Carbon Removal Newsroom
A bite-sized podcast for carbon removal news on-the-go. Each episode features unique guests and perspectives.
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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 on Verra Verra’s response to the article Patch Offtake Climeworks announcement EPA EJ agreement *Connect with Nori* Nori Nori’s Twitter Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change Nori’s CDR meme twitter account --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/support
Listen to the episodeIn 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* Chris Barnard Jason Hochman Radhika Moolgavkar *Resources* DAC Coalition 2021 US Infrastructure Bill DAC Hubs announcement DAC Hub FOA *Connect with Nori* Nori Nori’s Twitter Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change Nori’s CDR meme twitter account --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/support
Listen to the episodeLast 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* Jane Zelikova Shannon Valley Radhika Moolgavkar *Resources* Carbon Drawdown Initiative blog post ERW soil core study Puro.earth Puro ERW Framework Global Mangrove Loss Halted *Connect with Nori* Nori Nori’s Twitter Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change Nori’s CDR meme twitter account --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/support
Listen to the episodeIt'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 Twitter Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change Nori’s CDR meme twitter account --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/support
Listen to the episodeBack 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 Mountain Institute Sunflower Seeds Ukraine *Connect with Nori* Nori Nori’s Twitter Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change Nori’s CDR meme twitter account --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/support
Listen to the episodeThe 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 NOAA Ocean CDR *Connect with Nori* Nori Nori’s Twitter Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change Nori’s CDR meme twitter account --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/support
Listen to the episodeWe 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* Savita Bowman Karly Matthews *Resources* Clearpath American Conservation Coalition Increases to the 45Q tax credit CDR in the Infrastructure bill and CHIPS Act CREST ACT Bipartisan Biochar Bill Growing Climate Solutions Act stalls US Climate Targets Achievable if Congress Flips *Connect with Nori* Nori Nori’s Twitter Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change Nori’s CDR meme twitter account --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/support
Listen to the episodeIf 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 Zelikova Shannon Valley Radhika Moolgavkar *Resources* Limited climate change mitigation potential through forestation of the vast dryland regions Anthropocene Magazine article about the paper David Ho Tweet Forest Declaration Assessment report of 2022 deforestation Nature article about the report New President of Brazil and the Amazon *Connect with Nori* Nori Nori’s Twitter Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change Nori’s CDR meme twitter account --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/support
Listen to the episodeJust 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 Terraset Propellor Brian Halligan Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institute *Connect with Nori* Nori Nori’s Twitter Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change Nori’s CDR meme twitter account --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/support
Listen to the episodeIn 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 Regional Manager job opening *Connect with Nori* Nori Nori’s Twitter Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change Nori’s CDR meme twitter account --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carbonremovalnewsroom/support
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