Episode 23 of The Carbon Curve is with Dr. Julio Friedman (Chief Scientist at Carbon Direct), James Mwangi (Co-Founder and CEO of Africa Climate Ventures), Ugbaad Kosar (Director of Environmental Justice at Carbon180), and Marcius Extavour (Chief Climate Solutions Officer at TIME CO2). This episode was recorded from the 2023 Direct Air Capture Summit hosted by Climeworks on June 6, 2023.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the 2023 Direct Air Capture (DAC) Summit hosted by Climeworks and had the chance to moderate a discussion on setting up policy frameworks for scaling up carbon removal.

The summit attracted 400 participants in person and thousands more online. It has become a central convening of DAC and carbon removal experts from around the world. As I stand up a new initiative aimed at scaling carbon removal in Canada, the sessions and networking provided useful insights on where the industry is going, the opportunities on the horizon, and challenges we should expect to contend with. I personally came away from the event re-energized about the prospects of DAC and carbon removal more broadly.

The team at Climeworks did a great job organizing and hosting this event, and they worked with me to facilitate a handful of interviews live from the event venue with leaders in the carbon removal field to discuss their reflections from the summit and what is energizing them at this important juncture of this new industry. I had a chance to speak with:

* Dr. Julio Friedmann, Chief Scientist at Carbon Direct (LinkedIn, Twitter)

* James Mwangi, Co-Founder and CEO of Africa Climate Ventures (LinkedIn, Twitter)

* Link to: Africa Climate Summit 2023

* Ugbaad Kosar, Director of Environmental Justice at Carbon180 (LinkedIn, Twitter)

* Dr. Marcius Extavour, Chief Climate Solutions Officer at TIME CO2 (LinkedIn, Twitter)

I think the substance of these conversations reveal some valuable themes coming out of the event itself that I hope will be orienting and enlightening as we navigate this rapidly growing sector.

This podcast is created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Lucia Simonelli.

Na’im Merchant is the co-founder and Executive Director of Carbon Removal Canada, a policy initiative focused on scaling carbon removal in Canada. He is also a policy fellow with Elemental Excelerator. He previously ran carbon removal consulting practice Carbon Curve, and publishes The Carbon Curve newsletter and podcast. Every two weeks, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing the policies, technologies, and collective action needed to scale up carbon removal around the world.

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