We have been running the Climate KIC carbon removal accelerator with Trinity College Dublin, Sustainability Works, Munich Re and ERGO. We are now at stage two. Here is some carbon candy to consider over the Xmas break.
Topics
The topics are carbon credit quality, the affordability and permanence of biochar, American Airlines, exits, carbon capture, Agricarbon, scaling carbon removals, impact, Stripe and Alphabet, carbon removal as a distraction, flawed carbon trading, 2024, geo engineering, and net zero targets.
Companies Are Dropping Carbon Offsets, But Still Buying the Worst Ones
Companies are starting to cool on the market as it faces increasingly sharp criticism from scientists and experts.
Affordability and permanence of biochar as a carbon removal solution
Biochar, a form of charcoal produced from biomass, has the potential to serve as a viable carbon removal solution, but questions regarding its affordability and permanence linger.
American Airlines will pay to bury 10,000 tons of CO2 underground
Graphyte has a totally different tactic, which it calls carbon casting. Essentially, it’s a way to mummify plant matter — preventing it from decaying, which would otherwise release carbon dioxide that the plants absorbed when they were alive through photosynthesis.
Forget IPOs, climate tech investors are chasing a different exit
https://sifted.eu/articles/climate-tech-ipo-exit-private-equity?
The private equity buyout is becoming an increasingly attractive exit for climate tech investors
Pioneering carbon capture for carbon-neutral chemicals
Mimicking photosynthesis, OCOchem’s modular technology – the Carbon FluX Electrolyzer – converts CO2 and water into liquid formate
Barclays and Shell plough money into carbon removal start-up Agricarbon
Two FTSE 100 companies are injecting funding into Agricarbon, a soil carbon measurement company which is aiming to help accelerate the drive towards meeting net zero emissions targets.
Carbon removals: How to scale a new gigaton industry
CO2 removal (CDR) capacity is far from the gigaton scale needed to round out businesses’ net-zero efforts by 2050. We explore a mature CDR market’s potential and possible first-mover advantages.
How carbon removal technology is like a time machine
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/12/07/1084606/carbon-removal-technology-time-machine/
Sucking greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere could help address climate change. But so far, available technology is barely winding the clock back.
Can Rock Dust Soak Up Carbon Emissions? A Giant Experiment Is Set to Find Out
https://www.wired.com/story/rock-dust-soak-up-carbon-emissions-climate-experiment/
The idea of sprinkling rock dust on farmland to soak up atmospheric carbon will be tested at large scale, thanks to a $57 million purchase from corporations including Stripe and Alphabet.
Magical’ tech innovations a distraction from real solutions, climate experts warn
Total current technology-based CO2 removal, excluding nature-based means such as planting new forests, removes just 0.01m tonnes of CO2, according to recent research led by Friedlingstein, which is more than a million times smaller than current fossil fuel CO2 emissions.
The flawed carbon credit trade needs fixing
https://www.ft.com/content/5f425777-1c2a-4002-ad44-2a304bf2186d
The $2bn global trade in voluntary carbon markets, or VCMs, has been battered by allegations of greenwashing, and prices have plummeted from peaks last year. The marketplace is considered to be a free-for-all, with dubious standards and limited transparency. With the right rules, Bloomberg NEF, a research provider, says the offset market could reach $1tn.
2024 will be a huge year for the carbon capture, usage and removal sector
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/2024-will-be-huge-year-carbon-capture-usage-and-removal-sector
By 2030, global investment in carbon removal capacity is predicted to reach between $100 billion and $400 billion.
Is It Time To Embrace Geoengineering?
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Is-It-Time-To-Embrace-Geoengineering.html
Geoengineering refers to deliberate, large-scale interventions in Earth’s natural systems to counteract climate change or mitigate its effects. These interventions are broadly divided into two groups, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and solar radiation management (SRM)
What Every Leader Needs to Know About Carbon Credits
https://hbr.org/2023/12/what-every-leader-needs-to-know-about-carbon-credits
More than one third of the world’s 2,000 largest publicly held companies have declared net zero targets according to Net Zero Tracker, a database compiled by a collaboration of academics and nonprofits.
