We can't get to net zero without carbon removals
So how do we get to the scale we need?
Getting positive about carbon negative

The carbon removal challenge

Science tells us that this decade we must massively scale up the world’s capacity to remove carbon dioxide from the air, alongside and supporting deep decarbonisation. To do that, we need to urgently get capital into the growing ecosystem of carbon removal projects, while developing the foundations to ensure they are effective and responsible.  

 

Rethinking Removals works to create the demand signals that will get finance flowing.

To prove a future market, we need companies to commit to buying and investing in substantial amounts of carbon removals, starting now.

But even the relatively few companies currently considering buying removals complain that there is no clarity from rule-setters about how they should incorporate carbon removals into their climate plans. And efforts to provide this clarity are stymied by polarisation, infighting and confused zero-sum narratives that pit removals against other climate solutions instead of showing how they should go hand in hand.

Rethinking Removals works to develop clear rules and narratives, while developing the market. 

Join us at events around COP26

Talk to us at these upcoming events designed to get carbon removals on to the agenda and done right.

Carbon Removals at COP28

  • Dubai, UAE
Carbon Removals at COP is back! The online platform dedicated to bringing you what is happening in the world of carbon removals at COP28 and beyond.
Visit the website

Shifting from if to how

The IPCC tells us we’ve got to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to have a chance of keeping 1.5 degrees alive AND we must remove substantial amounts of CO2 from the air. It’s not an either/or choice -- we need both.
Read full article

Pioneers in the Global South

  • COP27, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt
Watch the Futures Lab event that got everyone at COP27 talking about carbon removals in Africa - Carbon Removals: Pioneers in the Global South.
Watch now via Virtual Pavilion, Nov.15

The Great Carbon Credit Debate

Gabrielle Walker features among many other high level speakers in this TED Countdown film that asks the question, 'Is there a role for carbon credits in the transition to a fair, net-zero future?'
Watch now

Carbon Removals at COP

Introducing Carbon Removals at COP, the online platform dedicated to carbon dioxide removal that has been launched ahead of COP27 Egypt. #CDRatCOP27
Visit the website
  • August 30, 2022
  • 12:00 pm
  • 1:00 pm

Africa Climate Week

  • Gabon / Virtual
African Climate Week starts today and the Rethinking Removals team are on the ground delivering an event on scaling carbon removals.
Join Teams meeting
  • July 20, 2022

How carbon credits could actually help fight climate change

  • TIME
Carbon credits should be one of our best tools to fight climate change - if we use them right
Read in TIME
  • June 16, 2022

Carbon removals: How to distinguish the good, the bad and the very ugly

  • TED Countdown New York

In June, TED Countdown hosted a Dilemma Session in New York focusing on the role of carbon credits in climate action. Gabrielle Walker and Delia Meth-Cohn of Rethinking Removals joined forces with Julio Friedmann (Carbon Direct) and Eli Mitchell-Larson (Carbon Gap) to design and present a workshop on carbon removals. We were aiming to focus on understanding quality criteria such as additionality and durability - but we started by looking at why we see carbon removals as a source of hope for climate action, not as climate denial or and moral hazard.

Here, Delia takes us through the stages of that event.

Find out more
  • June 15, 2022

Discover the Great Carbon Valley

  • TED Countdown, New York
Social entrepreneur James Mwangi tells us why Africa could be the ideal home for scaling the latest carbon removals technologies to a planetary level
Watch now

Six areas for action on carbon removals

We know what needs to be done - now we have to do it
Register now
  • November 9, 2021
  • 4:30 pm
  • 6:00 pm

Reimagining carbon removals

  • Hydro, Action Room 1
At COP26 we ran a UNFCCC Futures Lab on reimagining carbon removals. An amazing group of speakers described their vision of a 2050 future where removals had helped achieve net zero, brought the Global South into the heart of climate action, leveraged the best of nature and tech and complemented robust reduction pathways.
Read more

What we learnt at TED and COP

Carbon removals was not on the official agenda at COP26, but the emerging ecosystem was out in force - and collaborating ever more closely - at both COP and TED Countdown.
Register now

Your guide to carbon removals at COP26

Carbon removal is not on the official agenda at COP26, but it’s being talked about a lot around the edges. We teamed up with our friends at Carbon Removal Advocacy Europe (launching under a new name at COP!) to pull together all the side-events we could find focusing on carbon removals.
Further Information

Join us in rethinking carbon removals

Climate science shows unequivocally that there is a big missing piece in the efforts to achieve net zero and meet the Paris climate goals. In addition to reducing carbon emissions, we will also have to remove very substantial amounts of carbon from the air and store it somewhere safe.
Register now

Getting excited about carbon removals

In our conversation with Nigel Topping, Ugbaad Koser, Eli Mitchell-Larson and Patrick Buergi, we started thinking about all the different mindsets that are needed to pour positive energy into carbon removals.
Register now

Embracing an exponential mindset

Nigel Topping, UN High-Level Climate Action Champion for COP26, launches our conversations with a fascinating look at how carbon removals fit into climate action and what it will take to get to scale.
Watch now
  • September 14, 2021
  • 4:15 pm
  • 6:00 pm

Since we need removals to get to net zero, how can we do them right?

  • Webinar
No matter how fast we go on reducing emissions, science tells us that we will need to remove carbon on a gigatonne scale to stay within 1.5°C. It's a polarizing topic, but we urgently have to agree on how to tackle this challenge.
Watch the video
  • October 14, 2021
  • 11:45 am
  • 1:00 pm

TED Talk: Climate healing

  • Edinburgh
In this TED talk, Gabrielle Walker, Director of Valence Solutions and Founder of Rethinking Removals, will explore what it will take to remove carbon from the sky - and do it permanently and at scale, until the climate starts healing.
Find out more
  • October 14, 2021
  • 2:30 pm
  • 4:00 pm

Getting positive about carbon negative. How do we get removals right?

  • Edinburgh, Scotland
Carbon removals raises lots of difficult questions. It’s tempting to turn away, but this session will look the issue squarely in the eye and ask: since we need removals to get to net zero, how can we do them right?
More information

Three specific and interrelated outcomes we want to achieve:

Reframe the narrative to embed carbon removals in climate action

Get clear rules in place to create long-term, predictable demand

Develop the market through aligned principles and frameworks

Policy

Getting clear rules on removals

Narrative

Embedding removals in climate action

Market

Creating frameworks for scale-up

Our Partners

Photo: Steve Esau
Kumi Naidoo, James Mwangi, Janaina Dallan, Nili Gilbert, Gabrielle Walker and Julio Friedmann at COP26
Photo: Ryan Lash
Gabrielle talks nature and tech at TED
Photo: Ryan Lash
Alex Joss, UNFCCC High Level Champions' Team
Photo: Ryan Lash
TED Countdown Breakthrough Sessions
Photo: Ryan Lash
Christoph Gebald, Climeworks
Photo: Ryan Lash
Carlijn Nouwen, Climate Action Platform - Africa
Photo: Ryan Lash
Eli Mitchell-Larson, Carbon Gap
Photo: Ryan Lash
Julio Friedmann, Columbia University
The future we built
The future we built
Photo: Steve Esau
Photo: Ryan Lash
Photo: Ryan Lash
Photo: Ryan Lash
Photo: Ryan Lash
Photo: Ryan Lash
Photo: Ryan Lash
Photo: Ryan Lash
Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
What's all this about carbon removals? A workshop at TED2022 in Vancouver. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Full house for the carbon removals workshop at TED2022 in Vancouver. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
What comes to mind when you think of carbon removals?Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Collating the results. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Tzeporah Berman at the workshop in Vancouver. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Gabrielle summarises the workshop. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Focusing on the outcomes at TED Countdown Dilemma event on the role of carbon credits in climate action. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Gabrielle addresses perceptions of carbon removals at a Dilemma workshop. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Eli discusses additionality at the TED Dilemmas workshop in New York. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Julio speaks at the TED Dilemmas workshop in New York. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Great discussion on hopes and fears around carbon removals. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Gabrielle and Delia reflect on the Dilemmas workshop in New York. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Carlijn Nouwen leads a TED Dilemma workshop in New York. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
James Mwangi and Gabriel Kra at TED in New York. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Gabrielle on what we learnt at the removals workshop. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Gabrielle opens the Northern Lights Summit, Brussels
Gabrielle opens the Northern Lights Summit, Brussels
Fabien Ramos (EU), Amy Ruddock (Carbon Engineering) and Dirk Nuber (Climeworks) put carbon removals into the big picture at the Northern Lights Summit
Fabien Ramos (EU), Amy Ruddock (Carbon Engineering) and Dirk Nuber (Climeworks) put carbon removals into the big picture at the Northern Lights Summit
Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED

Discover more:

Ecosystem

We are mapping the ecosystem to connect people working across carbon removals to unleash synergies, remove barriers and identify new areas of collaboration and opportunity.
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Knowledge Hub

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We need to unblock demand for carbon removals

The window of opportunity for scaling carbon removals is closing. Work with us to ensure carbon removals are available when and where we will need them.

If you are interested in working with us or supporting us, get in touch.

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