Carbon Removal Newsroom Nori

This week, we’re bringing you a panel discussion from the Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy’s annual CDR conference. Our policy panelist, Wil Burns, hosted the conference and led this panel discussion on the role of mandates in growing CDR in the US.

The US government has stepped forward into the role of subsidizing and encouraging CDR in recent years, offering a ‘carrot’ to promote the new industry, in the form of large grants and tax incentives. But what could the government do to present a ‘stick’- requiring CDR using existing regulations?

That’s the topic of this policy panel featuring Dan Galpern, the Executive Director of the Climate Protection and Restoration Initiative, and Stephanie Arcusa, a researcher at the Arizona State University Center for Negative Carbon Emissions. 

Dan spoke about using the Toxic Substances Control Act to regulate carbon emissions, including the possibility of mandating carbon dioxide removal as a condition for allowing ongoing emissions. He argues that the TSCA provides clear authority for such regulation, citing past precedents and legal interpretations.

Stephanie discusses the concept of a Carbon Take Back Obligation, which would require fossil fuel producers to sequester a ton of carbon for every ton they extract. This policy aims to gradually transition to net-zero emissions by creating a demand for carbon removal and applying the policy upstream in the fossil fuel supply chain.

Both approaches aim to address the challenges of scaling up carbon removal and mitigating climate change, but they also raise questions about political feasibility, environmental justice, and the impact on consumers, particularly those in lower-income households.

We hope you enjoy this high-level look at the policy levers that may one day lead to the scaling up of CDR.  



On This Episode

Wil Burns

Dan Galpern

Stephanie Arcusa

Resources

Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy

UN Production Gap Report

Toxic Substances Control Act

EU Industrial Net-Zero Act

CA’s CDR Market Development Act

CBTO in the news

Connect with Nori

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Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change

Nori’s CDR meme twitter account

 


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In recent months, we’ve covered CDR developments in the EU, followed CDR’s role in international climate agreements, and interviewed startups working to bring DAC to Kenya. There’s so much happening with CDR around the globe that it’s a challenge to cover all the news of carbon removal’s rise.

That’s why on this episode we’re fortunate to have Tom Mills and Shantanu Agarwal join us today to share their work scaling up CDR in India with a new consortium called Carbon Removal Alliance India (CRIA). 

Tom is a co-founder of the organization, and Shantanu is a founder of Mati, an enhanced rock weathering startup in India that is a member of CRIA. 

India has existing climate policies, immense amounts of working lands, a rising working-age population, and a wealth of business and science resources. Can these assets allow it to become a CDR powerhouse? 

Our guests today will tell us about their work, what they think of India’s CDR potential, and what needs to happen within India to unlock carbon removal there.

 

On This Episode 

Tom Mills

Shantanu Agarwal

Radhika Moolgavkar

Resources

Our Episodes on the EU & Kenya

Susteon & Sustaera- Shantanu’s previous companies

Carbon Removal Alliance India

Mati

Carbon Removal Partners

Connect with Nori

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Nori’s Twitter

Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change

Nori’s CDR meme twitter account


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As CDR’s notoriety increases, so too does the scrutiny upon it. Carbon removal companies are beginning to deploy in communities, and are facing local concerns about the effect their projects will have communities. As these companies work to communicate the benefits of their projects, a CDR trade group is announcing a new program to help companies responsibly deploy carbon removal. 

 

Scrutiny of CDR continues in the press as well. 

 

An article from Reuters tracked the growing effort to standardize and legitimize CDR as startups and marketplaces try to attract large corporate buyers, showing that the industry is now front and center on business pages worldwide. 

 

And the year’s biggest climate event is around the corner. A group of CDR organizations, including one led by today’s guest, are working to ensure the industry is ready as the global climate spotlight prepares to turn on them. The debates over CDR at COP28 will surely be contentious, and we’ll hear about a new effort to make the carbon removal community ready for when that happens. 

 

Locally, and globally, from communities to newsrooms to international bodies, CDR is under scrutiny like never before. In this episode, we’re discussing what the industry can do to respond and continue to grow. 

 

On this episode we’re joined today by Ben Rubin, the Carbon Business Council’s Executive Director, a trade organization representing over 100 CDR businesses. Welcome, Ben. 

 

We’re also joined by our regular policy panelist, Susan Su, a partner focused on climate investing at TOBA Capital. She also serves as a board member of the Carbon Business Council and a board advisor to the Environmental Voter Project.



On This Episode

Ben Rubin

Susan Su

Asa Kamer

Resources

Carbon Business Council

CDR RDT

Confidence Ebbs in Carbon Markets- article

Study: 13% of Renewable Projects that Face Opposition are Completed

Reuter’s ‘Wild West’ article

“Three Big Letters in CDR are MRV”

CDR.fyi

NextGen CDR Facility

Carbon Removals at COP

Our Episode with Sebastian Manhart

Connect with Nori

Nori

Nori’s Twitter

Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change

Nori’s CDR meme twitter account

 


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In our guest’s corner of the geoscience field, inertinites are well-known to be stable forms of carbon. So Hamed Sanei was surprised to learn that there was significant debate over the stability of CO2 storage in biochar, which is an inertinite. In his view, the science of that question has been settled for a long time, and the answer is clear: biochar is durable carbon removal. 

Biochar represented 92% of permanent carbon removal sales in the first part of 2023. 

It is technologically ready and accessible by a larger share of businesses and populations than other ‘permanent methods’ due to its relatively low-tech production. A recent report found it could one day deliver three gigatons of CDR annually. More investment money is flowing to companies doing biochar, and it has become a staple of CDR portfolios among buyers who are diversifying. 

Not only that, but it is thousands of years old and works as a soil amendment that helps crop productivity. It can be made from various biomass types, and the potential uses are just as numerous.

However, a major question has hovered over the reputation of biochar: Is the carbon removed from the atmosphere by biochar stored permanently, or will it quickly seep back into the air?

However, recent research has drawn some optimistic conclusions. 

Hamed walks us through why there has been debate, what his research has found, and why he thinks the debate over carbon storage permanence needs to be closed so that the biochar community can focus on improving and scaling the use of biochar.

 

On This Episode

Radhika Moolgavkar

Hamed Sanei

Resources

CDR.fyi- How Much of CDR Sales are Biochar

Report on Global Potential of Biochar

Recent Biochar Purchase from Microsoft

Biochar is 1000’s of Year Old!

Hamed’s Research

The Lithospheric Organic Carbon Lab

European Biochar Industry Consortium

Connect with Nori

Nori

Nori’s Twitter

Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change

Nori’s CDR meme twitter account

 


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A few weeks ago, the US government announced it would directly purchase carbon removal. The Department of Energy released news of a $35 million fund to procure CDR credits. The prize fund will take the form of offtake agreements and cover four pathways. 

More and more governments are funding CDR pilots, supporting research, and adding CDR targets to their climate plans. CDR has quickly entered an era of widespread support throughout North America and Europe. 

But while the support is wide, it is also shallow; most policies take the form of modest grants or targets, with a few more ambitious countries leading the way.

Many CDR commentators have come to the conclusion that without a compliance market, carbon removal won’t ever scale up. 

On this episode we asked our policy panel about recent government actions on CDR: will they work, are they enough, and what more needs to be done? Are today’s policies sufficient to get us where we need to go?

Radhika is joined by Wil Burns, Co-Executive Director of the Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy at American University, and Holly Jean Buck, Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University at Buffalo.

 

On This Episode

Radhika Moolgavkar

Wil Burns

Holly Jean Buck

Resources

DOE Announces CDR Procurement

National Academy Report on CDR Research

DOE RFP for Responsible Carbon Management

Congress Members Letter on CO2 Pipelines

Heirloom commitment to DOE principles

Boston Consulting Group Report

Reykjavik Protocol

Connect with Nori

Nori

Nori’s Twitter

Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change

Nori’s CDR meme twitter account


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Not long ago it was difficult to find any information about the carbon removal ecosystem in Europe. Beyond academic papers, and a researcher or two at larger environmental non-profits, CDR policy was not an area with a mature ecosystem.

The situation is much different today. Not only is the EU considering ways to incorporate removals into their existing cap-and-trade scheme, but there are non-profits, carbon marketplaces, startups, and a new trade group offering sophisticated information and analysis of the rapidly developing CDR policy landscape in Europe.

One of them is Carbon Gap they describe themselves as “a science-based and philanthropy-funded expert non-profit"   NGO working to bring just and equitable carbon removal policies to Europe through informed scientific research. Launched two years ago, the organisation keeps the carbon removal ecosystem informed through its Policy Tracker and regularly publishes articles.” Their most recent piece released last week approaches the thorny topic of avoiding emissions deterrence.

Their senior researcher is Kayla Cohen, whose work focuses on the developing soil carbon policies in Europe and climate justice issues.

Another organization that continues to provide high-level insight in Europe is Carbonfuture, a marketplace for ‘durable’ carbon credits. They claim over 40% of the market for durable carbon removal this year. And luckily for the public they also continue to publish information on the CDR market, including work on the topic of creating a trusted and inclusive MRV system, which we delved into on this show just a few weeks ago. The author of much of this work is their Senior Policy Advisor Sebastian Manhart.

The EU is poised to be a world leader in CDR, as it has been with climate policy. It features ambitious climate targets, robust academic research in the field, a talented labor pool, and a sophisticated non-profit sector taking on the challenge. But it also faces many of the headwinds found elsewhere against CDR such as high-costs, ambivalence from some of the public and existing environmental sector, fear of moral hazard, and broader macro-economic challenges threatening investment into newer climate tech.

On this episode Kayla and Sebastian join to talk about the current situation in Europe, the developments they’d like to see, and where they predict policy will be in 2030 and beyond.

 

On This Episode

Sebastian Manhart

Kayla Cohen

Asa Kamer

 

Resources

Carbonfuture

Carbon Gap

Carbon Gap article on ‘solutions to mitigation deterrence’

Our show on Carbonfuture’s work on Trust + MRV

EU Soil Monitoring Law

Sebastian’s Article on Incorporating CDR in the ETS

Kayla’s Article on the EU Soil Monitoring Law

Carbonfuture report on CDR law in 31 EU States

 

Connect with Nori

Nori

Nori’s Twitter

Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change

Nori’s CDR meme twitter account


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