The Carbon Removal Show | Negative Emissions, Net Zero, Climate Positive

The Carbon Removal Show team are dusting off our mics, and we have some exciting news!

The biggest of welcomes and ‘thank you’s to our coalition partners: BeZero, Carbon Engineering, Carbonfuture, Carbon Gap, CarbonX, Klarna, MASH Makes, Milkywire, the Negative Emissions Platform, Opna, Patch, Pinwheel, Planboo, ReCarber, Standard Gas Technologies and Supercritical; and to our individual supporters: Sebastian Manhart and Eve Tamme.

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including how to support our mission, head to thecarbonremovalshow.com.

While you’re waiting for more episodes of The Carbon Removal Show, we wanted to introduce you to another project that our very own Tom Previte has been busy on…

Grounded: A Climate Startup Journey

This is the story of a startup that wants to remove carbon from the atmosphere and help reshape our relationship with the planet. Ideally without burning to the ground in the process.

It was a good few years back when Tom stumbled across biochar. That was during the first season of The Carbon Removal Show. And it turns out that this biochar stuff… it's not just an ancient technology but also a cutting-edge solution for today’s climate problems. 

Grounded: A Climate Startup Journey captures the highs and lows of a green startup - from sharp learning curves to unlikely breakthroughs. Listen in as Tom digs deep into the realities and complexities of setting up a carbon removal project, and gets to grips with the science, the money, and everything it takes to build an environmentally (and financially) sustainable business.

Because if we’re going to save the planet, we’re going to need a lot more businesses like this one.

Search for ‘Grounded: A Climate Startup Journey’ in your favourite podcast player, or click here for all the links.

What happens when an individual company bakes industry scale up into their business philosophy? In this episode, Jakob Andersen shares the “gigaton thinking” mindset that drives his company, MASH Makes, in their approach to business and biochar.

MASH Makes started as a project at the Technological University of Denmark focusing on technology that could convert various waste streams (mainly residue biomass) into different energy products. In short, MASH Makes use automated machines that are able to produce bio oil, hydrogen and electricity from agricultural waste, with the main byproduct of this process being biochar – a soil amendment that actively absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere.

Big thanks to MASH Makes for supporting this episode.

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to thecarbonremovalshow.com.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

With scaling up in mind, this episode dives into an innovative concept that could help the industry take big steps forward. Tom and Emily are joined by Jonny Gilson from Carbonaires and Professor Niall Mac Dowell from Imperial College London to discuss Carbonaires’ ideas for the future of the voluntary carbon market. 

Big thanks to Carbonaires for supporting this episode.

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to thecarbonremovalshow.com.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

2023 was a big year for carbon removal! With only 27 years until 2050, Tom and Emily look back on the last 12 months to reflect on the current stage of the industry’s growth commercially, socially and politically. With big thanks to the organisers, speakers and participants of Carbon Unbound Europe 2023 for welcoming us to the event and for all the inspiration.

Huge thanks to all our guests in this episode:

Sebastian Manhart, Senior Policy Advisor at Carbonfuture

Oliver Katz, Founder and CEO of Unbound Summits

Michelle Li, Founder and Executive Director of Women and Climate

Gabrielle Walker, Co-Founder of CUR8 and Founder of Rethinking Removals

Bilha Ndirangu, CEO at Great Carbon Valley

Ted Christie-Miller, Director of Carbon Removal at BeZero Carbon

And our very own Producer Ben, making his on-mic debut for The Carbon Removal Show!

We also shout out a lot of other hard working CDR companies and organisations in this episode:

• CDR.fyi
• Carbon Removals at COP
• Mission Zero
• Heirloom
• Climeworks
• Rewind: biomass sinking
• Brilliant Planet: macroalgae
• Equatic: ocean direct carbon removal
• Deutscher Verband für negative Emissionen
• CO2RE Future Leaders Network: join the Slack
• Women and Climate: join the Slack

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to thecarbonremovalshow.com.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

Resources and further reading

Climeworks and Great Carbon Valley chart path to large-scale direct air capture and storage deployment in Kenya: https://climeworks.com/news/climeworks-and-great-carbon-valley-chart-path-to-large-scale-dac 

Mission Zero turns on UK’s first direct air capture plant to enable jet fuel made from air: https://www.missionzero.tech/news/uk-first-direct-air-capture-plant 

Suck carbon from the air? US facility launches novel climate solution: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/19/carbon-dioxide-direct-air-capture 

On the durability of biochar carbon storage: https://biochar.systems/durability-statement/

Assessing biochar's permanence: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166516223002276?via%3Dihub 

Frontier Makes Largest Carbon Removal Purchase From Lithos Carbon: https://carbonherald.com/frontier-makes-largest-carbon-removal-purchase-from-lithos-carbon/

Carbonfuture, Exomad Green, and Microsoft Sign One of the Largest Biochar Carbon Removal Deals To-Date: https://www.carbonfuture.com/project-showcase/carbonfuture-announces-innovative-offtake-collaboration-with-exomad-green-and-microsoft-for-large-scale-biochar-carbon-removal 

COP28 — Mixed Results on Removals, Markets and Carbon Capture: https://evetamme.com/2023/12/14/cop28-on-carbon-removal-ccs-and-markets/ 

Why Carbon Removals Are Center Stage At COP28: https://www.forbes.com/sites/phildeluna/2023/12/07/why-carbon-removals-are-center-stage-at-cop28/?sh=26a7e1e82c68 

Climeworks Direct Air Capture Summit 2023 Highlights: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://climeworkscom.cdn.prismic.io/climeworkscom/9493f4d4-676f-47cc-a1f8-8959bc84abee_DAC%2BSummit%2Bhighlights%2B2023%2B%25282%2529.pdf&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1704643167135658&usg=AOvVaw1O0rP7eNt04mSMiYQB3UKo

Paying for Quality: State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2023: https://3298623.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/3298623/SOVCM%202023/2023-EcoMarketplace_SOVCM-Nov28_FINALrev-1.pdf

The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal Report: https://www.stateofcdr.org/

Fossil-fuel industry embrace raises alarm bells over direct air capture: https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/fossil-fuel-industry-embrace-raises-alarm-bells-over-direct-air-capture-2023-10-10/

Biden picks two DAC hubs for federal funding: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/cen-10127-buscon1

Season 3 continues and the team remains focused on scaling up. The question today: has it been done before? The task ahead is huge and can sometimes feel insurmountable. In order to deliver what scientists say is needed, the carbon removal industry must go from the young seedling emerging market we know today to a great complex ecosystem - and time is against us. Has this level of growth ever been seen before?

In today’s episode, Tom and Emily go hunting for reassuring precedents and inspirational analogies. Every global industry that we now take for granted was once a young seedling too. How do those industries compare to CDR? What can we learn from their development? And will looking at their histories help us feel more prepared for the future?

In this episode, we listen back to brief clips from Sophie Purdom, co-founder of CTVC, and Dr Steve Smith, executive director of CO2RE. We first heard from them in season 1 episode 1 and season 2 episode 2 respectively.

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to thecarbonremovalshow.com.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

Resources and further reading

Analogies and ecoraps for more carbon removal - https://medium.com/nori-carbon-removal/analogies-and-ecoraps-for-more-carbon-removal-3f4e8d92d1b4

Explaining the Exponential Growth of Renewable Energy - https://www.wri.org/insights/growth-renewable-energy-sector-explained 

Developments in wind power - https://post.parliament.uk/research-briefings/post-pn-0602/ 

The Hole: How Ronnie and Maggie Saved the World - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2JzOlRff08&t=1s

Back from the brink: how the world rapidly sealed a deal to save the ozone layer - https://rapidtransition.org/stories/back-from-the-brink-how-the-world-rapidly-sealed-a-deal-to-save-the-ozone-layer/ 

Learning from Success: Lessons in Science and Diplomacy from the Montreal Protocol - https://www.sciencediplomacy.org/article/2020/learning-success-lessons-in-science-and-diplomacy-montreal-protocol 

Should carbon removal be treated as waste management? Lessons from the cultural history of waste - https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsfs.2020.0010#d1e755 

Is the UK’s waste infrastructure ready for a circular economy - https://rrfw.org.uk/2018/01/08/is-the-uks-waste-infrastructure-ready-for-a-circular-economy/ 

Shifting the Direct Air Capture Paradigm - https://www.bcg.com/publications/2023/solving-direct-air-carbon-capture-challenge

How have COVID-19 vaccines been developed so fast - https://www.immunology.org/public-information/vaccine-resources/covid-19/covid-19-vaccine-infographics/speed-of-development 

A Guide to Global COVID-19 Vaccine Efforts - https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/guide-global-covid-19-vaccine-efforts

How COVID‐19 vaccine supply chains emerged in the midst of a pandemic - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8447169/

How did we develop a COVID-19 vaccine so quickly? - https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/how-did-we-develop-a-covid-19-vaccine-so-quickly 

Smart phones:

https://blog.textedly.com/smartphone-history-when-were-smartphones-invented

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2011/07/11/overview-of-smartphone-adoption/

https://www.pcmag.com/archive/smartphone-adoption-rate-fastest-in-tech-history-301990

https://www.govtech.com/products/how-smartphones-revolutionized-society-in-less-than-a-decade.html

https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/how-many-people-have-smartphones

https://www.bankmycell.com/blog/how-many-phones-are-in-the-world

Streaming continues to overtake TV - https://digitalcontentnext.org/blog/2023/05/16/streaming-continues-to-overtake-tv/

The rise of social media - https://ourworldindata.org/rise-of-social-media

We are back! Did you miss us?

Kicking off Season 3, Tom and Emily are exploring what it will take to grow the carbon removal industry to the scale we need. They speak to various actors in the carbon removal space, from project developers and policy experts to marketplaces and buyers. Their curiosity for the scaling problem took the team on a trip to Basel, Switzerland for a CDR conference hosted by Carbonfuture: Carbon Removal Basel.

The team uses this episode to highlight some key themes around trust and scaling up that will be explored throughout the season.

A huge thanks to our guests

Jan Minx, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change, MCC and co-author of The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal report

Hannes Junginger, CEO and co-founder at Carbonfuture

Ben Brandt, CPO and co-founder at Ledgy

Adam Sipthorpe, Senior Portfolio Manager - CDRs at South Pole

Paolo Piffaretti, CEO and co-founder at Carbonx

Sebastian Manhart, Senior Policy Advisor at Carbonfuture

Our guests for this episode were recorded in April 2023. Their input reflects the individuals' and organisations’ views at that time.

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to thecarbonremovalshow.com.

Thanks to Carbonfuture for hosting us at their inaugural Carbon Removal Basel even

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

Resources

State of CDR: https://www.stateofcdr.org/resources

Carbonfuture’s recap of Carbon Removal Basel: https://www.carbonfuture.com/magazine/recap-of-carbon-removal-basel-2023 

Carbon Removal Basel retirement credits: https://platform.carbonfuture.earth/balancer/portfolios/view/main/50fa5b10-e4de-412c-8d75-0d1df060a63b

The world’s coastal areas are some of the most at risk places on earth when it comes to climate change, but could they potentially be some of the most valuable places for creating solutions too?

It’s time for part two in our mini-series on Oceans and... it's the Season two finale!

As we established in last week’s episode, oceans are now becoming a much bigger part of the climate conversation and are a huge site of interest for carbon removal innovation. In this episode Tom and Emily will be taking a deeper look at some of the most exciting coastal-based solutions that are popping up. 

They’ll be putting another biomass-based solution into focus – mangroves; they’ll be discussing The Blue Carbon Challenge, a program launched by Friends of Ocean Action to find viable solutions in blue carbon; and they’ll be looking at an interesting ocean-based take on rock weathering - an entirely different context to what we’ve looked at in previous episodes!

A note from our fact-checking corner: midway through this episode we discuss the relative rates of carbon sequestration of mangrove forests vs. the tropical forests you may be more familiar with. For the sake of clarity, we wanted to say here that mangroves store more carbon per year than the forests we mention on a per hectare basis. Forests still come out on top in absolute terms – not to take anything away from the magnificent role of mangroves

A huge thanks to our guests:  

Ronald Tardiff, Pillar Lead at Friends of Ocean Action

Kelly Erhart, President & Co-Founder at Vesta

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to restored.cc.

Thanks to Patch for sponsoring the podcast.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

The time has finally come to talk about ocean-based carbon removal!

In this episode (the first in our two-part mini-series on Oceans) Tom and Emily will be exploring the role that oceans can play in carbon removal.

They'll be focusing on the way kelp is being used as a biomass-based approach to carbon removal speaking to two companies who are using kelp as a carbon removal solution, in very different ways.

Many thanks to our guests in this week's episode:

• Marty Odlin, Founder at Running Tide
• Caroline Hooft-Slootweg, Co-Founder at Kelp Blue

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to restored.cc.

Thanks to Patch for sponsoring the podcast.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

It's not only big names like Microsoft who are addressing their impact on the climate crisis, there are lots of smaller organisations appearing on carbon removal buyer lists too!

This week's episode puts a spotlight on Aledade, a US healthcare services organisation with an interesting philosophy and strategy behind their carbon removal purchases.

We speak to Will Palmisano, Head of Aledade's climate committee, to learn more about their carbon removal mission, how they’re going about it and what their work can teach us about how companies of all sizes can get involved in carbon removal in a meaningful way.

Thanks to Aledade for sponsoring the episode and for sharing their story.

Please note that since the recording of this episode the stats quoted from CDR.fyi have been significantly superseded. Visit CDR.fyi for the most up to date statistics.

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to restored.cc.

Thanks to Patch for sponsoring the podcast.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

Now we've been through the process of buying our first carbon credits, we wondered how a larger, infinitely more complex operation might do the same.

We spoke to Elizabeth Willmott from Microsoft to get to the bottom of what it means to be a big time buyer of carbon credits.

We dive into the company's climate strategy, how to remove the emissions of one of the world's most significant companies, and what to do about historical emissions.

You can read more about Microsoft's Carbon Removal Program mentioned in the episode here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/sustainability/carbon-removal-program

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to restored.cc.

Thanks to Patch for sponsoring the podcast.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

Having spent the previous six weeks on our travels, bringing you carbon conferencing from near and far, this week we're taking our traditional mid-season break.

With six episodes behind us and several more on the way, there's plenty to look forward to.

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to restored.cc.

Thanks to Patch for sponsoring the podcast.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

All the excitement of recording the previous two episodes in Iceland left us with one puzzling question. How would we practice what we preach and offset the carbon we emitted by flying there?

We set our researcher Henry on the case, and got in touch with the show's sponsors, Patch, in order to work out the best way forward.

Thanks to our guests:

• Henry Irvine, Researcher on The Carbon Removal Show
• Ariel Hayward, Sustainability Lead at Patch

Note: This is not a sponsored episode. While Patch sponsor the podcast, their inclusion on this episode is purely informative.

Find us on LinkedIn and Twitter @RestoredCC.

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to restored.cc.

Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

Following our trip to the climate conference at Iceland Innovation Week, we wanted to explore.

Today we're trying to get to the bottom of whether Iceland is a geological and political anomaly or a real glimpse into a potential brighter future for all of us.

Many thanks to our guests in this episode:

• Sandra Ósk Snæbjörnsdóttir, Head of CO2 mineral storage at CarbFix
• Kiddi Haflidason, General Manager at VAXA Technologies Ltd
• Fannar Jónsson, Quality Manager at Blue Lagoon Iceland
• Omar Sigurbjornsson, Director Sales and Marketing at Carbon Recycling International

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to restored.cc.

Thanks to Patch for sponsoring the podcast.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

Tickets? Booked. Microphone? Packed. Passport..?

This week we're off to Reykjavik to take part in Iceland Innovation Week's climate conference Ok, bye.

The event's name refers to the first Icelandic glacier lost to climate change, Ok-jökull and it was a chance for us to check in with some of the businesses and policymakers turning this isolated North Atlantic island into a world leader in carbon removal projects.

Thanks to this week's guests:

• Edda Konráðsdóttir, Co-Founder at Iceland Innovation Week
• Melkorka Sigríður Magnúsdóttir, Co-founder and director of Iceland Innovation Week
• Jarþrúður Ásmundsdóttir, Head of Innovation & Technology at Business Iceland
• Dirk Nuber, Managing Director at Climeworks
• Marty Odlin, CEO at Running Tide
• Seth Bannon, Founding Partner at Fifty Years
• Salka Sigurðardóttir, Negotiator for Cop26 Presidency
• Tinna Hallgrímsdóttir, Chairperson at Icelandic Youth Environmentalist Association

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to restored.cc.

Thanks to Patch for sponsoring the podcast.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

It's our final episode from the UK Greenhouse Gas Removal Event in London and our very own Tom Previte was asked to host another panel.

This one was called "Getting it right for people and the planet" and was the conference's public facing panel, giving non-experts and newcomers a chance to learn about and ask questions on greenhouse gas removal in the UK - a perfect fit for the podcast right?

Thanks to the panel guests:

• Dr Nem Vaughan, Associate Professor in Climate Change at the University of East Anglia
• Dr Rob Bellamy, Lecturer in Climate and Society at University of Manchester and Lead on Responsible Innovation at CO2RE Hub
• Dr Amiera Sawas, Director of Programmes and Research at Climate Outreach

Thanks again to CO2RE for inviting us to take part in such an exciting event. You can find out more about the greenhouse gas removal hub at co2re.org.

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to restored.cc.

Thanks to Patch for sponsoring the podcast.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

Today we’re at the UK Greenhouse Gas Removal Event, a gathering of researchers, policy makers and businesses, to discuss the state of carbon removal in the UK today.

CO2RE, the greenhouse gas removal hub led by Oxford University and the hosts of the event, were kind enough to ask us to host a pair of panels across the two day conference.

We caught up with friends old and new to bring you the latest expert insight on the current state of carbon removal in the country we call home.

Thanks to this episode's guests:

• Philippa Westbury, Stakeholder Manager at CO2RE
• George Hope, Communications Manager at CO2RE
• Steve Smith, Director of CO2RE
• Emily Cox, Research Associate at Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford
• Navraj Singh Ghaleigh, Senior Lecturer in Climate Law at University of Edinburgh
• Emma Keller, Head of Sustainability at Nestle UK&Ireland
• Sanna O'Connor-Morberg, Former Carbon Dioxide Removal Lead at Energy Transitions Commission
• Laith Whitwham, Senior Policy Officer, Industrial Decarbonisation at Aldersgate Group
• Ruth Herbert, CEO Carbon Capture and Storage Association
• Judith Thornton, Aberystwyth University
• Liz Bowles, OFC Director and Associate Director of Farming and Land Use at The Soil Association

Thanks to CO2RE for inviting us along. You can find them at co2re.org.

You can find the full Green Shoots panel, excerpts of which are included in this episode, here.

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to restored.cc.

Thanks to Patch for sponsoring the podcast.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

We're back! And we've been busy...

Today, Tom visits the Science Museum in London to take a look at Our Future Planet, the museum's carbon removal exhibition. As carbon communicators ourselves, we were keen to find out what the Science Museum were doing to educate their guests on our favourite topic of discussion.

Tom was taken through the exhibition by its curator, Rupert Cole. Rupert took us through the items on display, the way guests experience the exhibition, and the language they use to communicate carbon removal.

The exhibition is not without controversy. Our Future Planet is sponosored by Shell and Extinction Rebellion have accused the Science Museum of assisting in the oil giant's attempts to greenwash their reputation. The Science Museum has defended the sponsorship, saying that energy companies have a significant role to play in finding solutions to the climate crisis, and that the Science Museum retains editorial control over the exhibition.

You can read the full statements of both Extinction Rebellion and the Science Museum here. and the Science Museum's sustainability policy here.

Our thanks to Rupert and the Science Museum for showing us round. Our Future Planet runs until September 11th.

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to restored.cc.

Thanks to Patch for sponsoring the podcast.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

Good news! The Carbon Removal Show will be coming back for another season this summer.

We want to make it as interesting, entertaining and educational as possible for all of you so we're asking you to let us know your thoughts about Season 1,

Head to restored.cc/feedback to let us know what you think!

Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

Now you've discovered what carbon removal is all about, what are you going to do next?

In this finale, we have brought together a mix of carbon removal-related inspiration:

• An interactive game to help us all understand the road to gigaton-scale carbon removal
• A reflection on how COP26 left the carbon removal space (spoiler - we really do need it and we really do need it now)
• An array of stories from our guests of how they found their groove in the carbon removal space
• Our top tips for how you can continue your carbon removal journey, whatever stage you're at

Thank you for tuning in to season 1 of The Carbon Removal Show - we hope you've enjoyed it as much as we've enjoyed making it! Please like, subscribe, and tell a friend (or several) about the show. Oh, and do get in touch with us on Twitter, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

We can't wait to join you again soon for season 2!

Many thanks to our excellent guests throughout this series. In this episode, we hear again from Aldyen Donnelly (of episode 3 fame), Harriet Rix (episode 2), Diego Saez-Gil (episode 2), Apoorv Sinha (episode 7) and Katherine Romanak (episode 5).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading, sources from the episode, and our free newsletter head to: https://restored.cc/

Thanks to Patch for sponsoring the podcast.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.