The Carbon Curve

Episode 45 is with Eli Mitchell-Larson, Co-founder and Chief Scientist at Carbon Gap, and Robert Höglund, Co-founder of CDR.fyi and Fund Manager at Milkywire.

Today Na’im speaks with Eli and Robert about their latest publication titled “All excess emissions must be removed”, which argues for the central role of carbon removal (CDR) to address the global carbon debt, especially among historically high emitters, not only the “residual emissions” remaining at the year of net zero - and how this reframing expands the use case for carbon removal.

In this episode, Na’im, Eli, and Robert discuss:

* Previous research collaborations - the ability to pay and mitigation deterrence;

* The significance of carbon budgets;

* The definition(s) of residual emissions and CDR optimal emissions;

* The need for large-scale carbon removal and the role of historic emitters;

* Justice issues and the equitable management of carbon budgets; and

* The importance of innovative carbon removal use cases.

Relevant Links:

* Carbon Gap’s Website

* Who Can Pay for Carbon Removal? - Carbon Gap

* How to avoid carbon removal delaying emissions reductions - Carbon Gap

* All excess emissions must be removed - Carbon Gap

* Marginal Carbon Substack

* Warming caused by cumulative carbon emissions towards the trillionth tonne - MR Allen et al

About Eli:

Eli Mitchell-Larson is a climate advocate, policy entrepreneur, and researcher based at the University of Oxford. He is co-founder and Chief Scientist at Carbon Gap, Europe’s leading NGO focused on building expertise and policy proposals to responsibly scale carbon dioxide removal. As a research Associate @ Oxford Net Zero, his work has helped form the basis of scientific frameworks to define durable net zero, climate-compatible offsetting (Oxford Offsetting Principles), supply-side climate policies (Carbon Takeback Obligation).

About Robert:

Robert Höglund manages the charitable Milkywire Climate Transformation Fund, Co-founded the market overview CDR.fyi, writes for Carbon Gap, as well as his own publication Marginal Carbon.

This episode was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Consecon Foundation.

This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.

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 on the advisory board of the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative and Terraset, and a former policy fellow with Elemental Impact. 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.

Tank Chen is the Head of Content and Community at CDR.fyi, a public benefit corporation dedicated to accelerating carbon removal through transparency. He is also the co-founder of CDRjobs, a career platform for the carbon removal industry. Based in Taiwan, Tank is a carbon removal advocate focused on educating policymakers, corporate leaders, and the public on the importance of carbon removal, using data-driven insights to support communication and policy advocacy. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via LinkedIn.

Episode 44 is with Jim Mann, Founder and CEO of UNDO

A few weeks ago, Microsoft inked a new 15,000 ton carbon removal deal with UNDO and similar deals with other enhanced rock weathering (ERW) companies. Na’im speaks with Jim Mann, Founder and CEO of UNDO, about the company’s efforts in scaling carbon removal through ERW both in the U.K. and in Canada.

In this episode, Na’im and Jim discuss:

* The origin of UNDO and the reasons for exploring ERW as the key CDR method; 

* The operational processes at UNDO;

* UNDO’s experience going through the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition;

* The company’s approach to measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV);

* Partnerships with academia, local community, and businesses in the supply-chain;

* UNDO’s expansion into Canada and future goals; and

* Impactful policy support

Relevant Links:

* UNDO Website

* UNDO LinkedIn

* UK Government memo on ERW

* Canadian Wollastonite website 

* UNDO X Newcastle Peer-reviewed paper in Plos One

* Xprize Carbon Removal - Top 20 Finalists Announcement

About Jim

With a background in ecology, combined with extensive experience in scaling businesses, Jim was drawn to the fight against climate change and the ecological disaster it’s bringing with it. In 2019, Jim co-founded The Future Forest Company - a reforestation effort with a mission to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and restore biodiversity across the UK.  

Realising that tree planting could only go so far in helping solve the climate crisis, UNDO was born with the aim of delivering large-scale carbon removal projects with a permanence of 100,000+ years. 

When Jim is not busy creating a liveable planet for future generations, he runs competitively at ultra-distance, his favourite events being 100-mile or more mountain races. He lives in Scotland with his partner Liz and their two young children.

About UNDO

With pioneering enhanced rock weathering technology, UNDO generates durable, high-quality carbon removal to support businesses on their pathway to net zero. This nature-based process also improves soil fertility, food security and the health of our oceans. 

Since 2022, UNDO has worked at the cutting edge of science alongside experts in the climate, carbon and agricultural sectors to develop an ERW technology which accelerates natural weathering processes to remove carbon from the atmosphere while bringing soil and crop benefits to agricultural communities. The UNDO operational, scientific and technical model leverages existing infrastructure, with a carbon efficiency of greater than 90 percent, allowing UNDO to quickly scale operations whilst offering carbon removal at competitive prices. UNDO aims to be the first company to remove one million tonnes of CO₂, a first step towards billion-tonne scale global operations. They operate primarily in the United Kingdom and now, Canada.

This episode was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Consecon Foundation.

This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.

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.

Tank Chen is a carbon removal advocate based in Taiwan whose focus is on communicating the importance of carbon removal to policy makers, corporate leaders, and the broader public through education, communications, and policy advocacy.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via LinkedIn.

Episode 43 is with Luke Connell and Shannon Sterling

As we wrap up Climate Week NYC today, I wanted to share a special episode with the CarbonRun leadership team on their exciting $25M offtake agreement with Frontier Climate - probably the biggest carbon removal news of Climate Week. It even hit the front page of the New York Times. We talk about what they’ve been up to leading to this announcement, and what this major milestone means for their company and the communities they work with.

In this episode, Na’im, Luke, and Shannon discuss: 

* The origins and mission of Carbon Run; 

* Luke's journey into carbon removal and entrepreneurship; 

* Shannon's extensive background in environmental science and working in communities

* The science and benefits of river alkalinity enhancement;

* Challenges and opportunities in scaling this technology;

* The significance of their recent offtake agreement with Frontier;

* The economic and ecological co-benefits of their approach;

* Effective community engagement and maintaining public trust; and

* Policy and regulatory needs for advancing carbon removal.

Relevant Links:

* CarbonRun Website

* New York Times article on CarbonRun

* Frontier Climate CarbonRun offtake details

* What is CarbonRun - YouTube

* Nova Scotia's rivers still suffer from acid rain. Restoring them could also help the climate - CBC News

* Where Ideas Meet Impact: Hydrologist's research positions her to take a global lead in atmospheric carbon dioxide removal - Dalhousie University

* Frontier Climate website

About CarbonRun

Founded and developed in Nova Scotia by an environmental scientist and freshwater ecologist, CarbonRun’s team of experts are dedicated to restoring rivers damaged by pollution to protect aquatic life. Its founders are global experts on river ecosystem health with decades of applied experience restoring rivers.

About Luke Connell

Over his career, Luke Connell has strived to bridge the gap between social impact and entrepreneurialism, finding his path to CDR in 2020. Prior to co-founding CarbonRun, he led an innovation based, national charity and co-owned a popular, 3 location Toronto restaurant. He has a proven track record as a small-business founder and team builder. Luke sits on various charitable boards and actively invests in promising sustainability companies. He lives in Toronto with his wife, 2 children and dog Rudy.

About Shannon Sterling

Shannon Sterling, PhD (Duke) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and  Environmental Sciences at Dalhousie University, and an internationally-recognized expert in  catchment hydrology and biogeochemistry, with specific expertise in freshwater acidification and  climate change. Her research group has studied the hydrology and watersheds of Nova Scotia for the  past 15 years and led the discovery that aluminum levels were still at toxic concentrations in Nova  Scotia due to a legacy of acid rain. 

Dr. Sterling earned her Bachelor of Science in Geography at McGill University, Master of Science in Fluvial Geomorphology at the University of British Columbia, her Ph.D. in Earth Sciences at Duke University and was a Chateaubriand and a Marie Curie Intra European Fellow at the Universite de Pierre et Marie Curie (Sorbonne Université) in Paris.

This episode was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Consecon Foundation.

This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.

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.

Tank Chen is a carbon removal advocate based in Taiwan whose focus is on communicating the importance of carbon removal to policy makers, corporate leaders, and the broader public through education, communications, and policy advocacy.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via LinkedIn.

Episode 42 is with Sebastian Manhart, Senior Policy Advisor at Carbonfuture

Sebastian Manhart discusses recent carbon dioxide removal (CDR) policies in Europe and the U.S. He points out key policy achievements, compares the EU's and U.S.'s different CDR approaches, and emphasizes the importance as well as the challenges of integrating CDR into compliance markets. He also mentions his own projects aimed at advancing the CDR industry.

In this episode, Na’im and Sebastian discuss:

* recent developments in carbon removal policies across Europe and the U.S.;

* significant policy wins over the past year;

* key legislative approaches to the EU’s carbon removal policies

* Progress from individual European countries in CDR;

* the approaches of the EU and the U.S.;

* the potential and readiness of integrating CDR into compliance markets;

* the importance of government roles and the need for developing domestic CDR industries;

* the founding of the German CDR Association, DVNE, the U.S. Biochar Coalition, and CDRjobs.

Relevant Links:

* How the EU is shaping policies to pursue global leadership in carbon removal (2023)

* Carbonfuture website 

* CDRjobs website 

* US Biochar Coalition website

* Enhanced Weathering Alliance website

* Deutscher Verband für Negative Emissionen (DVNE) website

* Carbon Gap funding EU vs US analysis

* Sebastian Manhart (LinkedIn, Website, Newsletter)

* Compliance Market Poll

* Denmark’s Livestock Tax

About Sebastian:

Sebastian Manhart is a CDR policy expert. He is the Senior Policy Advisor of Carbonfuture, the world’s leading CDR platform. Sebastian is also the Chair of the Board of the DVNE, the German CDR Association, as well as a founding Director of the US Biochar Coalition. Sebastian also recently founded CDRjobs, the sector’s leading job platform. Previously, Sebastian spent a decade as a tech entrepreneur, advised Angela Merkel´s Chancellery, and worked with governments globally through the World Bank. Sebastian is an economist with a BA from UCL and an MPhil from Cambridge University.

About Carbonfuture:

Carbonfuture builds the trust infrastructure needed to scale CDR. It operates across pathways, focused on developing both MRV and marketplaces services.

The DVNE is the German CDR association, supporting the German government in achieving its ambitious 2045 net-zero target.

The US Biochar Coalition aims to establish high-quality, permanent biochar carbon removal as a key pillar in American industrial and climate strategy.

CDRjobs is the one stop shop for anyone transitioning into, or within CDR with all jobs in CDR in a single place.

This episode was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Consecon Foundation.

This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.

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.

Tank Chen is a carbon removal advocate based in Taiwan whose focus is on communicating the importance of carbon removal to policy makers, corporate leaders, and the broader public through education, communications, and policy advocacy.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via LinkedIn.

Episode 41 is with Noah Deich, Senior Advisor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management

Today Na’im speaks with Noah Deich about how the US Department of Energy (DOE) is contributing to the carbon removal landscape through innovative programs and policies aimed at decarbonizing the energy sector and advancing carbon removal technologies. 

In this episode, Na’im and Noah discuss:

* Noah's journey into the carbon removal space; 

* The role of DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management;

* Key innovation programs and initiatives supporting carbon removal; 

* The Carbon Negative Shot initiative and its goals;

* The importance of Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) in carbon removal projects;

* The DOE’s pilot program for purchasing carbon removal credits;

* Community benefits and engagement in carbon removal projects;

* Approaches in driving market demand for carbon removal.

Relevant Links:

* DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management

* Carbon Negative Shot

* Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Pilot Prize

* Direct Air Capture Pre-Commercial Technology Prize

* Commercial Direct Air Capture Pilot Prize

* The Roads to Removal (R2R) Report

* Na’im’s reflections on the unveiling of Mammoth in Iceland

About Noah:

Noah Deich is a Senior Advisor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. Noah came to FECM from Carbon180, which he co-founded to catalyze the development of a portfolio of carbon removal solutions. Prior to that, Noah was an economic and management consultant with Accenture and ICF international, where he gained experience in many fields including environmental market and carbon offset modeling and renewable and fossil energy power plants valuations. Noah received his MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and his BA from the University of Virginia

About DOE FECM:

The DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) minimizes environmental and climate impacts of fossil fuels and industrial processes while working to achieve net-zero emissions across the U.S. economy. Priority areas of technology work include carbon capture, carbon conversion, carbon dioxide removal, carbon dioxide transport and storage, hydrogen production with carbon management, methane emissions reduction, and critical minerals production. To learn more, visit the FECM website, sign up for FECM news announcements, and visit the National Energy Technology Laboratory website.

This episode was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Consecon Foundation.

This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.

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.

Tank Chen is a carbon removal advocate based in Taiwan whose focus is on communicating the importance of carbon removal to policy makers, corporate leaders, and the broader public through education, communications, and policy advocacy.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via LinkedIn.

Episode 40 is with Anu Khan, Founder and Executive Director at Carbon Removal Standards Initiative

Anu founded the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative or CRSI in early 2024 while an Entrepreneur in Residence at Carbon180. She previously led the Science & Innovation team at Carbon180 where her work focused on measurement, reporting, and verification (or MRV) as a crucial level for building a just, equitable, and highly accountable carbon removal (or CDR) sector. Prior to Carbon180, Anu worked in climate philanthropy at Founders Pledge. Her academic background is in electrochemistry and materials science. 

CRSI is a new nonprofit initiative that provides technical assistance and capacity building for carbon removal policy, focused specifically on carbon quantification. As a nonprofit, CRSI is able to provide financially unconflicted information to policymakers, regulators, and other NGOs working in CDR, decoupled from the sale of carbon credits or the growth of carbon markets. 

In this episode, Na’im and Anu discuss:

* The Carbon Removal Standards Initiative (CRSI);

* the importance of Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) in ensuring justice and accountability;

* efforts to provide technically unconflicted information to policymakers and regulators;

* bridging gaps in carbon quantification standards and build industry trust; and

* the need for robust and scientifically sound standards tailored to various industries and jurisdictions.

Relevant Links:

* Carbon Removal Standards Initiative - Website

* High Accountability MRV (2024) - Carbon180

* CRSI Quantification Resource Database

* Quantification Beyond Crediting (Blog) - CRSI

This episode was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Consecon Foundation.

This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.

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.

Tank Chen is a carbon removal advocate based in Taiwan whose focus is on communicating the importance of carbon removal to policy makers, corporate leaders, and the broader public through education, communications, and policy advocacy.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via LinkedIn.

Episode 39 is with Mark Cyffka, Co-Founder and COO of AirMyne. 

Today Na’im speaks with Mark Cyffka about common barriers to scaling the different approaches of direct air capture technologies, how AirMyne is looking to bypass those barriers with its technology, what the cost trajectory of DAC will be between now and 2050, and how to think about the modularity versus large-system approaches of developing DAC technologies.

In this episode, Na’im and Mark discuss:

* AirMyne’s progress since the company was launched;

* Common barriers to scaling direct air capture today;

* AirMyne’s technology;

* Cost trajectory for DAC by 2050;

* AirMyne’s partnership with CO2 offtakes and its’ role in in the two Regional DAC Hub projects in parallel to its partners;

* Policy initiatives to address gaps in the scaling of DAC; and

* The importance of social acceptance for DAC to scale.

Relevant Links:

* AirMyne’s website

* “Hello world, we’re AirMyne.”

* TechCrunch - “AirMyne taps geothermal energy to scale direct air carbon capture”

* ETH Zurich - Cost of direct air carbon capture to remain higher than hoped

* Berkeley Lab - Exploring Community-Centered Direct Air Capture

* U.S. Department of Energy - Project Selections for FOA 2735: Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs – Topic Area 1 (Feasibility) and Topic Area 2 (Design)

About Mark:

Mark Cyffka is the co-founder at AirMyne where he leads day to day operations. Before AirMyne, Mark spent more than a decade in operations roles in the deeptech ecosystem, including sales, engineering, and product management roles. At BASF, Mark helped invent & commercialize products used to manufacture EVs and solar power systems. After the success of that product led to a spin-out, Mark advised the Finnish government on deeptech innovation with a focus on climate. Mark studied chemistry at Harvey Mudd College.

About AirMyne:

AirMyne is a company working to scale high-quality carbon removal through direct air capture (DAC). The company is based in Berkeley, California and employs 19 people. AirMyne has built, demonstrated, and patented a low-temperature, solvent-based DAC approach designed for low cost, safety, and scalability. 

This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.

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.

Tank Chen is a carbon removal advocate based in Taiwan whose focus is on communicating the importance of carbon removal to policy makers, corporate leaders, and the broader public through education, communications, and policy advocacy.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via LinkedIn.

Episode 38 is with Dai Ellis (Co-founder and CEO) and Vilas Rao (Co-founder) of Cascade Climate.

Today Na’im speaks with Dai Ellis and Vilas Rao about how Cascade Climate is working to address key challenges in open-system carbon dioxide removal (CDR), particularly around quantification of enhanced rock weathering (ERW), why a community-built quantification standard is key to increase consistency in MRV practices across the ERW market, and how to encourage industry adoption and data sharing to advance understanding of ERW.

In this episode, Na’im, Dai, and Vilas discuss:

* The co-founders’ vision for launching and building Cascade;

* The problem Cascade was founded to solve;

* The reason for focusing on ERW and the key challenges associated;

* The current state of net removal quantification and the reason for creating a community-built standard;

* Incentives to encourage adoption and implementation of the community-built standard;

* The importance of having data-access and encouraging data-sharing in driving shared learning and building trust;

* The role policymakers play in ERW;

* Responsible deployment of ERW in the Global South; and

* The good-movie and the bad-movie versions of open-system climate intervention.

Relevant Links:

* Carbon Curve Podcast Ep. 3 - “Dai Ellis on what scaling up HIV medicines can teach us about building a thriving carbon removal market”

* The Great Unwind - Substack by Dai Ellis

* Carbon Travels - Substack by John Sanchez

* Foundations for a Healthy ERW Market Cycle - Blog Post

* Cascade Climate on OpenAir’s This is CDR webinar series

* Cascade Climate website

About Dai:

Dai Ellis is CEO and co-founder at Cascade Climate. Dai is an entrepreneur with deep experience founding and scaling high-performing nonprofit and for-profit ventures across climate, health, and education. He has co-founded five different ventures and paid forward what he’s learned the hard way as an executive coach to climate tech founders and CEOs. Earlier in his career, Dai led the Clinton Health Access Initiative’s pioneering work on market shaping for drugs, vaccines, and other health products in the Global South. More recently, he has been at the forefront of efforts to import learning and tools from global health market shaping into climate tech.

About Vilas:

Vilas Rao is a co-founder at Cascade Climate. Vilas has been growing businesses in the agriculture technology space for the past decade, looking for ways to apply technology to agricultural production systems to drive a more sustainable and secure food supply. Prior to Cascade, Vilas was the Chief Revenue Officer for Arable Labs, which delivers a real-time crop monitoring solution for farming. Earlier in his career, Vilas led the scale up of FieldView, the largest data platform and partner ecosystem in agriculture while at The Climate Corporation. Vilas got his start in agriculture working with smallholder farmers in Nepal, which led to his lifelong fascination with the connections between the food system, economic opportunity, and our planetary footprint.

About Cascade Climate:

Cascade Climate works to accelerate progress in climate interventions that leverage Earth’s natural systems—from soils to oceans to glaciers—to stabilize our climate. As a philanthropically-backed nonprofit, Cascade coordinates and resources ambitious initiatives across science, industry, philanthropy, and policy to overcome the core bottlenecks that are holding back the most promising open-system climate interventions. Its initial focus is advancing the development of a healthy market for enhanced rock weathering (ERW), underpinned by its scientific evidence base and its potential for durable, gigaton-scale carbon dioxide removal.

This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.

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.

Tank Chen is a carbon removal advocate based in Taiwan whose focus is on communicating the importance of carbon removal to policy makers, corporate leaders, and the broader public through education, communications, and policy advocacy.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via LinkedIn.

Episode 37 is with Lukas May, Head of Policy and Expansion at Isometric

The traditional carbon offset market is riddled with problems. We've seen reporting on this from The Guardian, Bloomberg, and other media outlets. Researchers at CarbonPlan have also done some excellent work exposing just how broken some of these systems really are. As we build a new carbon removal industry, we now have an opportunity to build trust in a high integrity carbon removal market.

One company, Isometric, is working to figure that out, building scientific integrity, transparency, and incentive alignment into their business model. The company just launched its own carbon registry this week, and the question is, can the company avoid the same pitfalls of the legacy actors in the traditional carbon offset market?

In this episode, Na’im and Lukas discuss:

* Isometric’s mission and why trust is the central job of scaling carbon removal;

* Definitions of the terms standards, methodologies, and protocols;

* Ways that Isometric’s products improve on incumbent models that exist today;

* How Isometric addresses problem around misaligned incentive in the market today;

* How Isometric defines quality;

* Isometric’s approach in developing protocols and partnering with the wider community;

* The role of policy in helping build trust and rigor;

* Alternatives to countries’ building their own methodologies

Relevant Links:

* Launch of Isometric Registry

* Isometric receives ICROA Conditional Endorsement

* Isometric Website

* Isometric Registry

* Isometric Protocols

* Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Pilot Prize

About Lukas

Lukas May is the Head of Policy and Expansion at Isometric. He has spent over a decade working between government and start-ups. He was most recently a Senior Civil Servant in the UK Government, where he led post-Brexit trade negotiations in the Asia-Pacific region. Before that he led international expansion at fintech start-up Wise, and he started his career at the UK financial services regulator.

About Isometric

Isometric is a new kind of registry on a mission to ensure the transition to carbon removal happens responsibly and fast. As carbon markets mature, buyers are rapidly shifting their attention and purchases from low-quality, temporary carbon offsets to high-quality, durable carbon removals. The Isometric Standard sets the world’s most stringent set of rules for removing carbon, raising the bar for scientific rigor, transparency, and incentive alignment. The Isometric Registry provides a permanent audit trail for all credits issued by Isometric, allowing the information behind every credit to be reviewed and scrutinized. Isometric was founded in 2022 by CEO Eamon Jubbawy, who previously co-founded Onfido. The company is based in London and New York and has raised over $25 million from Lowercarbon Capital, Plural, and more.

This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.

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.

Tank Chen is a carbon removal advocate based in Taiwan whose focus is on communicating the importance of CDR to policy makers, corporate leaders, and the broader public through education, communications, and policy advocacy.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via LinkedIn.

Episode 36 is with Nikki Batchelor of XPRIZE and Ben Rubin of Carbon Business Council.

Carbon removal can be a force for good - not just in creating lasting climate benefits - but in delivering social, economic, and ecological benefits as well. Indeed, the future of carbon removal depends on that promise playing out. But it isn’t a foregone conclusion that large scale carbon removal is uncompromisingly and unequivocally good for people and planet. As we build this new industry - an intentional approach to its responsible deployment is absolutely necessary. Today, Na’im speaks with Nikki Batchelor and Ben Rubin about the recently launched Carbon Dioxide Removal Responsible Deployment Training (CDR RDT).

In this episode, Na’im, Nikki, and Ben discuss:

* Achievements the Carbon Business Council has made since launch;

* The XPRIZE Carbon Removal Competition and the final stage of the competition;

* Findings from XPRIZE’s Carbon Removal Innovation Landscape and the 2024 Outlook report;

* The meaning and importance of deploying carbon removal responsibly;

* Carbon Business Council’s Responsible Deployment Training program;

* Embedding environmental justice and community engagement approaches into XPRIZE competition criteria;

* The adaption of key principles of the training program to a broader global context;

* The implication of the framework for stakeholders beyond carbon removal tech developers; and

* Upcoming announcements and initiatives from XPRIZE and Carbon Business Council.

Relevant Links:

* Breaking Ground: Guidance for Carbon Removal Companies and Funders on Responsible Project Deployment

* CDR Innovation Landscape and 2024 Outlook

* From the Ground Up: Recommendations for Building an Environmentally Just Carbon Removal Industry

* CDR RDT, A Training Course & Suite of Foundational Resources for the Responsible Deployment of Carbon Removal  

* CDR RDT: Carbon Dioxide Removal Responsible Deployment Trainings

* Responsible & Regional Deployment of Carbon Removal: A Pacific Northwest Symposium

* Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal (mCDR): Issue Brief

* Sources of opposition to renewable energy projects in the United States

About Nikki:

Nikki Batchelor is the Executive Director for the $100M XPRIZE Carbon Removal, a competition supported by the Musk Foundation to drive innovation, market adoption, and responsible deployment of carbon removal solutions. In this capacity she oversees program operations, develops partnerships, and leads strategic initiatives on topics such as environmental justice and investor engagement, including the Circular Carbon Network that provides market insights for the growing carbon tech and carbon removal sectors. Nikki also supports XPRIZE’s work across the Energy & Climate Domain and previously managed operations and impact programs for the $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE from 2015-2021. She also serves on the Carbon Business Council Board of Directors and Puro.Earth Advisory Board.

About XPRIZE:

XPRIZE is an established global leader in designing, launching, and executing large scale competitions to solve humanity’s greatest challenges. The XPRIZE unique model democratizes innovation by incentivizing crowd-sourced, scientifically viable solutions to create a more equitable and abundant future for all.

About Ben:

Ben Rubin is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Carbon Business Council. Ben serves on the Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee at the U.S. Department of Commerce, a federal appointment position. He is a Research Fellow with the Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal. 

Ben has been advancing climate action throughout his career, leading initiatives for companies, accelerators, governments and nonprofits. His work has galvanized billions of dollars in climate infrastructure funding, passed legislation, and reached hundreds of millions of people through media campaigns.

About Carbon Business Council:

Carbon Business Council (CO2BC), a member-driven and tech-neutral trade association of companies unified to restore the climate, is the preeminent industry voice for carbon management innovators. Together, the nonprofit coalition represents more than 100 companies and organizations across six continents with more than $16.5 billion dollars in combined assets.

This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.

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.

Tank Chen is a carbon removal advocate based in Taiwan whose focus is on communicating the importance of CDR to policy makers, corporate leaders, and the broader public through education, communications, and policy advocacy.

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