10 highlights from a monumental year for carbon removal
by Team C180
For carbon dioxide removal (CDR) advocates, 2023 was a year of exciting milestones as well as shared challenges. As carbon removal moves increasingly mainstream and enjoys significant federal and private sector investment, government, innovators, and nonprofits are working to set a foundation for responsible deployment. CDR has also faced its share of trials in 2023, as political instability stalled Farm Bill negotiations, delaying funding for critical CDR programs, and the Inflation Reduction Act broadly continued to be a point of debate for Congress.
But carbon removal remains a uniquely bipartisan climate solution, and this year several bills were championed across the aisle, including the Advancing Research on Agricultural Climate Impacts (ARACI) Act and the Carbon Removal and Emissions Storage Technologies (CREST) Act. There is a lot to be excited and hopeful about, so we put together some 2023 highlights below.
- Direct air capture hubs: The Department of Energy (DOE) picked the first two of four megaton DAC Hubs awardees, with an additional 19 awards going towards feasibility studies. DOE also began hosting community collaboration sessions to co-develop a vision for local community benefits.
- Carbon Negative Shot: DOE announced funding to support a slew of carbon removal efforts as part of its Carbon Negative Shot, including investments in research and development, launching pathway-specific pilot programs, and supporting monitoring, reporting, and verification efforts.
- Government purchasing power: One pilot project of note is the $35 million CDR procurement pilot, the first time any government has committed to directly buying carbon removal.
- Responsible Carbon Management Initiative: DOE also launched an initiative to define principles for responsible carbon management and support project developers in meeting those principles.
- Farm Bill: Though the Farm Bill was delayed until 2024, several key bipartisan bills representing various land-based CDR pathways were introduced, including the Advancing Research on Agricultural Climate Impacts (ARACI) Act, the Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources (RNGR) Support Act of 2023, and the Coordination for Soil Carbon Research and Monitoring Act.
- Biomass happenings: Carbon Direct released the first guidelines for biomass-based carbon removal deployment, which represents 97% of purchased carbon removal tonnes and 79% of delivered tonnes to date.
- Soil carbon advocacy: The US Department of Agriculture solicited feedback for its soil carbon monitoring, reporting, and verification strategy, signaling interest in a more robust soil carbon measurement and monitoring network.
- Ocean CDR: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released an ocean carbon removal strategy and awarded $24 million to 17 projects that advance ocean CDR research. Federal interest in the pathway was leveled up by a number of ocean CDR pilots (like this, this, and this) that launched this year, as well as a number of reports released on deploying ocean CDR responsibly.
- Big purchases: The $1 billion Frontier fund wrote three rounds of checks, while Amazon, Microsoft, and JP Morgan Chase all made significant commitments to purchasing carbon removal. Climeworks, Charm, and other carbon removal companies delivered removals to customers.
- Tons delivered: Climeworks, Charm, and other carbon removal companies delivered carbon removal to customers.
- New field-building groups: 2023 welcomed several dedicated organizations aligned with a vision of high-quality, just, and equitable carbon removal. Welcome aboard Carbon Removal Alliance and Carbon Removal Canada.
What’s next in 2024?
More than just DAC.
Too often, carbon removal is reduced to just DAC, but it’s a whole lot more than that. In 2024, we will see a greater federal policy focus on oceans, enhanced weathering, soils, forests, and biomass with carbon removal and storage (BiCRS). This is alongside existing private sector investment in these pathways, from purchases to new companies entering the space.
Robust community engagement.
As DAC hubs and other carbon removal projects take shape, we will hear from communities about how they feel about CDR in their backyard and see how developers respond to these concerns. Early community engagement can set best practices in the long term and will be a crucial opportunity to get large-scale deployment right.
More mainstream climate engagement on CDR.
To date, carbon removal and carbon mitigation advocates have been working on climate action in their own silos. We can expect increasing consensus around the necessity of carbon removal while still prioritizing decarbonization.
Standards, standards, standards!
As private sector demand for CDR grows and policymakers introduce more carbon removal bills, the field will need to agree on what really counts as good carbon removal.
Edited by Ana Little-Saña
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