Inevitable Ep 45: Deepika Nagabhushan, Program Director, Decarbonized Fossil Energy at Clean Air Task Force
Today’s guest is Deepika Nagabhushan, Program Director, Decarbonized Fossil Energy at Clean Air Task Force, which develops policy and advocacy strategies aimed at making carbon capture, utilization & storage technologies widely available, globally by mid-century.
Deepika has developed analysis and led advocacy efforts related to CCUS, including power sector modeling that studied CCS deployment in the US under various federal policy scenarios, including 45Q tax credit that the Congress passed in 2018, an assessment of the role of zero carbon technology in developing countries, and securing a CCUS protocol under the California LCFS. She works across policy, regulatory and market-based areas related to CCS.
Prior to joining CATF, Deepika spent 5 years with Schneider Electric. She led the deployment of global marketing operations across Asia-Pacific countries and managed marketing communication projects for Schneider Electric’s energy management solutions in the United States. She also helped expand the reach of Schneider Electric Access to Energy initiative “BIPBoP” by identifying partner companies and frameworks for collaboration.
Deepika graduated in 2015 from The Earth Institute at Columbia University with a Master of Science in Sustainability Management. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Bangalore University in Karnataka, India. She is currently based in San Francisco.
In today’s episode, we cover:
- Overview of the decarbonized fossil energy program at CATF
- How CCS works, and analogy to sulfur dioxide and acid rain
- What will and won’t drive people to adopt, and the role of government
- Some of the cost drivers for CCS and the variables that go into it
- Initial market of EOR, how it works and why it is getting so much attention
- What the critics of CCS for EOR say, and Deepika’s responses
- Concerns about CCS & why they are unfounded, according to Deepika
- Role of big oil and gas, role of innovation, and the role of policy
- Importance of R&D
- Some examples of companies leading in this area
- Is divesting a good idea?
- How Deepika would allocate a big pot of money to maximize its impact in the climate fight
- Deepika’s advice for others looking to find their lane in the climate fight
Links to topics discussed in this episode:
- Clean Air Task Force: https://www.catf.us/
- Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR): https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/enhanced-oil-recovery.asp
- CCUS: https://www.aiche.org/ccusnetwork/what-ccus
- Companies to watch in CCS: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/companies-watch-carbon-capture-and-storage
You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant