Knowledge Hub

A playbook for DAC Hubs

April 2022
Carbon180

The US Department of Energy is providing $3.5 billion in funding through the direct air capture hubs programme. This playbook lays out recommendations to make gigaton-scale hubs that create robust benefits for the environment and local communities - building a foundation for the future of carbon removals.

Marketplace

List of known CDR purchases

2022
Robert Hoglund

Robert Hoglund has done a great service by producing this google sheet with an up-to-the-minute list of carbon removal transactions. This is the bottom-up view of what suppliers and buyers are doing in reality.

Marketplace

What the IPCC says about carbon removals

April 2022
Eli Mitchell-Larson, Carbon Gap

If you want to understand what the IPCC says about the role of carbon removals in climate mitigation read Eli Mitchell-Larson's brilliant twitter thread.

Research

Mind the Gap

March 2022
Energy Transitions Commission

Influential multi-stakeholder report from the Energy Transitions Commission showing that between 70-225 billion tonnes of cumulative carbon removals by 2050 to keep 1.5 degrees alive. The report explores the potential of a portfolio of solutions.

Research

DAC on track in 180 days

December 2021
Carbon 180

How the US Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is investing billions in direct air capture at scale.

Policy

Proposed EU policy on removals

December 2021
European Commission

Proposals for accelerating engineered removals and upscaling carbon farming. Plan to draft regulatory framework by end of 2022.

Policy

Microsoft’s million-tonne CO2 removal purchase – lessons for net zero

September 2021
Nature

Microsoft’s mission to remove its historical emissions required a complete rethink of how corporate buyers could engage in supporting removals rather than relying on the carbon offsets market. Along with Stripe and Shopify, these tech companies not only hold the lessons for other companies but are actively passing them on.

Marketplace

CDR Primer

2021
Jenn Wilcox

Compiled by the brilliant Jenn Wilcox (now making carbon removals policy at the US Department of Energy), this CDR Primer explains the science behind carbon removals – from why it’s needed, to how it works.

Research

Carbon Removal Policy Tracker

November 2021
Carbon180

Carbon180's easy to use guide to navigating US legislation on carbon removal.

Policy

New EU Climate law

May 2021
Climateworks Foundation

New EU Climate law delivers innovative policy framework to advance carbon removal and avoid moral hazard.

Policy

Reaching climate objectives: the role of carbon dioxide removals

May 2021
Energy Transitions Commission

This consultation paper is an attempt to assess the appropriate and feasible role of carbon removals in 1.5DC pathways by quantifying ‘remaining’ emissions from hard-to-abate sectors. It makes an interesting distinction between emissions from energy use/manufacturing and from agriculture/land-use – effectively ringfencing natural removals to the latter. ETC estimates that, cumulatively, around 200 Gt of carbon dioxide would need to be removed by 2050.

Climate and Removals, Research

Carbon Removal Newsroom

2021
Nori

A 30-minute weekly podcast on what is happening in carbon removals technologies, policy, deployment and markets. Hosted by Radhika Moolgavkar of the Nori market platform and guests. US based but looks more broadly. Great way to keep up and start understanding the implications.

News & Views

The Carbon Copy

2021
Carbon180

Biweekly newsletter from Carbon 180 providing an insightful perspective on progress in specific areas of carbon removals.

News & Views

Carbon Removal Academy

2021
AirMiners

A collection of ‘reading’ materials for the AirMiners’ Boot Up online crash course covering different approaches to carbon removal – soil, forests, biomass, direct air capture, mineralisation, oceans and carbon tech. The list is divided by level of knowledge and depth of interest, and contains a fabulous collection of articles, video interviews, podcasts, blogs and scientific papers.

Carbon Removal Suppliers, Marketplace

CDR Database

2021
CarbonPlan

CarbonPlan has a slew of useful reports and tools. This one is a downloadable database of carbon removal companies that Microsoft and Stripe are supporting. The list can be filtered by approach, volume and permanence and is ranked based on these criteria and additionality.

Carbon Removal Suppliers, Marketplace

Removing forward: Centering Equity and Justice in a Carbon-removing Future

2021
Carbon180

Ground-breaking report explores five guiding principles for just carbon removal, with a focus that is local (who benefits), global between north and south, and intergenerational.

Issues in Removals, Research

A Progressive Platform for Carbon Removal, Summary for Policymakers

July 2021
Data for Progress

Policy

Phase II Report

July 2021
Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets

Latest working report from the initiative started by Mark Carney to develop a reliable and well-governed voluntary carbon market. The Taskforce has struggled to gain consensus on the role of carbon offsets in tackling climate change.

Carbon Accounting, Methodologies & Guidance

What is good net zero?

2021
Science Based Targets Initiative

SBTI is working hard to develop a science-based methodology for including carbon removals as part of ‘good’ net zero strategies. Its Net Zero Standard (including criteria, guidance and tools) will be published ahead of COP26. This blog piece describes the issues and the process it is following, with links to the background reports and advisors involved. A key space to watch.

Carbon Accounting, Methodologies & Guidance

Carbon Removal Source Materials

2021
Stripe

Stripe’s github contains all its template review forms and purchase agreements (including funding terms for purchase and R&D, technical milestones, renewal criteria etc), plus links to videos. Radical transparency is baked into its agreements to accelerate pick up.

Buyers, Investors & Brokers, Marketplace

Zero, then Negative: The Congressional Blueprint for Scaling Carbon Removal

2021
Carbon180

Policy

Global Warming of 1.5°C

Dec 2018
IPCC

This report kickstarted the debate around carbon removals by showing it was a necessary part of any 1.5 pathway. Reaching net zero emissions by 2050 means removing any remaining emissions, from sectors such as aviation or cement, and remaining negative thereafter. The IPCC scenarios require between 5 billion and 10 billion tonnes of carbon removal a year by 2050 – and cumulatively up to 1,000 billion tonnes of carbon removals by 2100.

Climate and Removals, Research

How to Kick Start the Carbon Removal Market: Shopify’s Playbook

May 2021
Shopify

Shopify’s approach to selecting and supporting impactful suppliers of carbon removals, including its research templates, performance criteria, lessons from year one and thoughts on the future.

Buyers, Investors & Brokers, Marketplace

Confronting mitigation deterrence in low-carbon scenarios, Environmental Research Letters

Jun 2021
Neil Grant et al

This paper from the Grantham Institute and Imperial College London addresses the moral hazard issue – that focusing on carbon removals can dilute incentives to reduce emissions, but failure to deploy removals requires even steeper reduction curves. The paper finds evidence that mitigation deterrence can occur, and recommends formally separating out targets and strategies for reductions and removals.

Climate and Removals, Research

The Physical Science Basis, AR6

Aug 2021
IPCC

The first of the sixth round of IPCC Assessment Reports focuses on the realities of climate change but it makes that carbon removals are urgently needed – and that planting trees alone won’t do it. It estimates the remaining carbon budget for a 1.5DC scenario at 400-500 billion tonnes of CO2 from the start of 2020, with human activities currently emitting around 40 billion tonnes of CO2 each year. Within this decade, in other words, annual carbon removals equal to or greater than annual emissions are needed to stabilise or ideally reverse aspects of climate change.

Climate and Removals, Research

Carbon Removal Corporate Action Tracker

2021
Institute for Carbon Removal Law & Policy, American University

Periodically updated tracker of corporate carbon removal pledges across all sectors from the Institute for Carbon Removal Law & Policy at the American University in Washington DC.

Carbon Accounting, Commitments

Carbon removal, Lessons from an early corporate purchase

2021
Microsoft

Microsoft set the transparency bar high with this report on how it developed and implemented its carbon removal strategy, following proposals from over 200 companies. It highlights the gaps around permanency and leakage in carbon accounting and calls for significantly higher removal standards, the limitations Includes sample contract language and list of prerequisites.

Buyers, Investors & Brokers, Marketplace

The why, what and how of carbon removals