What’s ahead for carbon management at DOE

A note from Carbon180 co-founder Noah Deich

Carbon180
2 min readApr 19, 2022
Image: Erol Ahmed

by Noah Deich, co-founder and president

I co-founded Carbon180 seven years ago when carbon removal was a little-known climate solution buried deep in an IPCC report — in fact, many people thought I was working on “carbon renewal.” Today, milestones and achievements for the field stack up nearly every week in both the public and private sector. On the public sector side, the Department of Energy (DOE) has demonstrated incredible leadership over the last two years, perhaps best symbolized by the renamed Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, reflecting the office’s expanded mandate. Since then, DOE has announced the Carbon Negative Shot initiative to meaningfully bring costs down and scale carbon removal technologies and extended funding opportunities with comprehensive equity and justice considerations under the leadership of Secretary Granholm and Acting Assistant Secretary Dr. Jen Wilcox.

It’s during this invigorating time at DOE that I’m excited to share that I’ll be taking a one year leave of absence from Carbon180 to join the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.

I will be leading work on carbon removal innovation before taking over as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Carbon Management later this summer. I’m looking forward to working directly on the Carbon Negative Earthshot program development, as well as supporting DAC hubs development.

I couldn’t be more grateful for this opportunity at this time. Federal funding for carbon removal is at an all-time high, and in my new role I will have an opportunity to direct this support towards a range of efforts that will catalyze innovation, deliver on promises to advance equity, and ensure economic benefits and environmental protections for communities.

Saying goodbye to Carbon180, no matter when or for how long, would never be easy. And I could not be more confident in and proud of where the organization is today. Under the leadership of Executive Director Erin Burns, our team has doubled in size over the last few years and played an instrumental role in major advances across the field.

Keep up with this team — the next year is going to be their biggest yet. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with many of you in my new role.

Edited by Dana Jacobs

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