Growth of CDR Policy w/ Greg Nemet

This week we talk about recent developments in local, state, federal, and international policymaking that aim to help scale up CDR.

Joining the conversation is Greg Nemet. His 2019 book “How Solar Energy Became Cheap” traced the history of PV technology and the government policies that helped it become the cheapest form of electricity in history.

At the book’s conclusion Greg examined how the lessons from solar’s rise could inform the effort to scale up DAC and other newer climate technologies. Greg was also an author of the IPCC’s AR6 mitigation report, released in April.

Radhika, Chris, and Greg discuss-

LOCAL: Last month Boulder, Colorado, and Flagstaff, Arizona, announced a partnership to pool $300,000 to purchase carbon removals to help them meet their climate commitments.

STATE: California’s Governor Newsom proposed that the state spend $100 million in this year’s budget to match funding for CDR projects that have received federal grants, specifically mentioning the recent federal infrastructure bill.

FEDERAL: In April the Federal Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act was introduced by two Democratic members of congress, and in May, two Senators introduced a version of the bill. If passed, this legislation would compel the federal government to directly procure carbon removal from various technological methods.

INTERNATIONAL: Carbon removal found its way into two intranational agreements recently. In May, President Biden announced the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework with Australia, Japan, and South Korea. According to Brian Dees, the White House Director of the National Economic Council, this plan will promote “carbon removal purchasing agreements.”

That same week the US Special Climate Envoy John Kerry at the Davos Conference announced an expansion of the “First Movers Coalition,” a group of corporations committing to supporting six hard-to-decarbonize sectors, including carbon removal. At this announcement, Alphabet, Salesforce, and Microsoft agreed to spend $500 million on carbon removal purchasing by 2030.