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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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. --- 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 episodeSpecial 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." --- 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 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 --- 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 episodeThis 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. --- 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 episodeEarlier 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? --- 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 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 --- 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 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. --- 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 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. --- 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 episodeDo 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. --- 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 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. --- 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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