Climate Workers Anonymous

In this week’s science-focused episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, hosts Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori and Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo are joined once again by co-host Dr. Jane Zelikova, executive director of the Soil Carbon Solutions Center and joint faculty in crop and soil science at Colorado State University.

We’re looking at two recently published studies which explore the challenges and opportunities around managing croplands and rangelands to draw down and store atmospheric carbon while making agriculture more sustainable.

We start by answering the questions, what is soil organic matter? How is it related to carbon? Then we look at how the results of the first study link to the broader fields of conservation agriculture, soil health, and soil carbon sequestration.

Next we look at the second study, which examines how management of cover crops in temperate climates influences soil organic carbon stocks.

Last, we discuss the upcoming USDA policies that might affect soil carbon, and finishing the episode with a good news story of the week.

Resources

Soil organic matter protects US maize yields and lowers crop insurance payouts under drought. Daniel A Kane et al. 2021, Environmental Research Letters, March 2021

Management of cover crops in temperate climates influences soil organic carbon stocks: a meta-analysis. McClelland et al. 2020, Ecological Applications, December 2020

Off-Season 'Cover' Crops Expand as US Growers Eye Low-Carbon Future

USDA Launches First Phase of Soil Carbon Monitoring Efforts

Soil Health Congressional Bill Tracker

Kiss the Ground 

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This week on Carbon Removal Newsroom, we’re recapping a year of carbon removal— what went right, what went wrong, and what we’re expecting in 2022. 

In 2021, terms like Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR), Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), Negative Emissions Technologies (NETs) entered mainstream climate discourse, corporate plans, and government agendas.

The IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report was released in August and underscored the need for carbon removal by highlighting the likelihood of global overshooting of the Paris goals. The United States supported DAC and carbon storage like never before with the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill passed in November. 

Climeworks launched its Orca facility in Iceland, which is making rocks underground out of our atmospheric carbon pollution as we speak. Nasdaq purchased a carbon removal marketplace. A growing share of the world’s economy was covered by ambitious net-zero commitments, which imply that maybe, at some point, corporations and governments might start removing a lot of co2 from the air.

Meanwhile, Exxon snapped up some prime carbon storage property in the Gulf of Mexico, United Airlines started assuaging travelers with advertisements of airline-sponsored DAC, and China said it might keep a few coal plants open down the line but cancel out the emissions by capturing atmospheric carbon. Those stories, plus so many more, made 2021 a landmark year for the field (and we didn’t even say the words Elon Musk). Let’s rundown the year that was and look ahead to 2022.

Panelists Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo and Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition join host Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori for this episode.

Resources:

A Research Strategy for Ocean-based Carbon Dioxide Removal and Sequestration

Carbon Brief Newsletters

CDR Primer 2021

The Climate Solution Actually Adding Millions of Tons of CO2 Into the Atmosphere

Climate Reparations (Intelligencer)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climateworkersanonymous.com

In this week’s science-focused episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, hosts Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori and Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo are joined by co-host Dr. Jane Zelikova, executive director of the Soil Carbon Solutions Center and joint faculty in crop and soil science at Colorado State University.

This week we’re discussing new research which explores the relationship between geology, climate, and weathering rates across the continental United States, as well as an opinion piece in the journal Global Change Biology, arguing that biological processes will also affect the carbon removal potential of enhanced weathering.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climateworkersanonymous.com

This week on Carbon Removal Newsroom, we’re bringing you the most significant Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) policy updates from COP26.

At the time of this episode’s release, COP26 is coming to a close. Many countries are pledging to bring their emissions to net-zero in the next few decades. What are the specifics of these new pledges, how does CDR fit into all of this, and what needs to happen to push the CDR industry forward in a timely manner?

Plus, last Friday night, House Democrats along with 13 Republican Representatives voted to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal that their Senate colleagues had approved 87 days earlier.  Included in the bill is $3.5b to build four direct air capture hubs— an amount that dwarfs all other federal support of DAC to date. The bill also provides $2.5b to build geologic storage sites for storing the gas underground and $2.1b to transport it via pipelines. Will this all be enough to create significant progress towards U.S. climate goals?

Our good news story of the week centers around Biden’s Carbon Removal “Earthshot” initiative, which has the goal of bringing carbon removal costs to $100/ton by 2030.

We are joined by special guest host David Morrow, the Director of Research at the Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy at American University, and Research Fellow at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at George Mason University. As always, hosts Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori and Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo are here to weigh in on the latest carbon removal happenings.

Resources

Sustainable Carbon Removal Report (Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy)

Why the BID is a BIG Down Payment on Clean Energy

Buying down the Cost of Direct Air Capture

U.S. sets goal to drive down cost of removing CO2 from atmosphere

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climateworkersanonymous.com

This science-focused episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom features hosts Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori, Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo, and Dr. Jane Zelikova, executive director of the Soil Carbon Solutions Center and joint faculty in crop and soil science at Colorado State University.

This week, world leaders continue climate discussions at COP26 in Glasgow, with one of the recurring conversations focusing on protecting the world’s forests. A new forest initiative called LEAF, or Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance, was supported by the US and UK governments as well as some large multinational corporations like Amazon and Unilever. LEAF would allow developing nations to sell forest carbon offsets in the voluntary carbon markets— but should these count as carbon credits? Is additional carbon being stored?

We also look at forest carbon over-crediting in California, where research teams from several US Universities found that the state had over-counted forest CO2 by 30%. So who is responsible for this large quantity of excess credits? 

As always, we end the episode with a good news story of the week.

Resources

Systematic over-crediting in California’s forest carbon offsets program

Re-branding REDD: How the LEAF Coalition aims to greenwash Big Polluters like Delta Airlines, Amazon, Bayer, Nestlé, Salesforce, and Unilever

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climateworkersanonymous.com

We’re back with another business-focused episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, hosted by Radhika Moolgavkar, Nori’s Head of Supply and Methodology, along with Holly Jean Buck, Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University at Buffalo (P.S.— look out for Holly’s new book, Ending Fossil Fuels: Why Net-Zero Is Not Enough, coming out on November 16th!). Plus, we’re joined by our co-host for business-focused episodes: Susan Su, partner focused on climate investing at Toba Capital and course creator for Climate Change for VCs, a course and community through terra.do.

This week, we are taking a look at the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), the summit in Glasgow which begins Sunday, October 31st and lasts for two weeks. Specifically, we dive into the UK’s announcement calling for a global net-zero commitment by 2050, and what the implications of this goal might be for the carbon removal industry.

Next, we discuss some of the VC funding that happened in October, particularly for CarbonCapture, a modular DAC company, that landed a huge round. Plus, Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto recently announced a plan to invest $7.5b by 2030 into decarbonizing their business. Does their foray into Direct Air Capture signal a trend that big emitters are ready to invest into this technology at the scale necessary to really bring down costs per ton? Or are they looking for a way to avoid emissions cuts? Or both?

We finish the episode with two good news stories from Susan: the first is that electric car sales more than doubled year-over-year in August to over 516,400! Second is that turtle populations in Cape Verde rose from around ten thousand in 2015, to almost 200,000 this year after successful conservation efforts.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climateworkersanonymous.com

This week on Carbon Removal Newsroom, we’re back with a policy-focused episode with panelists Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo, Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition and host Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori.

First up, we’re discussing an essay from Harvard professor David Keith in the New York Times titled, “What’s the Least Bad Way to Cool the Planet?” Keith compares Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and geoengineering, pointing out that the two approaches operate on different timescales— CDR will take decades to build up, and longer still to have a significant impact due to the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Solar Radiation Management, a type of geoengineering, could be done with today's technology and theoretically has an immediate cooling effect. There is a lot we don't know but his ‘hunch’ is that geoengineering would work more quickly, be cheaper, and benefit the world’s hotter regions more immediately. He calls for governments to fund more research into the topic so the two techniques can be more accurately compared.

We debate David Keith’s main points and Holly Buck describes the socio-technical systems that might be necessary to deploy geoengineering and larger-scale CDR most effectively.

Next, we’re looking at the Cement Decarbonization legislation passed in California that mandates the state’s cement industry to become net-zero by 2045. According to the Climateworks Foundation’s Rebecca Dell, this is the first time any US state has required an industry to eliminate its net greenhouse gas emissions. Cement production is the second-largest emitter of any industry in California, after only oil and gas production, and it also contributes to significant local air pollution. While the greenhouse gas mitigation from this move is notable, this law also has the potential to provide needed policy support to the carbon removal and carbon utilization industries.

We discuss the types of incentives that might be most successful in moving the needle on hard to abate emissions, then end the episode with a good news story of the week from Chris— Japan is restarting several aging nuclear reactors in an attempt to meet its carbon emissions goals.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climateworkersanonymous.com

In our first science-focused episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, hosts Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori and Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo are joined by our new science co-host, Dr. Jane Zelikova, executive director of the Soil Carbon Solutions Center and joint faculty in crop and soil science at Colorado State University.

First this week, we’re looking at new research showing, “Limited effects of tree planting on forest canopy cover and rural livelihoods in Northern India,” and understanding why one researcher referred to the large-scale tree planting program in Northern India as a failure. We explain the significance of these research findings and the potential improvements necessary to ensure that tree planting achieves its stated goals of sequestering carbon dioxide, increasing biodiversity, and improving the livelihoods of local communities.

Plus, a recent Twitter thread from German journalist Tin Fischer tells the story of a “Trillion Trees,” a figure that hardly held substance when first suggested, then took off in popular culture faster than climate scientists could shut it down. While it’s a catchy idea, the scientific paper used to support Trillion Trees in 2017 was widely critiqued for miscalculations and ultimately rescinded. We look at why this idea gained so much traction and what the realistic role of large-scale tree planting might be in drawing down carbon and addressing climate change.

Finally, we put reforestation up against the portfolio of carbon removal solutions, looking at where it fits in and how it should be funded.

We close out the episode with a good news story from Radhika on the winning bears of fat bear week in Alaska!

Let us know what you think of the show by reaching out to [email protected], we'd love to hear your feedback!

Resources

The Oxford Principles for Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting

The Oxford Offsetting Principles & carbon removal, w/ Eli Mitchell-Larson on Reversing Climate Change

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climateworkersanonymous.com

In this business-focused episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, we’re discussing the major carbontech funding announcements that occurred throughout September, along with the news from Norway’s $1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund that they’ll be requiring their portfolio holdings to go net-zero.

This episode is hosted by Radhika Moolgavkar, Nori’s Head of Supply and Methodology, along with Holly Jean Buck, Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University at Buffalo. Plus, give a warm welcome to our new co-host for business-focused episodes: Susan Su, partner focused on climate investing at Toba Capital and course creator for Climate Change for VCs, a course and community through terra.do.

***

We start the episode by discussing the news from Norway’s sovereign fund: with $1.4 trillion of assets, this fund is the world’s largest single holder of stocks, and is the latest pool of investment money using its influence to decarbonize the economy. The fund currently holds a position in several of the world’s largest oil companies, so achieving ‘net-zero’ may necessitate use of carbon offsets and carbon removal. 

Meanwhile in the carbontech start-up world, the sustainable chemicals company Solugen announced $357 million of new investment in a venture round lead by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund as well as Blackrock, Carbon Direct, and others. Solugen makes chemicals out of sugars, as opposed to the fossil fuel inputs traditionally used by the highly emitting chemical industry. In the future, the company aims to use CO2 as a feedstock, potentially creating a vast new market for CO2 utilization.

Also in September, Prometheus Fuels announced a $1.5 billion valuation after a series B funding round led by shipping giant Maersk and BMW. Prometheus aims to sell ‘electro-fuels’ by capturing CO2 directly from the atmosphere, mixing it with water, and then using proprietary catalysts and filters to restructure the chemical bonds to create hydrocarbons. They also say their product will be cheaper than fossil fuels very soon.

Also, Droneseed’s $36 Million A valuation is more evidence that the carbontech space is hot.

On September 8th, Swiss company Climeworks held a launch event for their new Direct Air Capture facility named Orca in Hellisheidi, Iceland. Orca is now the world’s largest DAC plant and plans to capture and permanently sequester 4000 tons of CO2 per year, and turn it into basaltic rock.

Charm Industrial announced the delivery of 1000 tons of permanent carbon removal ahead of schedule using their bio-oil technology.

Finally, Holly Buck finishes the episode with a good news story of the week.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climateworkersanonymous.com

In this special bonus episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, we’re bringing you a panel from this week at Climate Week NYC that covers the state of the carbon removal market, as told by today’s buyers and sellers.

The panel is hosted by CarbonCure technologies and is moderated by Peter Minor, Director of Science and Innovation at Carbon180.

Panelists include:

Robert Niven, CarbonCure Technologies Chair & CEO

Stacy Kauk, Shopify Sustainability Fund Director

Mischa Repmann, Swiss Re Senior Environmental Management Specialist

& Marcius Extavour, XPRIZE Vice President of Energy & Climate

Listen in for a comprehensive assessment of the current state of the carbon removal market, and to hear goals and predictions for the future of the industry. The panelists discuss the pace of innovation, market making, carbon removal as a de-risking mechanism, and the role that government should play in scaling up the market. Then, the panelists answer an assortment of audience questions during the last 30 minutes of the event.

Learn more about each participating organization from this panel at carboncure.com, carbon180.org, shopify.com, swissre.com and xprize.org.

Background details from the Climate Week NYC event page:

"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report reiterated that any serious climate strategy must include a portfolio of aggressive emissions reductions paired with robust carbon removal. While policymakers consider pathways to advance carbon removal development and deployment at the massive scale needed by midcentury, private sector leaders are making their own climate commitments. Increasingly, corporate strategies have centered around carbon removal. These early adopters of carbon removal are critical to catalyzing the field and spurring a large-scale cleanup of legacy emissions. Moderated by Carbon180, this virtual Climate Week NYC conversation will include a range of perspectives on both the opportunities and challenges in buying and selling high quality carbon removal credits on our path to net zero."

#climateweekNYC #climateweekCDR

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climateworkersanonymous.com