Resources
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Advancing ERW Measurement
Last month, the non-profit Carbon Drawdown Initiative published a blog post featuring pictures of 11 projects across the world where researchers were spreading basaltic rock dust onto farm fields. This technique is known as enhanced weathering, and the post shows an upward trend in popularity.
According to the post, the projects photographed cumulatively spread 50,000 tons of rock dust onto farm fields last year, with another 500,000 planned for this year.
These pilot programs are conducted by a growing number of organizations that believe vast amounts of co2 can be sequestered from the atmosphere by applying basaltic rock dust to working croplands while also improving agricultural yields.
If that’s true, it will represent an affordable carbon removal method with significant co-benefits.
But how can scientists tell that co2 drawdown occurs after the rock dust is applied to the fields? What techniques and experiments will confirm that this process is ready to be scaled up?
On this episode the science panel looks at two recent pieces of ERW news that shed light on the state of ERW measurement-
In December, a group of researchers from the UK published the results of their 14-month study in which basaltic rock dust was spread over soil cores for 14 months. The study found limited CO2 removal compared to their models.
At the end of last year, Puro.earth, one of the largest vendors of carbon removal credits, added a framework to certify ERW credits to be sold on their platform. Previously ERW-based credits have never been available on a large scale in the carbon markets. Even Puro acknowledges "general scientific consensus on best practice … does not yet exist", but they've taken the first stab at connecting ERW with carbon funding streams.
Joining Radhika to discuss the scientific challenges of measuring the CDR potential of enhanced weathering is our regular science panel Dr. Shannon Valley and Dr. Jane Zelikova.
On This Episode
Resources
Carbon Drawdown Initiative blog post
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December's CDR Headlines w/ Ben Rubin
It's our last business episode of 2022. It's been a newsworthy year for startups, corporate commitments, and investing in carbon removal, and December has been no different.
This week we'll talk about a grab-bag of headlines:
Prince William came to the U.S. to give a promising carbon storage startup $1 million (among other things). A major investor doubled down on their climate fund at a time when general VC funding is drying up. An on-the-ground look at one DAC company's foray into bringing CDR to Wyoming's oil and gas country.Ben Rubin joins Radhika and Susan as a guest business panelist. Ben is the Executive Director of the Carbon Business Council, a trade group for CDR companies.
On This Episode
Resources
Union Square Ventures announcement
Inside Climate News article on CarbonCapture in Wyoming
Vox coverage of nuclear fusion announcement
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Policy Progress in 2022
In our final policy episode of the year we’re going to look back at some of the biggest news in CDR policymaking in 2022.
Some of the topics we took a look back on-
COP27
At COP27 this year, each member country of Mission Innovation’s Carbon Removal Launchpad committed to build at least one pilot facility and contribute towards a collective fund of $100 million by 2025.
IRA + CDR
The U.S. passed its largest-ever climate bill this year after nearly two years of political convulsions and backroom drama. It included a significant boost to CDR with enhancements to the existing 45Q tax credit for carbon removal, storage, and utilization.
Carbon Business Council
In July, a group of 40 carbon removal businesses announced the launch of the Carbon Business Council, a trade group that aims to help grow the CDR industry.
European CDR Framework
In November, the European Commission released its framework for certifying carbon removals.
To break it all down for us, Radhika and Chris are joined by one of the foremost authorities on the laws and policies which govern carbon removal- Wil Burns.
On This Episode
Resources
Mission Innovation Announcement at COP27
The Atlantic on significance of the IRA
Carbon Removal Knowledge Gaps
Back in April of this year, Stripe, Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, and McKinsey announced a joint project to invest $925 million into carbon removal by 2030.
Using an Advanced Market Commitment structure, the group aims to provide a source of stable demand and revenue to potential CDR companies to help the industry grow.
In November, Frontier offered a new resource to the CDR industry- a database of “Carbon Removal Knowledge Gaps.”
In a blog post announcing the release of the work, the authors said, “we’ve noticed a few areas that are underexplored relative to their potential. So, here we’re experimenting with a supply “push.” Our hypothesis is that we can more quickly shake the proverbial tree for the most promising ideas in CDR.”
To discuss the report this week and talk about what they see as big knowledge gaps for CDR are our regular science panel Shannon Valley and Jane Zelikova.
On This Episode
Resources
Frontier blog post
Frontier database
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What We're Thankful for in CDR
The U.S. elections provided a boost to a President who has overseen climate action, world leaders are gathering in Egypt for COP27 to discuss our climate future, and what could be the next Enron has crashed crypto.
What does it all mean for the business of carbon removal?? Join us this week to learn more-
Susan thinks this election was a big win for climate voters, and provides some data about the unexpected impact that bloc has begun to have.
Na’im reflects on the lesson’s of the FTX collapse and what carbon removal and climate tech communities should learn from it.
The panelists also talk about the people, organizations, and trends they’re thankful for this year in the world of CDR.
Our regular business panel Susan Su and Na’im Merchant join host Radhika Moolgavkar.
On This Episode
Resources
NY Voters pass Environmental Bond in the midterms
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CDR in the Next Congress
We planned an episode this week about carbon removal policy in the next Congress. At the time of recording we still don’t know which party will control either chamber. Since it looks most likely that the GOP will win at least the House of Representatives, we focused this episode on the prospect for bipartisan CDR policy opportunities.
While Joe Biden and the Democrats retain control of the White House, they likely can’t pass legislation without Republican votes like they’ve been able to do for the last two years. All legislation, including the annual budget, must be agreed upon by both parties.
The U.S. invested a lot in CDR during the last congress…
-Some of that the Democrats passed alone, like increases to the 45Q tax credit included in the Inflation Reduction Act,
-but some were done on a bipartisan basis, like the direct investments in CDR found in the Infrastructure bill and CHIPS Act.
What can we expect from Federal Government in the next two years? Will divided government bring more or less support for CDR?
We have two special guest panelists here to discuss this with us today, Savita Bowman, a Program Manager at Clearpath, and Karly Matthews, the Communications Director at the American Conservation Coalition.
Chris Barnard is away at COP27 this week and Radhika Moolgavkar is away. This episode was guest hosted by CRN producer Asa Kamer.
On This Episode
Resources
American Conservation Coalition
Increases to the 45Q tax credit
CDR in the Infrastructure bill and CHIPS Act
Growing Climate Solutions Act stalls
US Climate Targets Achievable if Congress Flips
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Foresting Dryland Regions
If you’ve read about carbon removal online, you’ve seen the refrain, “just plant trees”! It’s true that a living tree draws down co2 as it grows, but can mass forestation slow climate change? That math of forest carbon sequestration is complicated.
But a lot of government climate plans, ESG investing rules, and most of the carbon offset markets are relying on forest projects to deliver CO2 removals.
A new study from Israeli researchers sheds some light on the forestation carbon math. Specifically, this study evaluated whether afforestation in arid environments or in geographies that currently do not support trees would lead to carbon removal, if we take into account albedo.
This, combined with new data that shows that deforestation did not slow down enough this year to meet international climate agreements, puts the potential for forests to deliver additional climate mitigation into question.
With me to discuss the news in forestry is our science panel: Jane Zelikova and Shannon Valley.
On This Episode
Resources
Limited climate change mitigation potential through forestation of the vast dryland regions
Anthropocene Magazine article about the paper
Forest Declaration Assessment report of 2022 deforestation
Nature article about the report
New President of Brazil and the Amazon
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New CDR Funding Streams Emerge
Just a few years ago, DAC technology existed exclusively on a lab bench. This year the industry raised over $1 billion in VC funding, with over 50 funded startups in existence.
While there are still technological hurdles to overcome to bring CDR to scale, funding also needs to be diversified and innovated, something we’ve discussed before on this show.
Tech money continues to pour into CDR. Just this week, two large new funding mechanisms for CDR companies have been announced.
Terraset is a new philanthropy that aims to fill CDR’s ‘funding gap.’ They aim to pool $1 billion by 2030 to fund startups directly. Early announced funders are Tim Ferriss and Segment co-founder Calvin French-Owen.
Propellor is a new VC fund that announced its first seed round of $100 million to invest in ocean-based climate tech.
We’ll discuss both announcements with our regular business panel, Susan Su and Na’im Merchant.
On This Episode
Resources
$1 Billion in DAC VC Funding in 2022
Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institute
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The Carbon Business Council
In July, over 40 carbon removal startups announced the launch of a new industry group: The Carbon Business Council. Since then, the list of members has grown past 70 companies.
The group’s goal is to serve as a “resource for our members, lawmakers, the energy industry, and the environmental community to advocate for the responsible growth of the carbon management industry.”
They recently published an Ethical Oath to Restore the Earth, which many members have signed.
This pledge states that signed member companies will adhere to a set of ethical guidelines, such as a commitment to ensuring that the industry grows to benefit communities and that companies will support emissions reduction efforts. CO2BC Executive Director Ben Rubin likened it to a Hippocratic Oath for CDR.
Ben joins this episode alongside regular policy panelist Chris Barnard.
On This Episode
Resources
CBC’s Ethical Oath to Restore the Earth
DAC Hub Regional Manager job opening
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Can 'Rewilding' Draw Down CO2?
Can restoring animal populations in the ocean sequester CO2? This question has generated a lot of conversation and was explored in depth in the 2022 in the National Academy of Sciences report on Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal.
Chapter 6 of that report covered ecosystem restoration and how much CO2 it can potentially sequester. The report found the fully restoring ocean ecosystems would draw down CO2 equivalent to 5% of annual human emissions.
In 2019 Alex Trembath and Seaver Wang at the Breakthrough Institute wrote an article about the concept of “Negative Emission Whales” in response to a that large whale populations would drawdown significant amounts of CO2.
Trembath and Wang balked at this report and cited other, less ambitious figures assessed by other research. They also focus on the limited ability of existing methods to quantify the CDR ability of this approach.
Today we’re joined for the first time as a regular co-host by Shannon Valley. We’re happy to welcome her as a monthly science guest! Shannon has been a researcher of paleoceanography and marine biogeochemistry, has served on Joe Biden’s NASA transition team and is currently a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at USAID (US Agency for International Development).
This week Radhika, Jane, Shannon discuss a wide range of topics related to ocean habitat restoration. Can it pull down CO2? Can we measure the sequestration? And should we still do it ASAP even if those measurements aren’t yet possible?
On This Episode
Resources
Breakthrough article on “Negative Emissions Whales”
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Two XPRIZE Winning Teams
On April 22nd, XPRIZE announced the 15 winners of the second round of their competition for carbon removal solutions. Each of these teams has been awarded $1 million to help them compete for the grand prize of $50 million, or 3 $30 million runner-up slots, awarded three years from now.
The grand prize winner may not be one of the 15 Milestone awardees, but these teams are a step ahead of the competition and have already demonstrated an ability to impress the Xprize judges.
This episode features two segments with interviews of Milestone-winning teams.
First, Radhika and Na’im spoke with Carbin Minerals CTO Peter Scheuermann. Carbin’s work with mine waste streams is based on the pioneering research of Dr. Greg Dipple. Peter joined us to discuss how they plan to make mining carbon negative, their testing so far, and how their MRV approach will be “modular.”
In the second segment, CRN producer Asa Kamer fills in as guest host to talk with the two companies who make up the XPRIZE team “Project Hajar”: Mission Zero and 4401. 4401 Commercial Lieutenant Karan Khimji and Mission Zero CEO Nicholas Chadwick join us for a discussion on their DAC to Mineralization approach in Oman, their progress so far, and what keeps them up at night as they scale up.
On This Episode
Resources from pt. 1
Elon Musk seeks sustainable nickel
Resources from pt. 2
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Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change
Nori’s CDR meme twitter account
What Polling Says About CDR
Earlier this year, the think tank and polling organization Data for Progress released polling that showed that voters all across the political spectrum support federal procurement of carbon removal.
Researchers conducted two polls, one of New York voters on statewide legislation there and another of voters nationwide on pending Federal legislation. These two similar bills would compel the government to directly purchase carbon removals. In a February episode, we discussed the specifics of these bills with policy advocate and co-author of this report Toby Bryce.
Data for Progress also released polling last year, which also found support, though low recognition, for CDR and government investment into it.
This week Radhika and Chris talk with Celina Scott-Buechler of DFP about how this research was conducted, what the researchers found, and what she makes of the prospects for CDR procurement legislation.
On this episode
Connect with Nori
Join Nori’s Discord to hang out with other fans of the podcast and Nori
Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change
Nori’s CDR meme twitter account
Resources
-Forbes article “The Top Five Legal Barriers To Carbon Capture And Sequestration In Texas
-Manchin-Shumer permitting reform legislation
-Susskind et al. research on renewable energy siting
Summer Schedule Announcement
Hi listeners, we won’t have a new episode this month and will return the first week of September. Due to Covid disruptions our summer break has been a bit longer than anticipated, but we’re looking forward to bringing you our regular schedule next month. Thanks for listening
CDR Update from UK and EU
This week we're joined by two experts in the evolving world of CDR policy in Europe. Eli Mitchell-Larson from Carbon Gap and Lee Beck from the Clean Air Task Force.
The E.U. is working on a certification standard for CDR to complement its existing climate plan. When completed, it will likely represent the largest jurisdiction with a comprehensive policy plan to scale up carbon removal.
Last week the U.K. government sought public input on its own CDR effort. This particular policy effort aims to find business models that will help CDR scale by the end of this decade.
The text of the release finds that a significant barrier to scaling up CDR is “the absence of a predictable revenue stream for negative emissions.” Notably, it also says that “the cost of deploying these techs is borne by polluting sectors to compensate for their remaining emissions.”
Radhika, Eli, and Lee talk about how important these policies could turn out to be, what timeline they are on, and what their organizations are doing to support carbon removal in Europe.
Carbon Accounting and Climate Justice
This week Radhika is joined by Dr. Jane Zelikova and Dr. Sarah Myhre, Program Director, Climate Advocacy & Democracy Reform, at the Glaser Progress Foundation.
For decades, the climate science community has examined the problems with climate pledges and carbon markets. But the ascendancy of carbon removal has prompted researchers to take a fresh look at the topic.
Recently Carton, Lund, and Dooley’s commentary piece looked at assumptions often made in climate pledges and net-zero plans. They highlighted three ways government and corporate climate plans gloss over important nuances when planning their path to decarbonization.
The hosts also discuss a recent article in which David Wallace-Wells examined the confusing and competing narratives about our climate future. This piece warns against looking for a convenient climate story as both the best- and worst-case scenarios imagined in the past now appear unlikely.
The excitement, investment, and research into carbon removal have percolated into international diplomacy and big business. This week Radhika, Jane, and Sarah discuss how CDR fits into the confusing and rapidly evolving global climate conversation.
CDR in New Economic Conditions
This week we recorded our business episode live in front of a Zoom audience. The audience was invited to pose questions to our hosts Radhika, Susan, and Na’im. They discussed-
-Which type of CDR will be the first to achieve 1 gigaton of removal
-The effect of global economic turbulence on CDR’s prospects
-The First Movers Coalition
-Occidental’s plan for 70 DAC plants
-& more!
Growth of CDR Policy w/ Greg Nemet
This week we talk about recent developments in local, state, federal, and international policymaking that aim to help scale up CDR.
Joining the conversation is Greg Nemet. His 2019 book “How Solar Energy Became Cheap” traced the history of PV technology and the government policies that helped it become the cheapest form of electricity in history.
At the book’s conclusion Greg examined how the lessons from solar’s rise could inform the effort to scale up DAC and other newer climate technologies. Greg was also an author of the IPCC’s AR6 mitigation report, released in April.
Radhika, Chris, and Greg discuss-
LOCAL: Last month Boulder, Colorado, and Flagstaff, Arizona, announced a partnership to pool $300,000 to purchase carbon removals to help them meet their climate commitments.
STATE: California’s Governor Newsom proposed that the state spend $100 million in this year’s budget to match funding for CDR projects that have received federal grants, specifically mentioning the recent federal infrastructure bill.
FEDERAL: In April the Federal Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act was introduced by two Democratic members of congress, and in May, two Senators introduced a version of the bill. If passed, this legislation would compel the federal government to directly procure carbon removal from various technological methods.
INTERNATIONAL: Carbon removal found its way into two intranational agreements recently. In May, President Biden announced the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework with Australia, Japan, and South Korea. According to Brian Dees, the White House Director of the National Economic Council, this plan will promote “carbon removal purchasing agreements.”
That same week the US Special Climate Envoy John Kerry at the Davos Conference announced an expansion of the “First Movers Coalition,” a group of corporations committing to supporting six hard-to-decarbonize sectors, including carbon removal. At this announcement, Alphabet, Salesforce, and Microsoft agreed to spend $500 million on carbon removal purchasing by 2030.
Recent Science in Ocean CDR
Ocean CDR is attracting attention from many corners of the climate community. In recent episodes, we’ve covered global policy developments in Ocean CDR regulation and research with Wil Burns and the business challenges in the space with two startups working to develop commercial methods to remove CO2 from the ocean.
On this episode we complete the trilogy with a look at some recent science on the topic, focusing on the outstanding scientific questions that we’ll need to be answered before Ocean CDR can be deployed safely and effectively.
First, we look at a 2021 paper from D A Siegel et al., which assesses how long CO2 stored in seawater will remain sequestered in the ocean based on the given location and depth of the process.
Then we’ll discuss a Perspective piece from Nature: Ecology and Evolution from Boyd, Bach, and Hurd et al. Researchers suggested some possible unintended ecological consequences of proposed large-scale kelp planting, such as widespread drift of kelp into new ecosystems and the spread of invasive species. The authors outlined potential research metrics which should be established to evaluate the safety of ‘ocean afforestation.’
Joining us on this episode to talk about the scientific challenges of assessing the safety of ocean carbon storage are Dr. Shannon Valley, United States Geological Survey Postdoctoral Scholar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Dr. David Ho, a professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
1000 CDR Companies
“Inflection Point,” “New Frontier,” “Finally Getting Serious”- are some of the ways the carbon removal field has been described in headlines over the past few weeks. With Frontier Climate, Lowercarbon capital, and Climeworks all announcing big new infusions of money into the wicked problem of pulling CO2 from the air, it’s fair to say the field has entered a new stage.
At a recent panel at Columbia University, Carbon Direct Vice-Chair Nili Gilbert said that she believes there are currently over 1000 companies working on carbon removal. She also noted that of those that are vetted, only 5% will be invested in.
The online newsletter Climate Tech VC found that after the IPCC mitigation report identified a major need for carbon removal in April, over $2.2 billion has been invested into CDR.
Forty-five companies received funding, with $1,100 million flowing to climate tech, $920 million to carbon accounting and marketplaces, and $65 million to MRV (with the other $1b committed by Stripe et al. via Frontier).
Before all this happened, our co-host Susan Su said that if a startup has a good CDR idea, it will access funding. That has turned out to be very prescient in the months since that forecast.
On this episode we talk about some of the big deals that have happened in 2022, the technical aspects of different funding methods, as well as what VC can and cannot do for CDR companies. The group also discuss Adam Neumann’s much-publicized foray into the world of carbon credits.
There’s also one more piece of big news we can announce - Na’im Merchant will be joining us as a regular co-host! That means every month you can hear Radhika, Susan, and Na’im discuss the latest news in CDR Business.
4 Xprize Winning Teams
This week, we’re joined by four of the teams that won the Carbon Removal Xprize Milestone award.
On April 22nd, Xprize announced the 15 winners of the second round of their competition for carbon removal solutions. Each of these teams was been awarded $1 million to help them compete for the grand prize of $50 million, or 3 $30 million runner-up slots, which will be awarded three years from now.
The grand prize winner may not be one of the 15 Milestone awardees, but these teams are a step ahead of the competition and have already demonstrated an ability to impress the Xprize judges.
Of the 15 teams, six are building DAC solutions, three are sequestering CO2 from seawater, three are producing biochar, one is growing algae (stay tuned for more on that), one is utilizing enhanced weathering, and one encourages tree-planting.
In the first segment, we spoke with:
Steve Oldham, CEO of Captura, which is building plants that will extract co2 from ocean water and…
Hans de Neve, CEO of Carbyon which is developing a novel machine design for a DAC system with a small footprint.
In the second segment, we heard from two other Milestone-award winners:
Jason Vallis, VP of External Relations Planetary which aims to use direct ocean capture to remove co2, reverse ocean acidification, and create renewable fuels and…
Dave Hazlebeck, Founder & CEO Global Algae which uses algae farming to capture co2 and make products like polymers and displace farming operations, leading to the regrowth of rainforests.
Joining Radhika to talk with these teams are Na’im Merchant and Susan Su.You’ll learn about the CDR approaches these teams are using, what they are working on right now, how the $1 million prize will help them advance towards their goals, and what they think they need to do to win the grand prize in a few years.
CRN on "Reversing Climate Change"
Special behind-the-scenes episode!
This week we're rebroadcasting a show from the other Nori podcast, "Reversing Climate Change" hosted by Ross Kenyon.
From the RCC Feed- "Carbon Removal Newsroom, the sister podcast to Reversing Climate Change, was born out of a desire to explore current events in the carbon removal space from a policy perspective.
But since the show debuted in early 2019, its production team has evolved and so has our approach to discussing the latest in climate news. Radhika Moolgavkar is Head of Supply and Methodology at Nori and Host of Carbon Removal Newsroom, and Asa Kamer serves as Producer of CRN.
On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Radhika and Asa join Ross to explain how CRN evolved to focus on the business, policy, and science of carbon removal news and share their favorite episodes from the recent past.
Radhika and Asa explore how podcasting facilitates thoughtful public conversations around meaningful issues and describe how a show benefits when its host approaches the subject matter with a beginner’s mind. Listen in to understand how CRN stays up on big news in the industry and get Radhika and Asa’s take on the future of carbon removal."
A New Era of Carbon Removal Funding w/ Noya's Josh Santos
It’s been a big month in carbon removal funding news.
Climeworks announced $650 million in new fundraising from an extensive group of private equity and investment management firms.
Then, Stripe made public a nearly $1 billion plan to take their CDR purchasing program to a new level by partnering with Alphabet, Meta, McKinsey, Shopify, and more to pool their carbon credit dollars and buy removals from companies and facilities that don’t even exist yet. This plan was inspired by programs that have developed vaccines with Advanced Market Commitments.
Rounding out the month’s big funding news was an announcement from climate-focused VC firm Lowercarbon Capital that they’ve raised $350 million to invest in carbon removal companies.
Add that to the 15 $1 million milestone grants given in the first round of the carbon Xprize and the extensive public conversation around carbon removal that’s taken place since early April’s IPCC mitigation report. There’s a lot of news to talk about in the world of carbon removal.
Joining Susan and Radhika to talk about all this is Josh Santos, CEO, and Co-Founder of Noya. Josh also gives some updates about Noya's recent progress.
Resources: A Revamped Cost Curve for Reaching Net Zero Emissions- EDF https://www.edf.org/revamped-cost-curve-reaching-net-zero-emissions
The Three Demons of CDR w/ Roger Aines
This week our guest is Roger Aines the Energy Program Chief Scientist in E Program at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. Roger leads the Carbon Initiative at LLNL, which “aims to understand, develop, and implement technologies for the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.”
Several months ago, Roger wrote about the “Three Demons of Carbon Removal” in a submission to the journal Chem about “Misconceptions and Myths Surrounding Carbon Removal.”
In that piece, he said that three big issues stand between us and our goal of reaching our climate goals-
-The Timing Demon- resources are required to stop emissions today but building a carbon removal industry will take decades and needs to begin now.
-The ‘Me-Too’ Demon- will the reality of carbon removal mean that emitting industries do not pursue decarbonization aggressively?
-The Demon of Injustice- carbon removal must demonstrate it can exist to benefit, not burden, communities who have previously been burdened by industry.
On today’s show, we’ll discuss these demons with Roger and how he sees them in the context of some recent news in the world of carbon removal. Also with us, as always, is our policy co-host Chris Barnard, Policy Director at the American Conservation Coalition.
IPCC Report and Carbon Removal
Earlier this week the IPCC released its report on climate mitigation. It recommended enormous funding levels to deploy renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions from power generation while suggesting more funding still to research and invent the technologies needed to decarbonize other emitting sectors.
Under any future scenario, carbon removal is necessary to limit warming. Any pathway that leads to 1.5 degrees of warming, and nearly all that lead to 2 degrees of warming, include large-scale use of forestry, BECCS, and DAC.
The report finds that a wide range of stakeholders will need to move fast to deploy high levels of many different types of negative emissions approaches.
Joining Radhika on this episode to discuss this 3000-page report is Simon Nicholson, the Co-Director of the American University Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy.
Simon and Radhika take a look at the recommendations mean, how the report finds CDR scale-up might be achieved, and what are some of the implications for businesses, governments, and civil society?
Ocean Visions Launchpad Teams
Back in January of 2021, Elon Musk tweeted that he'd be "donating $100 million towards a prize for best carbon capture technology." If you're following carbon removal, you probably know he has partnered with the XPrizeorganization to launch a multi-stage, multi-year prize program attracting not only attention but applications from a considerable range of serious science and business minds.
Ocean Visions is a non-profit that supports ocean CDR's research and deployment. Now, it is seeking to help some of the most promising ideas in that space get the attention and support that comes with such a visible prize.
Ocean Visions has selected six teams that will receive support to apply for the prize in the form of technical expertise and physical resources like labs and vessels to develop their technique.
On this episode Radhika and Susan are joined by a panel of representatives from the Launchpad: program manager Nikhil Neelakantan and representatives from two of the teams: Dr. Franziska Elmer the Scientific Lead of Seafields, which is building offshore seaweed aquafarms, and Ben Tarbell the CEO of Ebb Carbon which is developing an electrochemical method for CO2 removal from seawater.
They discuss their methods for removing CO2, why they are applying for the prize, and what they’d hope to accomplish with the proceeds. Susan shares her thoughts on prize programs, and how she thinks they can have the most impact.
Plus- Susan is hosting an event! “How Startups Can Engage with Climate Policy” with Anne Hoskins, Chief Policy Officer at SunRun & Peter Minor, Director of Innovation at Carbon180 — 4pm Apr 8.
Sign-up link below-
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeEpNQ8lWvBz9tp70gR5_SOV9IMZB7IRAInjdcq8uBLB4UR7A/viewform
CRN Live!
In this Bonus episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, Radhika is joined by Susan Su and Chris Barnard, plus special guest Erin Burns, Executive Director of Carbon180, for a wide-ranging discussion about carbon removal in 2022. The group touched on some of the most pressing news announced this year: Microsoft’s 2022 purchases, Oxy Petroleum’s big foray into DAC, Carbon180’s Soil Carbon Moonshot proposal, and much more in front of a live Zoom audience.
Did you miss the live recording? Catch up with the conversation here and follow us on social media for to get alerted next time we host a live show.
Ocean Carbon Removal w/ Wil Burns
In this week’s policy-focused episode of CRN, Radhika, and Chris are joined by one of the foremost authorities on the laws and policies which govern carbon removal: Wil Burns, Visiting Professor, Environmental Policy & Culture Program, Northwestern University & Emeritus Co-Executive Director of the Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy at American University.
Wil joins our hosts to discuss recent developments around ocean based CDR.
In December of 2021, the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine released its much-anticipated report, which outlined a research agenda for ocean-based carbon removal. Ocean-based approaches have the theoretical potential to remove significant amounts of co2 from the atmosphere, and thus help fight climate change.
The authors outlined six carbon removal categories they found worthy of further research: Ocean Nutrient Fertilization, Artificial Upwelling, Seaweed Cultivation, Ecosystem Recovery, Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement, and Electrochemical Processes. Each was assessed by the researchers on several criteria, such as the existing knowledge base, efficacy, and governance and public acceptance considerations. Overall, NASEM found ocean CDR at the gigaton scale is possible and recommended a federal research budget of $850 million over the next five years.
Wil also provides a CDR update from the world of international diplomacy. The London Convention is a global treaty governing the disposal of wastes into the ocean. The 87 nations which have signed on to the agreement share a standard set of rules that limit the dumping of pollution into the ocean from seaward vessels (it does not cover pollution originating on land). Recently, the London Convention has convened a new working group to assess ocean-based carbon removal.
Ton-year accounting w/ Carbon Direct
Do short-term carbon offsets have value? How should their value be calculated for buyers?
Last month, the research non-profit CarbonPlan released an analysis of ton-year accounting of carbon offsets. The report examined how ton year accounting works, its limitations, and how it might be improved.
The CarbonPlan authors also released a critique of the method used by NCX, an offset seller. NCX issued a response post, and the back-and-forth was a visible surfacing of some of the main issues within offset markets.
On March 2nd, NCX announced a $50 million fundraising round from investors including JP Morgan and Marc Benioff, indicating that the uncertainty about offset calculations isn’t dampening the enthusiastic corporate interest in voluntary markets.
As net-zero plans have proliferated in the last year, the demand for voluntary offsets has grown, as has predicted future demand. However, while corporations and governments pledge to remove CO2 to fulfill their climate commitments, climate economists continue to debate some of the most fundamental elements of measuring offset emissions.
Earlier this week, Bodie Cabiyo joined his Carbon Direct colleague Alex Dolginow in penning a thorough blog post titled “Accounting for Short-Term Durability in Carbon Offsetting”.
In this episode Bodie and his Carbon Direct colleague John Dees joined host Radhika Moolgavkar to discuss ton-year accounting, the challenges of measuring short-term durability in offsets, and the current research into alternatives.
Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative invests $44 million in carbon removal
Last week, Mark Zuckerberg and Pricilla Chan announced their second large set of charitable gifts into the carbon removal field in the last six months. Specifically, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative announced $44 million in grants towards CDR. Combined with the $23 million they gave in October of 2021, the couple has given $67 million to support carbon removal in the last five months.
They join other billionaires like Jeremy Grantham and Elon Musk, whose giving has shown they also see CDR as an important part of the climate fight.
While a few foundations, such as CZI, have the resources to look deeply at supporting the carbon removal industry, many corporations rely on net-zero plans that lack full detail about carbon accounting and emissions reductions plans. A report released earlier this month by the New Climate Institute and Carbon Market Watch found that the net-zero plans of 25 of the world’s most valuable companies are not specific and don’t explain how they’ll reduce emissions by 2050.
A new coalition announced last week aims to fill this alleged gap in credibility between corporate plans and real action. Microsoft and the Climateworks Foundation announced “Carbon Call,” a partnership between 20 corporates, non-profits, and research organizations. In a statement to Axios, the group is building what they call “a carbon ledger…a global dashboard that tells you what exactly is happening in terms of emissions,” in a statement . Signatories include Deloitte, GlaxoSmithKline, and the UN Environment Program.
The coalition will use their pooled resources and expertise to improve the carbon accounting methodologies used in corporate emissions reporting. Ultimately, they hope this will allow corporate and national emission data to be accurate and directly comparable.
In this week’s business episode, hosts Radhika Moolgavkar, Susan Su, and Na’im Merchant discuss the CZI gifts, how Carbon Call aims to improve corporate emissions accounting, and the short supply of quality carbon removal available to meet the skyrocketing demand.
The Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act
In January of 2022, New York Assemblymember Patricia Fahy and State Senator Michelle Hinchey introduced the Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act. The proposed legislation aims to use public procurement of carbon removal to help meet the state’s emissions reductions goals by purchasing enough removals to cover the state’s “hard-to-abate” sector’s by 2050- 15% of the state’s 1990 emissions.
Under this law, the state will use reverse auctions to purchase measurable and verifiable removals. The legislation also mandates that community benefits and job creation factor into the auction.
CDRLA was developed by a grassroots, online, volunteer climate advocacy community called the OpenAir Collective. Last year, OpenAir advocates successfully wrote and championed a bill in New York State that aims to decarbonize the concrete sector there. Members of the group are also working on other projects, such as building several open-source direct air capture prototypes.
In this episode Radhika and Chris are joined by OpenAir’s Toby Bryce who describes how the legislation was created through their organization’s open-source approach and how the law will work if it becomes law. Chris dives into how this kind of legislation could work from a convservative point of view, and how reverse auctions can be an effective way for public procurement to support competitive markets.
For more info on CDRLA and OpenAir visit…
Bill No. A8597 / Senate Bill S8171 CDRLA FAQ Legislative brief Support memo Join OpenAir Follow OpenAir on Twitter OpenAir's This Is CDR webinar seriesToby on Twitter
Chris on Twitter
Scaling DAC with Heirloom’s Noah McQueen
In this week’s episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, hosts Radhika Moolgavkar and Dr. Jane Zelikova are joined by Heirloom’s Head of Research and Process Engineering, Noah Mcqueen. Heirloom is a Direct Air Capture company that launched in April 2021.
Noah and our hosts discuss the science of Heirloom’s approach, the techno-economic challenges to scaling DAC, and the kind of continuous research and materials development necessary to grow the industry.
In 2021, Noah and several co-authors published a review of existing DAC technologies in the journal Process in Energy. The paper provided a techno-economic assessment of the two most researched and developed DAC methods- liquid solvent and solid sorbent. The researchers used their findings to examine what will be needed to scale up these technologies quickly. They also made recommendations for how research can be directed to support the widespread deployment of DAC.
Heirloom received investment from Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital and sold carbon removal credits to Shopify and Stripe. The technique they are pursuing has not been commercialized before and was co-invented by some of the leading experts in the industry, including Dr. Peter Keleman, Dr. Jennifer Wilcox, Dr. Greg Dipple, and Noah.
Eight DAC companies to watch in 2022
Panelists Susan Su of TOBA Capital and Na’im Merchant, author of the Carbon Curve, join host Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori for this business-focused episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom.
Na’im recently published a piece titled “8 Unique Direct Air Capture Companies to Watch in 2022” where he wrote, “2030 is a critical decade for DAC in which companies, researchers, and policymakers working on DAC to figure out how to do three things— 1. improve DAC’s performance, 2. bring down costs, and 3. responsibly deploy the technology.”
Three well-known ‘incumbents’ have been working on DAC since 2009, and they all had big developments in 2021: Climeworks, Carbon Engineering, and Global Thermostat. However, the scale of the problem will require many more companies to capture billions of tons of CO2 annually, globally.
There are many new entrants into the DAC space, but there is limited public information on many of them. Most of these startups are attempting novel technological approaches distinct from existing deployments.
Na’im, Susan, and Radhika discuss what sets this crop of DAC companies apart from those that came before, which ones they are excited about, and how they would be planning their approach to market if they were on the inside of one of these startups.
In our second segment, we dive into Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s inaugural Long-Term Carbon Offset Outlook 2022, released earlier this month. The report models several supply and demand scenarios for offset prices.
Main author Kyle Harrison says, “No matter the scenario, corporations and other entities looking to buy carbon offsets shouldn’t expect them to be a get-out-of-jail-free card for much longer.”
While the conversation begins as a breakdown of the BNEF report, it zooms out into a wider trading of philosophies about how the carbon offset market should be regulated. Na’im and Susan elucidate some of the most contentious issues surrounding carbon offsets.
We end the show with some good news— fewer oil derricks in Los Angeles and a lot more cultured meat in China.
Climate reparations and carbon removal
Panelists Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo and Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition join host Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori for this policy-focused episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom.
In April of 2021, Raj Kumar Singh, an Indian energy Minister, said at a UN conference that rich countries need to be net-negative and remove atmospheric co2 to account for historical emissions. While decades of climate diplomacy focused on emissions to come, Singh worked to shift the conversation towards pollution already emitted.
Later last year, journalist and author of popular climate book The Uninhabitable Earth David Wallace-Wells penned Climate Reparations in New York Magazine.
The long-form piece connected the inequitable effects of climate change, more drastically and quickly hitting tropical and global south countries, with the political outcomes made possible by carbon removal technology.
He points out that half of emissions come from 10% of the world’s population and that climate change has already decreased the GDP of some global south countries, while it has increased GDPs in the global North. This dynamic will continue and will widen already stark global wealth inequalities.
Wells reviews the field of technical CDR and finds that while it could present temptation for delay, it also provides revolutionary possibilities if historical emitters are made to pay to remove their pollution.
He calls this ‘climate reparations’ and quotes philosopher Olufemi Taiwo (who coined that term) “It’s just so clear to me that carbon removal is squarely the kind of thing that fits into the reparations framework.”
In this episode, we discuss the Wallace-Wells' piece and zoom in on climate reparations and climate colonialism, defining these phrases in more depth and explaining how these approaches might impact policies and institutions.
We also discuss the idea that carbon removal is not limited by physics, so what is carbon removal scaling limited by?
We round out the episode with the good news and the interesting news of the week, then we bid a warm farewell to our beloved co-host Holly, who will be going on sabbatical for the year. We will miss you Holly and look forward to seeing you back on the show!
Soil carbon and cover crops
In this week’s science-focused episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, hosts Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori and Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo are joined once again by co-host Dr. Jane Zelikova, executive director of the Soil Carbon Solutions Center and joint faculty in crop and soil science at Colorado State University.
We’re looking at two recently published studies which explore the challenges and opportunities around managing croplands and rangelands to draw down and store atmospheric carbon while making agriculture more sustainable.
We start by answering the questions, what is soil organic matter? How is it related to carbon? Then we look at how the results of the first study link to the broader fields of conservation agriculture, soil health, and soil carbon sequestration.
Next we look at the second study, which examines how management of cover crops in temperate climates influences soil organic carbon stocks.
Last, we discuss the upcoming USDA policies that might affect soil carbon, and finishing the episode with a good news story of the week.
Resources
Soil organic matter protects US maize yields and lowers crop insurance payouts under drought. Daniel A Kane et al. 2021, Environmental Research Letters, March 2021
Management of cover crops in temperate climates influences soil organic carbon stocks: a meta-analysis. McClelland et al. 2020, Ecological Applications, December 2020
Off-Season 'Cover' Crops Expand as US Growers Eye Low-Carbon Future
USDA Launches First Phase of Soil Carbon Monitoring Efforts
2021 Carbon Removal Recap
This week on Carbon Removal Newsroom, we’re recapping a year of carbon removal— what went right, what went wrong, and what we’re expecting in 2022.
In 2021, terms like Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR), Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), Negative Emissions Technologies (NETs) entered mainstream climate discourse, corporate plans, and government agendas.
The IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report was released in August and underscored the need for carbon removal by highlighting the likelihood of global overshooting of the Paris goals. The United States supported DAC and carbon storage like never before with the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill passed in November.
Climeworks launched its Orca facility in Iceland, which is making rocks underground out of our atmospheric carbon pollution as we speak. Nasdaq purchased a carbon removal marketplace. A growing share of the world’s economy was covered by ambitious net-zero commitments, which imply that maybe, at some point, corporations and governments might start removing a lot of co2 from the air.
Meanwhile, Exxon snapped up some prime carbon storage property in the Gulf of Mexico, United Airlines started assuaging travelers with advertisements of airline-sponsored DAC, and China said it might keep a few coal plants open down the line but cancel out the emissions by capturing atmospheric carbon. Those stories, plus so many more, made 2021 a landmark year for the field (and we didn’t even say the words Elon Musk). Let’s rundown the year that was and look ahead to 2022.
Panelists Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo and Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition join host Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori for this episode.
Resources:
A Research Strategy for Ocean-based Carbon Dioxide Removal and Sequestration The Climate Solution Actually Adding Millions of Tons of CO2 Into the AtmosphereClimate Reparations (Intelligencer)
Mapping rock weathering across the U.S.
In this week’s science-focused episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, hosts Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori and Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo are joined by co-host Dr. Jane Zelikova, executive director of the Soil Carbon Solutions Center and joint faculty in crop and soil science at Colorado State University.
This week we’re discussing new research which explores the relationship between geology, climate, and weathering rates across the continental United States, as well as an opinion piece in the journal Global Change Biology, arguing that biological processes will also affect the carbon removal potential of enhanced weathering.
Carbon removal at COP26 & the US commits billions towards DAC
This week on Carbon Removal Newsroom, we’re bringing you the most significant Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) policy updates from COP26.
At the time of this episode’s release, COP26 is coming to a close. Many countries are pledging to bring their emissions to net-zero in the next few decades. What are the specifics of these new pledges, how does CDR fit into all of this, and what needs to happen to push the CDR industry forward in a timely manner?
Plus, last Friday night, House Democrats along with 13 Republican Representatives voted to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal that their Senate colleagues had approved 87 days earlier. Included in the bill is $3.5b to build four direct air capture hubs— an amount that dwarfs all other federal support of DAC to date. The bill also provides $2.5b to build geologic storage sites for storing the gas underground and $2.1b to transport it via pipelines. Will this all be enough to create significant progress towards U.S. climate goals?
Our good news story of the week centers around Biden’s Carbon Removal “Earthshot” initiative, which has the goal of bringing carbon removal costs to $100/ton by 2030.
We are joined by special guest host David Morrow, the Director of Research at the Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy at American University, and Research Fellow at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at George Mason University. As always, hosts Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori and Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo are here to weigh in on the latest carbon removal happenings.
Resources
Sustainable Carbon Removal Report (Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy)
Why the BID is a BIG Down Payment on Clean Energy
Buying down the Cost of Direct Air Capture
U.S. sets goal to drive down cost of removing CO2 from atmosphere
A new global offsetting scheme in the works
This science-focused episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom features hosts Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori, Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo, and Dr. Jane Zelikova, executive director of the Soil Carbon Solutions Center and joint faculty in crop and soil science at Colorado State University.
This week, world leaders continue climate discussions at COP26 in Glasgow, with one of the recurring conversations focusing on protecting the world’s forests. A new forest initiative called LEAF, or Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance, was supported by the US and UK governments as well as some large multinational corporations like Amazon and Unilever. LEAF would allow developing nations to sell forest carbon offsets in the voluntary carbon markets— but should these count as carbon credits? Is additional carbon being stored?
We also look at forest carbon over-crediting in California, where research teams from several US Universities found that the state had over-counted forest CO2 by 30%. So who is responsible for this large quantity of excess credits?
As always, we end the episode with a good news story of the week.
Resources
Systematic over-crediting in California’s forest carbon offsets program
Will COP26 supercharge carbon markets?
We’re back with another business-focused episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, hosted by Radhika Moolgavkar, Nori’s Head of Supply and Methodology, along with Holly Jean Buck, Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University at Buffalo (P.S.— look out for Holly’s new book, Ending Fossil Fuels: Why Net-Zero Is Not Enough, coming out on November 16th!). Plus, we’re joined by our co-host for business-focused episodes: Susan Su, partner focused on climate investing at Toba Capital and course creator for Climate Change for VCs, a course and community through terra.do.
This week, we are taking a look at the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), the summit in Glasgow which begins Sunday, October 31st and lasts for two weeks. Specifically, we dive into the UK’s announcement calling for a global net-zero commitment by 2050, and what the implications of this goal might be for the carbon removal industry.
Next, we discuss some of the VC funding that happened in October, particularly for CarbonCapture, a modular DAC company, that landed a huge round. Plus, Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto recently announced a plan to invest $7.5b by 2030 into decarbonizing their business. Does their foray into Direct Air Capture signal a trend that big emitters are ready to invest into this technology at the scale necessary to really bring down costs per ton? Or are they looking for a way to avoid emissions cuts? Or both?
We finish the episode with two good news stories from Susan: the first is that electric car sales more than doubled year-over-year in August to over 516,400! Second is that turtle populations in Cape Verde rose from around ten thousand in 2015, to almost 200,000 this year after successful conservation efforts.
Geoengineering vs. carbon removal, and California's Cement Decarbonization legislation
This week on Carbon Removal Newsroom, we’re back with a policy-focused episode with panelists Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo, Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition and host Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori.
First up, we’re discussing an essay from Harvard professor David Keith in the New York Times titled, “What’s the Least Bad Way to Cool the Planet?” Keith compares Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and geoengineering, pointing out that the two approaches operate on different timescales— CDR will take decades to build up, and longer still to have a significant impact due to the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Solar Radiation Management, a type of geoengineering, could be done with today's technology and theoretically has an immediate cooling effect. There is a lot we don't know but his ‘hunch’ is that geoengineering would work more quickly, be cheaper, and benefit the world’s hotter regions more immediately. He calls for governments to fund more research into the topic so the two techniques can be more accurately compared.
We debate David Keith’s main points and Holly Buck describes the socio-technical systems that might be necessary to deploy geoengineering and larger-scale CDR most effectively.
Next, we’re looking at the Cement Decarbonization legislation passed in California that mandates the state’s cement industry to become net-zero by 2045. According to the Climateworks Foundation’s Rebecca Dell, this is the first time any US state has required an industry to eliminate its net greenhouse gas emissions. Cement production is the second-largest emitter of any industry in California, after only oil and gas production, and it also contributes to significant local air pollution. While the greenhouse gas mitigation from this move is notable, this law also has the potential to provide needed policy support to the carbon removal and carbon utilization industries.
We discuss the types of incentives that might be most successful in moving the needle on hard to abate emissions, then end the episode with a good news story of the week from Chris— Japan is restarting several aging nuclear reactors in an attempt to meet its carbon emissions goals.
New research checks the math of large-scale tree planting
In our first science-focused episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, hosts Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori and Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo are joined by our new science co-host, Dr. Jane Zelikova, executive director of the Soil Carbon Solutions Center and joint faculty in crop and soil science at Colorado State University.
First this week, we’re looking at new research showing, “Limited effects of tree planting on forest canopy cover and rural livelihoods in Northern India,” and understanding why one researcher referred to the large-scale tree planting program in Northern India as a failure. We explain the significance of these research findings and the potential improvements necessary to ensure that tree planting achieves its stated goals of sequestering carbon dioxide, increasing biodiversity, and improving the livelihoods of local communities.
Plus, a recent Twitter thread from German journalist Tin Fischer tells the story of a “Trillion Trees,” a figure that hardly held substance when first suggested, then took off in popular culture faster than climate scientists could shut it down. While it’s a catchy idea, the scientific paper used to support Trillion Trees in 2017 was widely critiqued for miscalculations and ultimately rescinded. We look at why this idea gained so much traction and what the realistic role of large-scale tree planting might be in drawing down carbon and addressing climate change.
Finally, we put reforestation up against the portfolio of carbon removal solutions, looking at where it fits in and how it should be funded.
We close out the episode with a good news story from Radhika on the winning bears of fat bear week in Alaska!
Let us know what you think of the show by reaching out to hello@nori.com, we'd love to hear your feedback!
Resources
The Oxford Principles for Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting
September’s big carbontech funding announcements
In this business-focused episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, we’re discussing the major carbontech funding announcements that occurred throughout September, along with the news from Norway’s $1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund that they’ll be requiring their portfolio holdings to go net-zero.
This episode is hosted by Radhika Moolgavkar, Nori’s Head of Supply and Methodology, along with Holly Jean Buck, Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University at Buffalo. Plus, give a warm welcome to our new co-host for business-focused episodes: Susan Su, partner focused on climate investing at Toba Capital and course creator for Climate Change for VCs, a course and community through terra.do.
***
We start the episode by discussing the news from Norway’s sovereign fund: with $1.4 trillion of assets, this fund is the world’s largest single holder of stocks, and is the latest pool of investment money using its influence to decarbonize the economy. The fund currently holds a position in several of the world’s largest oil companies, so achieving ‘net-zero’ may necessitate use of carbon offsets and carbon removal.
Meanwhile in the carbontech start-up world, the sustainable chemicals company Solugen announced $357 million of new investment in a venture round lead by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund as well as Blackrock, Carbon Direct, and others. Solugen makes chemicals out of sugars, as opposed to the fossil fuel inputs traditionally used by the highly emitting chemical industry. In the future, the company aims to use CO2 as a feedstock, potentially creating a vast new market for CO2 utilization.
Also in September, Prometheus Fuels announced a $1.5 billion valuation after a series B funding round led by shipping giant Maersk and BMW. Prometheus aims to sell ‘electro-fuels’ by capturing CO2 directly from the atmosphere, mixing it with water, and then using proprietary catalysts and filters to restructure the chemical bonds to create hydrocarbons. They also say their product will be cheaper than fossil fuels very soon.
Also, Droneseed’s $36 Million A valuation is more evidence that the carbontech space is hot.
On September 8th, Swiss company Climeworks held a launch event for their new Direct Air Capture facility named Orca in Hellisheidi, Iceland. Orca is now the world’s largest DAC plant and plans to capture and permanently sequester 4000 tons of CO2 per year, and turn it into basaltic rock.
Charm Industrial announced the delivery of 1000 tons of permanent carbon removal ahead of schedule using their bio-oil technology.
Finally, Holly Buck finishes the episode with a good news story of the week.
Climate Week NYC: a market for carbon removal, as told by buyers and sellers
In this special bonus episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, we’re bringing you a panel from this week at Climate Week NYC that covers the state of the carbon removal market, as told by today’s buyers and sellers.
The panel is hosted by CarbonCure technologies and is moderated by Peter Minor, Director of Science and Innovation at Carbon180.
Panelists include:
Robert Niven, CarbonCure Technologies Chair & CEO
Stacy Kauk, Shopify Sustainability Fund Director
Mischa Repmann, Swiss Re Senior Environmental Management Specialist
& Marcius Extavour, XPRIZE Vice President of Energy & Climate
Listen in for a comprehensive assessment of the current state of the carbon removal market, and to hear goals and predictions for the future of the industry. The panelists discuss the pace of innovation, market making, carbon removal as a de-risking mechanism, and the role that government should play in scaling up the market. Then, the panelists answer an assortment of audience questions during the last 30 minutes of the event.
Learn more about each participating organization from this panel at carboncure.com, carbon180.org, shopify.com, swissre.com and xprize.org.
Background details from the Climate Week NYC event page:
"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report reiterated that any serious climate strategy must include a portfolio of aggressive emissions reductions paired with robust carbon removal. While policymakers consider pathways to advance carbon removal development and deployment at the massive scale needed by midcentury, private sector leaders are making their own climate commitments. Increasingly, corporate strategies have centered around carbon removal. These early adopters of carbon removal are critical to catalyzing the field and spurring a large-scale cleanup of legacy emissions. Moderated by Carbon180, this virtual Climate Week NYC conversation will include a range of perspectives on both the opportunities and challenges in buying and selling high quality carbon removal credits on our path to net zero."
#climateweekNYC #climateweekCDR
Biochar, carbon dioxide removal in the US, and geoengineering
This week on Carbon Removal Newsroom, we’re starting off with an overview of biochar and discussing the main questions and concerns around this technology, including:
How does biochar compare to other Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) methods?
There is a lot of interest in making biochar, but does the market exist to use it?
What can governments do to help scale up the use of biochar as a carbon removal technique? Are any governments taking action yet?
Next, we transition to the CDR policy agenda in the United States. We look at the California Climate Crisis Act (AB 1395), which would Codify California’s commitment to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible and no later than 2045. If passed, this bill will set California on course to design a more comprehensive policy framework for CDR than exists in any state so far. The bill language is explicit in planning for technological as well as natural CDR methods and calls for measurable, durable CO2 removal.
We also cover geoengineering and its controversies, looking at the Politico article, “The problem with playing God to fix the climate: It might not work.”
Finally, our good news to round out the episode is that the team at ClimateScience has created a free online course on the science of carbon removal, with illustrations and quizzes along the way.
Panelists Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo and Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition join host Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori for this episode.
Resources
Introductory Webinar: Methodology for Biochar Utilization in Soil and Non-Soil Applications (Verra)
Biochar Protocol (Climate Action Reserve)
Does biochar accelerate the mitigation of greenhouse gaseous emissions from agricultural soil? - A global meta-analysis (ScienceDirect)
The waste product which could help mitigate climate change (ScienceDaily)
Net-Zero Emissions Bill Advances in the California State Senate (EDF)
With the Climate Crisis Act, California can lock in a safer pathway to net-zero emissions (EDF)
Amid the Misery of Hurricane Ida, Coastal Restoration Offers Hope. But the Price Is High (Inside Climate News)
The problem with playing God to fix the climate: It might not work (Politico)
Why Geoengineering Is ‘Untested and Untestable’ (The Nation)
Carbon pricing bills, forest carbon offsets, & a progressive platform for carbon removal
This week on Carbon Removal Newsroom, we’re discussing carbon’s value in various forms. We start by answering the question, ‘What is carbon pricing?’ and look at proposed bills in Congress that are attaching a price to carbon. We look at the value of forest carbon offsets in a world with unprecedented wildfires. We explore A Progressive Platform For Carbon Removal, then we close out the episode with a positive story of the week.
Panelists Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo and Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition join host Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori for this episode.
Resources
The energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act
America’s Clean Future Fund Act
A policy framework for achieving negative emissions (VoxEU)
Operationalizing The Net Negative Carbon Economy (Nature)
Wildfires are ravaging forests set aside to soak up greenhouse gases (The New York Times)
2021 North American Wildfire Season
A Progressive Platform for Carbon Removal (Data for Progress)
Activists Call It A ‘False Solution.’ But UN Scientists Say We Need To Suck Up CO2 (The Huffington Post)
IPCC Report, Infrastructure Bill, and pressure for companies to reach net-zero
This week on Carbon Removal Newsroom, we’re discussing the latest IPCC Report, the $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill, and pressure for companies to reach net-zero.
Returning panelists Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo and Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition join host Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori for this episode.
Energy Sector Innovation Credit Act & Chevron's troubled carbon capture & storage scheme
Guest panelist Peter Minor, Director of Science and Innovation at Carbon180, joins us in this episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom to weigh in on the Energy Sector Innovation Credit Act (ESIC), and panelist Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo returns to discuss the latest carbon removal news with host Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori. Plus, stay calm during the unexpected tornado warning on Holly’s side near the end of the episode— a coincidental and eerie emphasis of what the daily workday might look like in the era of climate change…
(Holly is safe, not to worry!)
Also covered in this episode:
CarbonCure, a company that is reducing emissions in concrete manufacturing, announced it was carbon neutral in 2020 through carbon removal purchases from Running Tide, greenSand, Charm industrials, and Husk (P.S: To learn more about CarbonCure, check out an episode of Reversing Climate Change we did with Rob Niven of CarbonCure!).
Black & Veatch, a global engineering company, was awarded $2.5 million in federal funding to advance direct air capture technology.
The U.S. Department of Energy announced intent to fund direct air capture front-end engineering design (FEED) studies, showing the Biden administration’s commitment to carbon removal.
Chevron failed to hit the target with their troubled carbon capture and storage (CCS) scheme at their Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project in Australia.
The Energy Sector Innovation Credit (ESIC) Act of 2021 was introduced by Senate and House leadership on both sides of the aisle. This bill aims to create investment and production tax credits for technologies across the clean energy portfolio, including direct air capture.
Listen until the end to hear the panelists describe their favorite type of carbon removal!
Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time!
Carbon removal hype, ‘Fit for 55’ climate proposals, and environmental voters
This week, we’re discussing whether or not carbon removal hype distracts from the need to reduce emissions and looking at the EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ climate proposals. Panelist Chris Barnard describes the conservative climate rally put on by the American Conservation Coalition, and panelist Dr. Holly Jean Buck explains that our media ecology often rewards climate fear and doom over climate optimism. Our panelists discuss a recent article by Matthew Yglesias, 'What is the climate left doing?' and Holly Buck explains how her sociological research leads her to agree with Yglesias’s perspective in the article.
Other carbon removal news discussed in this episode: Carbon transformation startup Twelve (formerly Opus 12) raised $57 million in Series A funding. Twelve is pioneering a new market category called carbon transformation with its proprietary catalyst technology that transforms CO2 into critical chemicals, materials and fuels that are conventionally made from fossil fuels.
Carbon Engineering, a firm looking to commercialize nascent "direct air capture" tech, just unveiled a new retail offering for its services in partnership with the firm BeZero Carbon.
A recent cover story in Grist discusses soil and forest carbon and features two of Nori's farmers, Kelly Garrett and Trey Hill. The article describes some of the complications around soil and forestry carbon offsets. If you read it and have any thoughts or questions, Tweet us @nori.
The European Union unveiled ‘Fit for 55’ climate legislation proposals.
Plus, we debate how much power low-propensity environmental voters (LPEV) have in elections.
As always, the episode is concluded with a good news story of the week.
P.S., we are releasing Carbon Removal Newsroom episodes on an every-other-week cadence through the end of August. If there are topics you’d like us to cover, reach out on Twitter or at hello@nori.com.
Growing Climate Solutions Act, soil carbon sequestration, & carbon taxes
The U.S. Senate passed the Growing Climate Solutions Act with a strong bipartisan vote. But what does the bill aim to do? And why were more Democrats against this climate bill than Republicans? Plus, a look at soil carbon sequestration’s potential and other carbon removal technologies. Finally, carbon tax proposals are moving forward in Europe— what does this mean for the U.S. and the rest of the world?
This episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom is hosted by Nori's Head of Supply and Methodology, Radhika Moolgavkar, and features panelists Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo and Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition.
The new Conservative Climate Caucus, a Nature Climate Change article, & 'ecocide'
House Republicans launched the Conservative Climate Caucus on Wednesday and it’s already the third-largest caucus in the House with around 60 members. Maine becomes the first state to order public fossil fuel divestment. A new paper in Nature Climate Change looks at the difference between avoidances and removals of CO2 (a more accessible summary of the paper was written for Carbon Brief). There is a proposal at the International Criminal Court to define a new global crime called 'ecocide.' All of this and more, discussed in this week’s episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom.
Host Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori is joined by panelists Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo and Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition for this episode.
G7 Summit & the US Federal Budget, w/ Holly Buck & Chris Barnard
Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo and Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition are back with host Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori for another episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom!
This week, our panelists examine the federal budget’s climate change and carbon removal proposals and connect the dots between the budget and the infrastructure bill. We also address the G7 Summit, discussing concerns around whether G7 leaders are doing enough, and pondering why there is no end date for coal. Our panelists look at clean energy standards and President Biden’s suspension of new oil and gas drilling leases on federal lands, then discuss the early heatwave and strained grid in Texas. As always, we conclude the episode with an uplifting environmental win— restored protections to the Tongass National Park in Alaska.
Nuclear power benefits and risks; and drought season
In this episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, our panelists look at the benefits and risks of nuclear power, attempting to find where the balance should lie between necessary safety precautions and overburdensome regulations. We address the grim accomplishment of the highest recorded levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere— 419 parts per million— and the real-world impacts of changes in the climate. With much of the west in drought, farmers and fish are competing for limited resources, and water rights along the Colorado River are under debate. We discuss the emergence of rare climate bipartisanship on carbon storage bills, and round out the episode with a positive story of the week.
Panelists Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo and Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition join host Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori for this episode.
Day of reckoning for big oil & gas; and nature-based solutions
We are joined by special guest panelist Quill Robinson, Vice President of Government Affairs at the American Conservation Coalition, alongside returning panelist Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo and host Radhika Moolgavkar, Nori’s Head of Supply and Methodology.
Carbon180's new report: "Zero, Then Negative: The Congressional Blueprint for Scaling Carbon Removal"
Carbon180 released a new report, "Zero, Then Negative: The Congressional Blueprint for Scaling Carbon Removal," and this week on Carbon Removal Newsroom, our panelists dive into some of the report's details! Nori's Head of Methodology, Radhika Moolgavkar, hosts guest panelists Ugbaad Kosar, Deputy Director of Policy at Carbon180, and Lucia Simonelli, Senior Policy Fellow specializing in Direct Air Capture at Carbon 180. Returning panelists Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo and Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition also join in with questions and thoughts on the report.
The discussion covers how direct air capture facilities might scale up, how a federal land link program could solve succession problems in farming, the role that prizes have played in human history and how they can be advantageous in the climate space, and why not every climate solution is appropriate in every place. Our guest panelists also describe their ideal three-course meal of carbon removal solutions and explain how tech and land-based solutions can work together to help society reach its climate goals.
The Colonial Pipeline hack and fossil fuel dependency
This week on the Carbon Removal Newsroom podcast, Nori's Head of Methodology Radhika Moolgavkar hosts Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University of Buffalo, and the Director of Sustainability at Bushel, Allison Nepveux. They discuss the Colonial Pipeline hack, how we can extract ourselves from our fossil fuel dependency, the impact of agricultural financing and crop insurance, and we hear some pushback on the Growing Climate Solutions Act.
Washington state's new cap and trade bill and other environmental policy
Today's bonus episode of the Carbon Removal Newsroom podcast has host and Nori's head of supply and methodology, Radhika Moolgavkar, chat with her old friend and sustainability advocate, Shasta Smith, about climate and environmental policy in Washington state. They discuss the new cap and trade bill that recently passed and former state climate and carbon bills, and some of the general ideas and concerns that relate to this legislation.
Some of the bills mentioned:
Affordable housing bill - HB 1220 GMA that did not pass - HB 1099 Cap and Trade - SB 5126 Carbon Tax - SB 5372
A government carbon removal market & the Growing Climate Solutions Act
This week, Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University of Buffalo, Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition, and Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori discuss in detail the Growing Climate Solutions Act, the relationship of unions to the The American Jobs Act, how a government-run carbon removal marketplace might work at least for agriculture, and Chris shares some optimistic musings to close us out.
Trouble with some Californian forestry offsets, and reflections on the Texas electrical grid
There was a lot to watch in the offset world this week! CarbonPlan, ProPublica, The Guardian and others reported on major issues with some California forestry credits allegedly being overestimated by a substantial amount. This episode also shares some reflections on the Texas electrical grid, and some hopeful thoughts on new national parks buoy us up!
Carbon Removal Newsroom is hosted by Nori's Supply and Methodology Program Manager, Radhika Moolgavkar. This week's panelists are Dr. Holly Jean Buck, Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Buffalo; and Christopher Barnard, Policy Director of the American Conservation Coalition.
Articles referenced:
"Systematic over-crediting of forest offsets" in CarbonPlan
"Texas Failed Because It Did Not Plan" by Robinson Meyer at The Atlantic
"Mozambique Mints a New National Park — and Surveys Its Riches" by Jen Gunton at The New York Times
"Meet America’s 63rd National Park" by Zack Montague at The New York Times
A recap of AirMiners 2021: Carbon Removal Taking Flight!
To kick off our season three premiere(!), yesterday was the big AirMiners conference, which the host platform shows 637 people attended! To discuss their takeaways from the event's diverse discussions are panelists: Dr. Holly Jean Buck, Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Buffalo; Christopher Barnard, Policy Director of the American Conservation Coalition; Ross Kenyon, Creative Editor at Nori; and the show's new anchor and Nori's Supply and Methodology Program Manager, Radhika Moolgavkar. We discuss the buckshot vs. silver bullet paradigms within carbon removal, the latest takes on policy and environmental justice, and why we need carbon removal memes and await the arrival of a coming carbon removal TikTok superstar.
Elon Musk's $100M prize for "best carbon capture technology"
Carbon removal is in the news as Elon Musk has teased a one-hundred million dollar prize for the best carbon capture technology. What does it mean for the sector, and what is likely to happen next? Tito Jankowski of AirMiners is on the show to discuss.
What's happening in the UK? An update from Patricia Silva of the Carbon Removal Centre
A lot has been happening in the United Kingdom with regard to carbon removal. Patricia Silva, Co-founder and Non-Executive Director of the Carbon Removal Centre, comes on the show to explain The Oxford Offsetting Principles, the UK's general climate policies and Boris Johnson's recent statements on the matter, a collaboration between Carbon Engineering and Pale Blue Dot Energy, and some news about BrewDog.
Carbon removal's biggest bill to date? The Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act passes the House
The Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act involves billions of dollars being allocated across the carbon removal ecosystem. It just passed the US House of Representatives, and President Trump has stated his intent to veto it if it reaches his desk, but right now the focus is on its way through the Senate. Our panelist this week is Dr. Shuchi Talati, senior policy advisor at Carbon180. You can also read her recap of the bill here.
Shopify's Sustainability Fund is supporting carbon removal companies
Nori's Director of Corporate Development Alexsandra Guerra, and AirMiners and Negative's Tito Jankowski, join the show to talk about Shopify's big announcement of the companies included in their new Sustainability Fund. It features two separate portfolios: Frontier & Evergreen, with the former focusing more on industrial tech, and the latter on biological/ecological sequestration. We dig into nuance around the permanence discussion, a succession theory for carbon removal, and celebrate so many cool companies trying to scale carbon removal. Congrats to all of them, and to Shopify!
Shopify's announcement: "Fighting for the Future: Shopify Invests $5M in Breakthrough Sustainability Technologies"
Fast Company article about Running Tide
DoE's Office of Fossil Energy funding many carbon removal projects
In March, the Department of Energy (DoE) announced they were going to putting $22M into research for capturing carbon dioxide from the air. They just announced the fundees! Join panelist Tito Jankowski of AirMiners and Negative and follow along on this page with us as he walks us through the groups and some of the science behind these processes.
Bridging the physical and social sciences gap in carbon removal
This episode features Dr. Jane Zelikova, Chief Scientist at Carbon180, and Dr. Trisha Shrum, behavorial and environmental economist at the University of Vermont.
Jane organized The Royal Society's new Interface Focus issue on carbon dioxide removal called, "Going negative: An interdisciplinary, holistic approach to carbon dioxide removal". She additionally wrote an article in it, "The future of carbon dioxide removal must be transdisciplinary". Trisha also wrote an article in this issue, "Behavioural frameworks to understand public perceptions of and risk response to carbon dioxide removal". We walk through what this issue covers and then discuss in greater detail Trisha's research and the basics of behavioral economics & science and what that has to say about carbon removal.
Microsoft's carbon removal RFP, Apple's carbon neutrality, DAC hearing in Congress, the CREATE Act, REPLANT Act, & FARM Act
This week's guests are Nori's Director of Corporate Development, Alexsandra Guerra; and Carbon180's Senior Policy Advisor Ugbaad Kosar, and Policy Advisor Vanessa Suarez.
Here are the topics and articles we discussed:
Microsoft's RFP for their carbon negativity commitments, and Apple's carbon neutrality commitment. Full Committee Hearing to Examine Development and Deployment of Large-Scale Carbon Dioxide Management Technologies CREATE Act REPLANT Act FARM Act (& its biochar provisions)N.B. The self-titled Beyonce is the one Ross had in mind; crucial shownote, we know. Here is Carbon180's newsletter as well.
Appropriations & carbon removal, the Biden-Sanders climate plan, & enhanced rock weathering in croplands
This week's panelists are Dr. Jane Zelikova, Chief Scientist at Carbon180; Vanessa Suarez, Policy Advisor at Carbon180; and Aldyen Donnelly, Director of Carbon Economics at Nori.
Here are the articles we discussed this week:
Carbon removal represented in the Appropriations process in both Energy & Water and Agriculture. The Biden-Sanders climate plan: "Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force Recommendations: Combating the Climate Crisis and Pursuing Environmental Justice" [PDF]. "Potential for large-scale CO2 removal via enhanced rock weathering with croplands" in Nature.Rhodium Group's report on direct air capture & jobs, Growing Climate Solutions Act updates, & the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis report
This week's panelists are Ugbaad Kosar, Senior Policy Advisor at Carbon180; Tito Jankowski, cofounder of Negative, a startup making jewelry from captured carbon dioxide, and host of the AirMiners community; and Aldyen Donnelly, Director of Carbon Economics at the Nori carbon removal marketplace.
This week's stories are:
Rhodium Group's new report: "Capturing New Jobs and New Business: Growth Opportunities from Direct Air Capture Scale-Up" details how direct air capture might create jobs, be supported by policy, etc. Ugbaad wrote up a short summary of it here. The Growing Climate Solutions Act had a full committee hearing, and we learn more about what happens moving forward. The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis released a new report, "Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Just, and Resilient America" that has implications for carbon removal.Unilever putting carbon labels on products, plant-based protein + regenerative ag, & WRI's soil carbon webinar
This week's panelists are Aldyen Donnelly, Nori's Director of Carbon Economics, and Tito Jankowksi, cofounder of Negative (a startup making products out of captured atmospheric carbon dioxide) and host of the AirMiners community.
Here are the articles discussed:
"Unilever’s New Climate Plan Puts Carbon Labels on 70,000 Products" by Akshat Rathi in Bloomberg Green. "Impossible Foods CEO says the meat industry will be obsolete in 15 years — ‘That’s our mission’" by Tyler Clifford on CNBC. WRI's webinar on soil carbon: "Why Regenerative Agriculture Is Good for Soil Health, but Has Limited Potential to Mitigate Climate Change".Here's the link to apply to join the AirMiners Slack community, and here is Cool Farm Tool.
The survival of mangroves, the Growing Climate Solutions Act, Swiss Re eyes carbon capture, & a Microsoft update
This week's panelists are Nori's Director of Corporate Development Alexsandra Guerra, Director of Carbon Economics Aldyen Donnelly, and Carbon180's Chief Scientist Dr. Jane Zelikova.
Here are the articles we discussed:
"Rising sea levels could wipe out mangroves by 2050" by Justine Calma in The Verge "The Energy 202: Two GOP senators join with Democrats to back bill to help cut emissions from farms" by Dino Grandoni in The Washington Post "Inside Microsoft's Mission to Go Carbon Negative" by Dina Bass in Bloomberg Green "Swiss Re Sees Opportunities for Insurers in Carbon-Capture Push" by Alastair Marsh & Marion Halftermeyer in Bloomberg GreenBLM, Climeworks fundraising, Savory Institute & Timberland's regenerative leather, & 45Q updates
This week's panelists are all Norinauts! We had on Nori's Director of Corporate Development Alexsandra Guerra, Director of Carbon Economics Aldyen Donnelly, and "moonlighting marketer" Mellina White.
We discussed four topics:
Climate justice: Mellina and Ross recorded a bonus episode of Reversing Climate Change earlier this week as a brief introduction to Black Lives Matter, climate justice, and carbon removal. Mellina is back to follow up and also share about the reform efforts of Campaign Zero. Climeworks closed a 73M CHF financing round. Savory Institute and Timberland have a new partnership around regenerative leather for a new line of boots. New rules for the 45Q tax credit.If you like the show, you can join our community and support us on Patreon, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or Stitcher, tell your friends, share us on social media, etc. Thank you so much for listening!
Stripe’s first negative emissions purchases and what it means for carbon removal
An entirely new format! Carbon Removal Newsroom is now a panel show. We are finding our cadence now, and new episodes should come out weekly, biweekly, monthly—we will see—with panelists from the world of carbon removal to give listeners the latest in carbon removal news.
This week's news: Stripe has announced its first negative emissions purchases! Climeworks, Project Vesta, CarbonCure, and Charm Industrial were selected after a rather interesting and open-source vetting process. The panelists discuss issues of permanence, the tradeoffs between various industrial, ecological, and hybrid approaches to carbon removal, and what this means for the sector as a whole.
This week's panelists:
Noah Deich, Founder and Executive Director of Carbon180 Tito Jankowski, Cofounder of Negative and the AirMiners virtual community Aldyen Donnelly, Cofounder and Director of Carbon Economics at NoriYou can support the show and become a part of our community by becoming a patron on Patreon! Please do if you feel so moved.
Which policy levers does one need to pull for carbon farming?
Dr. Jane Zelikova is Carbon180's Chief Scientist, and she is one of the contributors of their latest report, "Leading with Soil: Scaling Soil Carbon Storage in Agriculture". Which sorts of policy changes may be necessary to make carbon farming the dominant paradigm of agriculture? Jane shares her expertise on the topic.
"Leading with Soil: Scaling Soil Carbon Storage in Agriculture", a report by Cabron180
The latest on managed mine tailings & enhanced weathering—w/ Dr. Greg Dipple of UBC
Can mangrove conservation pay for itself in flood protection?
California's Getting to Neutral report from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The boom in carbon removal legislation and funding
Microsoft commits to being carbon negative by 2030
Boulder, Colorado is striving for carbon removal leadership
The state of blue carbon: are whales carbon-negative?
