Carbon Removal Newsroom

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

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 Bu

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.”    H

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, an

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 Toby Bryce Radhika Moolgavkar   Resources OpenAir Collective Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act MA Legislation CO Cleante

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

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 T

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

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

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 Dr. Jane Zelikova Asa Kamer Radhika Moolgavkar Resources State of CDR Report CarbonBrief article about the report- w/ charts Guardian article on Verra Bloomberg article on potential of voluntary carbon markets Connect with Nori Nori Nori’s Twitt

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 Susan Su Na’im Merchant Radhika Moolgavkar Resources Höglund blog post Captura & 44.01 new fundraising Guardian’s reporting o

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 D

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 loo

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 Susan Su Radhika Moolgavkar Ben Rubin Resources Carbon Business Council Earthshot Prize 4401 DOE new CDR funding Union Square Ventures announcement Frontier Announcement Inside Climate News article on CarbonCapture in Wyoming Vox coverage of nuclear fusion announcement Connect with Nori Nori Nori’s Tw

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 Jane Zelikova Shannon Valley Radhika Moolgavkar Resources Frontier blog post Frontier database Third Way Blog Rocky

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 Susan Su Na’im Merchant Radhika Moolgavkar Resources Environmental Voter Project EVP Seminar on Georgia runoff This Election’s ‘Green Wave’ NY Voters pass Environmental Bond in the midterms Dai Ellis’ The Great Unwind Carbon180

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 fo

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 Jane Z

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 Susan Su Na’im Merchant Radhika Moolgavkar Resources $1 Billion in DAC VC Funding in 2022 Terras

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 Chris Barnard Ben Rubin Radhika Moolgavkar Resources Carbon Business Council CBC’s Ethical Oath to Restore the Earth CBC’s White Paper DAC Hubs DAC Hub Re