Contents: introduction, guest appearances, further reading, transcript, sources, credits
"Carbon is unlike any other commodity that's bought and sold at scale today" (Andrew Shebbeare)
For carbon removal to thrive under capitalism, we need thriving carbon removal businesses. And thriving carbon removal businesses need an income - but who's paying? Can a service like this, operating for the good of humanity, really work in a world that revolves around money?
That's the crux of this week's episode.
Carbon marketplaces offer one model: buy and sell carbon on the open market in the form of credits. It sounds straightforward enough, until you realise that no two tonnes of carbon removed from the atmosphere are the same. Plus, doesn't this kind of system just give greenwashing companies a licence to pollute?
Utilisation of carbon, rather than storage, is another potential revenue generator. Take your captured carbon, pop it in your product and sell on at a healthy margin. We focus on concrete here (for good reason), though the possibilities really are endless. Beyond the wow factor, does this bring the climate benefits we need?
Join us as we get to the business end of carbon removal and see carbon as we've never seen it before. Can money grow on trees or be produced out of thin air?
This episode's guests
Many thanks to our excellent guests in this episode:
- Sophie Purdom, Co-founder of Climate Tech VC & sustainable business practitioner and investor
- Andrew Shebbeare, Managing Partner at Counteract
- Rob Niven, Chair and CEO of CarbonCure
- Apoorv Sinha, CEO and Co-founder of Carbon Upcycling Technologies
Want to delve deeper now you've listened to the show? Look no further than the list below of articles, podcasts and other resources. They helped us to learn more about engineered approaches to carbon capture and storage, and we think you might like them too...
| Name | Publisher | Publishing/Release Date | Source | Summary | Tag(s) | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Carbon removal hype is becoming a dangerous distraction | MIT Technology Review | July 8, 2021 | CriticismCorporate pledges | Article | ||
Five rules for evidence communication | Nature | November 19, 2020 | A comment article in Nature, offering quick tips and experience from evidence communication. In short: inform, not persuade; offer balance, not false balance; disclose uncertainties; state evidence quality and inoculate against misinformation (i.e. "prebunking" - address concerns or potential misunderstandings directly). | Evidence communication | Article | |
Nan Ransohoff and Ryan Orbuch, Stripe Climate Team | My Climate Journey | September 4, 2020 | A conversation with two key members of Stripe's climate team, who are responsible for the company's negative emissions commitment made in 2019. | Corporate pledgesPolicyOffsetsEconomics | Podcast | |
Carbon Capture Projects Map | Third Way | July 18, 2018 | Map of all active (operational, planned etc) carbon capture projects in the world. Good overview of what's going on where. Correct as of mid-2018. | Overview | Resource | |
A Matter of Degrees: Cleaning up the carbon mess | A Matter of Degrees | November 19, 2020 | An exploration of different ways that we can remove carbon from the atmosphere. A great place to start on your carbon removal journey. | OverviewOffsets | Podcast | |
Carbon Removal Mechanisms | Carbon Plan | July 24, 2020 | This article provides a very useful introduction to the carbon cycle, and how the carbon removal mechanisms discussed in the series interact with it. In particular, the distinction between avoided emissions and negative emissions is worth paying attention to. | Carbon cycleOverview | Article | |
Removing CO2 from the atmosphere won't save us | The Conversation | December 7, 2015 | An article from two climate scientists, explaining why we must prioritise emission reductions over carbon removals. Published during the Paris climate conference in 2015. | CriticismScaling up | Article | |
Carbon removal academy (free course) | John Sanchez | November 30, 2020 | Academy with articles, videos and other useful resources split into different chapters. The Carbon Removal Academy is a useful course for getting up to speed with all things carbon removal. | Overview | Resource | |
From tree planting to CO2-sucking machines: How could ‘negative emissions’ help to tackle the climate crisis? | The Independent | February 10, 2021 | A good overview of negative emissions in general, including the challenges faced by each NET | Overview | Article | |
Without carbon capture, the world can't meet its climate targets | Forbes | January 10, 2021 | Article | |||
We need to take CO2 out of the sky | Ryan Orbuch | February 22, 2020 | A carbon removal 101, written by a non-specialist after a few months of learning. Useful for understanding different measurements of CO2, and for accessing his own reading list for "negative emissions" | OverviewMeasuring CO2 | Article | |
Carbon Removal Glossary | Foresight Transitions | March 1, 2021 | This spreadsheet provides definitions for well over 100 phrases associated with carbon removal. | Overview | Resource | |
Public perceptions of carbon dioxide removal in the United States and the United Kingdom | Nature | July 1, 2020 | A study of public perceptions of CDR in the UK and US - lots of interesting findings to dig into, including outlining some of the objections that the public may raise to the use of CDR. | Public perceptions | Academic Journal | |
Intro to 10 'negative emission' technologies | Carbon Brief | April 11, 2016 | A whistle-stop tour of 10 major techniques to remove GHGs from atmosphere, along with a helpful diagram and set of explanations. | Overview | Article | |
Carbon Dioxide Removal Primer | Various authors | January 1, 2021 | A summary of all things carbon dioxide removal related, written by several experts in the field. An invaluable resource, available as a book or freely available online. | Overview | Resource | |
Negative Emissions source materials | Stripe | May 1, 2020 | A link to applications completed by different CDR projects for support as part of Stripe's negative emissions commitment | Corporate pledgesOverview | Resource | |
The Earth's Carbon Cycle: animated diagram | Robert Rohde | May 22, 2019 | Really nice video of the cabron cycle and how it has changed since pre-industrial era | Carbon cycle | Video | |
Greenhouse gases must be scrubbed from the air | The Economist | November 16, 2017 | An early introduction to the need for extracting CO2 from the atmosphere, for hard-to-abate sectors. Uses the example of Sweden's decarbonisation pledge. | Overview | Article | |
Carbon removal permanence calculator | Carbon Plan | December 9, 2020 | This calculator estimates the upfront costs needed to make a temporary carbon removal strategy permanent over time, and allows comparisons with more permanent techniques. | Carbon cyclePermanenceEconomics | Resource | |
We need to talk about carbon removal | Medium | October 1, 2018 | General | Article | ||
The positive allure of negative emissions | GreenBiz | August 9, 2019 | Article |
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Credits
The Carbon Removal Show is a Restored.cc and Cofruition production. We are sponsored by Patch. Here's who made this episode happen:
- Emily Swaddle & Tom Previte - co-hosts
- Ben Weaver-Hincks - producer
- Henry Irvine - researcher
- Sam Floy & Patrick Carter - project managers
- Mercy Barno - editor
- Sam Carter - music producer
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