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In the last year, venture investments in carbon removal have doubled. Top tech companies are buying credits or taking equity stakes in cutting-edge projects to pull carbon out of the air and oceans. 

And it’s not just propellerheads who are talking to themselves about the technology – a new wave of young talent is taking notice.

Was 2023 the breakout year for engineered carbon removal?

“We were all holed up in Covid lockdown. And we get out and suddenly everybody’s like ‘talk to me about carbon,’ says Julio Friedmann, the chief scientist at Carbon Direct. 

This week: the state of carbon removal. There is no way we can hit net-zero emissions without stripping lots of carbon out of the air. 

We’ll hear from Julio Friedmann about the scientific urgency, tech advancements, and barriers to scale. And we’ll hear from Microsoft’s Rafael Broze about how the company is investing in the carbon-removal space. 

For a lightly edited transcript of this episode, click here.