The Carbon Curve

This episode features interviews with Rob Niven (CEO and Chair of Carbon Cure), Shashank Samala (Co-Founder and CEO of Heirloom), Natalia Dorfman (Co-Founder and CEO of Kita), Mike Kelland (Co-Founder and CEO of Planetary), Peter Reinhardt (Co-Founder and CEO at Charm Industrial), Adrian Corless (CEO at CarbonCapture), and Stacy Kauk (Head of Sustainability at Shopify)This episode is sponsored by Carbonfuture.Carbonfuture is an end-to-end platform for companies that want to participate in removing carbon from the atmosphere. Unlike conventional marketplaces, Carbonfuture’s monitoring, reporting, and verification platform solves carbon credit uncertainty for buyers like Microsoft and SwissRe while Carbonfuture’s support helps scale the world’s most promising carbon removal ventures for real climate impact.2022 has been a big year for carbon removal. I remember saying the same thing about CDR in 2021, and I’m excited to see what 2023 will bring.Since the launch of this podcast in June, I’ve interviewed scientists, entrepreneurs, and policy experts on what it’s going to take to reach gigaton-scale carbon removal (CDR).In the US, we’ve seen the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that supports ambitious initiatives like the Direct Air Capture Hubs Program … and of course, the Inflation Reduction Act, a huge win for the climate, and for CDR through the expansion of the 45Q tax credit.In addition, Frontier Climate, an advance market commitment that provides much-needed revenues to advance the CDR space, launched this past year and has supported a number of CDR companies with pre-purchase and long-term purchase agreements.There is still a lot to be done to scale CDR, from policy to financing to measurement, reporting, and verification - especially for non-direct air capture CDR methods. But with early policy and financing wins in the books, and programs like DAC Hubs finally getting underway, the focus is shifting to implementation.So I wanted to use this episode to highlight some of the excellent insights from entrepreneurs, and folks who support those entrepreneurs, from episodes that were recorded over the last year on what it will take to scale CDR.I’ve had a ton of great guests on this show, so it wasn’t easy to put together a greatest-hits episode like this. So I wanted to use this opportunity to shine a spotlight on entrepreneurs in the space running CDR start-ups and organizations that will be critical in implementing CDR at scale.In this episode, you’ll hear from (links to full episodes):* Rob Niven, Chair and CEO at Carbon Cure* Shashank Samala, Co-Founder and CEO at Heirloom* Natalia Dorfman, Co-Founder and CEO at Kita* Mike Kelland, Co-Founder and CEO at Planetary* Peter Reinhardt, Co-Founder and CEO at Charm Industrial* Adrian Corless, CEO and CTO at CarbonCapture* Stacy Kauk, Head of Sustainability at Shopify2022 was a busy year. Here are some of my favorite Carbon Curve posts, episodes, and projects from this last year worth checking out:* 🇨🇦 Canada: The next leader in carbon dioxide removal?* 💵 Rapidly reducing the costs of carbon removal (guest post by Grant Faber)* 💵 Three innovative funding solutions for carbon removal (co-authored with Max Bode and Johannes Lohmann)* 🎙️ My podcast episode with Peter Minor at Carbon180 on high-accountability measurement, reporting and verification* 🎙️ My episode with Celina Scott-Buechler at Data for Progress on equitable CDR deployment * ✈️ My report with Clean Air Task Force on decarbonizing aviation* 🏭 My report with CarbonPlan on the barriers to scaling the CDR industry* 🌎 Three countries positioned to lead on government procurement of carbon removalIf you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via Twitter and LinkedIn.Na’im Merchant, Founder and Managing Director of Carbon Curve, is an advisor and thought partner to start-ups, policy groups, and research organizations on scaling up climate technologies to meet the monumental challenge of removing billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Every week, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing bold new ideas and taking a collective action approach to scaling up carbon removal. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carboncurve.substack.com

Episode 16 of The Carbon Curve is with Mike Kelland, CEO and Co-Founder of Planetary.This episode is sponsored by Carbonfuture.Carbonfuture is an end-to-end platform for companies that want to participate in removing carbon from the atmosphere. Unlike conventional marketplaces, Carbonfuture’s monitoring, reporting, and verification platform solves carbon credit uncertainty for buyers like Microsoft and SwissRe while Carbonfuture’s support helps scale the world’s most promising carbon removal ventures for real climate impact.According to ocean climate NGO, Ocean Visions, the ocean is under threat from overfishing, plastic pollution, and of course climate change. But the organization thinks - if managed responsibly - the opportunity to harness the power of the ocean to sequester and store CO2 is massive compared to terrestrial methods.That’s why researchers are exploring the carbon removal (or CDR) potential of this vast resource that covers 70% of our planet’s surface. But ocean-based CDR methods are unique and pretty complex ranging from ocean alkalinity enhancement to sinking seaweed. In addition, the ocean is a dynamic environment: it’s tricky to measure the quantity of CO2 removed, it’s unclear what impact different ocean-based CDR methods will have on ecosystems, and figuring out the policies and regulations to responsibly pilot, test, and eventually scale up the best solutions is really difficult.This is a field within carbon removal that’s gaining a lot of traction precisely because there’s so much to learn about what responsible and effective ocean-based CDR looks like. So today, I’m speaking to Mike Kelland, Co-Founder and CEO of Planetary, committed to enhancing the ocean’s potential as a carbon sink while addressing ocean health in the process.In this episode, Na’im and Mike discuss:* Planetary’s origin story and their ocean-based CDR method* Why the ocean is an important medium for CDR* Some of the risks associated with ocean-based CDR and how to mitigate them* How to get measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) right with ocean-based CDR methods* Planetary’s Code of Conduct* What effective engagement of coastal communities and supportive policies and regulations look like* A 10-year vision of success in scaling up ocean-based CDR methodsRelevant links:* Planetary’s website* Planetary’s Science and Technology Code of Conduct* Recent coverage of Planetary’s work on the TODAY Show (Twitter)* Learn about ocean-based CDR at Ocean VisionsIf you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via Twitter and LinkedIn.Na’im Merchant, Founder and Managing Director of Carbon Curve, is an advisor and thought partner to start-ups, policy groups, and research organizations on scaling up climate technologies to meet the monumental challenge of removing billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Every week, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing bold new ideas and taking a collective action approach to scaling up carbon removal. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carboncurve.substack.com

Episode 15 of The Carbon Curve is with Natalia Dorfman, CEO and Co-Founder of KitaThis episode is sponsored by Carbonfuture.Carbonfuture is an end-to-end platform for companies who want to participate in removing carbon from the atmosphere. Unlike conventional marketplaces, Carbonfuture’s monitoring, reporting, and verification platform solves carbon credit uncertainty for buyers like Microsoft and SwissRe while Carbonfuture’s support helps scale the world’s most promising carbon removal ventures for real climate impact.After a short pause on new episodes, I’m excited to cover something I’ve been dying to talk about … insurance. Just hear me out.According to carbon removal purchase tracker CDR.FYI, around 640,000 tons of CO2 removal have been purchased globally, and only 7% of those tons have actually been delivered. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is still very much in its infancyAs CDR solutions move from pilot to commercial scale and purchases and deliveries really start to pick up, the market is going to become increasingly complex.We’ll see more public sector involvement, more private sector buyers, more projects being deployed, and more communities being impacted. We’ll see more successes, but also more failures - and as a result - more risk.My guest today, Natalia Dorfman, CEO and Co-Founder of Kita, thinks that insurance is critical to unlocking the scale potential of CDR. We talk about what problems innovative new insurance products can solve for buyers and sellers in the CDR market and the limits of insurance in solving some of the more thorny risks associated with scaling up CDR.In this episode, Na’im and Natalia discuss:* Natalia’s career shift into climate and Kita’s origin story* What Kita plans to cover, and their first insurance product - carbon purchase protection cover* How Kita is developing carbon removal-specific insurance products in a field this nascent* The role insurance can play in the durability or reversibility of carbon storage* Why carbon removal needs robust insurance offerings to successfully scaleRelevant links:* Kita’s website* Carbon Business CouncilIf you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via Twitter and LinkedIn.Na’im Merchant, Founder and Managing Director of Carbon Curve, is an advisor and thought partner to start-ups, policy groups, and research organizations on scaling up climate technologies to meet the monumental challenge of removing billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Every week, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing bold new ideas and taking a collective action approach to scaling up carbon removal. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carboncurve.substack.com

Episode 14 of The Carbon Curve is with Peter Minor, Director of Science and Innovation at Carbon180This episode is sponsored by Carbonfuture.Carbonfuture is an end-to-end platform for companies who want to participate in removing carbon from the atmosphere. Unlike conventional marketplaces, Carbonfuture’s monitoring, reporting, and verification platform solves carbon credit uncertainty for buyers like Microsoft and SwissRe while Carbonfuture’s support helps scale the world’s most promising carbon removal ventures for real climate impact.Since its founding in 2015, Carbon180 has played a central role in building the dynamic carbon removal (or CDR) ecosystem that exists today. Carbon180 is a climate NGO focused exclusively on CDR, collaborating closely with policymakers, peer organizations, and entrepreneurs to design the policies needed to get CDR to gigaton scale.Carbon180’s tireless work is paying off in a big way - with key CDR provisions in the recently passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act (listen to my episode on recent CDR policy wins). We’re now entering a new phase of growth in CDR, and Carbon180 believes that the success of that growth depends largely on trust. Their view is that measurement, reporting, and verification (or MRV) can be designed to enhance accountability while addressing the needs of a wider group of stakeholders, beyond just serving as a means for carbon accounting.So, Carbon180 has developed a tool to help us reframe our thinking on MRV. Today they introduced their High-Accountability MRV Matrix (see blog post). A principles first approach to MRV that will help drive innovation and enhance confidence in CDR among the next wave of its buyers.Peter Minor from Carbon180 will talk us through this tool and what it means for the CDR industry as it enters a new stage of growth. He also previews how high-accountability MRV could one day be used to build trust with communities at the front lines of CDR deployment and help unlock the public sector dollars we’re going to need to scale up this critical climate solution.In this episode, Na’im and Peter discuss:* Peter’s role at Carbon180* The importance of monitoring, measurement, reporting, and verification* The risks of setting a “low bar” for MRV, and the benefits of setting a “high bar” without stifling innovation* Why Carbon180 took a principles-based approach to MRV* An introduction to the High-Accountability MRV Matrix, what it’s trying to solve (and not trying to solve)* How this matrix will be used and Carbon180’s plans for MRV going forwardRelevant links:* A procurer’s guide to high-accountability MRV, by Anu Khan, Deputy Director of Science and Innovation (blog post)* High-Accountability MRV Matrix (Google Sheets)* Carbon180 websiteAbout Peter Minor:Peter Minor (LinkedIn) uses his knowledge of the latest science, along with his relationships within the innovation community, to help the Carbon180 team craft policy recommendations that catalyze the carbon removal industry. Before joining the fight against climate change, he built a startup accelerator and venture fund focused on frontier innovation. He is a staunch believer that technology can help solve humanity’s greatest challenges. Peter is based in the SF Bay Area and is a friend to all who are working in climate.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. I’m pausing release on new episodes for two weeks following this one, but if you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via Twitter and LinkedIn.Na’im Merchant, Founder and Managing Director of Carbon Curve, is an advisor and thought partner to start-ups, policy groups, and research organizations on scaling up climate technologies to meet the monumental challenge of removing billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Every week, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing bold new ideas and taking a collective action approach to scaling up carbon removal. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carboncurve.substack.com

Episode 13 of The Carbon Curve is with Dr. Cara Maesano, Geochemical Lead at RMI’s CDR InitiativeThis episode is sponsored by Carbonfuture.Carbonfuture is an end-to-end platform for companies who want to participate in removing carbon from the atmosphere. Unlike conventional marketplaces, Carbonfuture’s monitoring, reporting, and verification platform solves carbon credit uncertainty for buyers like Microsoft and SwissRe while Carbonfuture’s support helps scale the world’s most promising carbon removal ventures for real climate impact.The core message of this podcast series is that the monumental task of removing gigatons of CO2 from the atmosphere is too big, too complex, and needs to happen too quickly for any one technology or stakeholder to solve alone.That’s why I call carbon removal (or CDR) a collective action problem. Everybody has a unique and important role to play in scaling it up - from government, to entrepreneurs, to civil society.What I learned in my previous career improving access to healthcare in some of the most underserved parts of the world is that sometimes depending on the organic growth of a suite of technologies is just not sufficiently fast enough to solve big, important, global imperatives. Like expanding access to vaccines or HIV medicines in low income countries … or massively scaling up CDR by 2050.That’s why Dai Ellis - who has written some excellent thought pieces on this - advocates for intentionally shaping the CDR market we want, instead of accepting the CDR market as it is.Roadmaps are one powerful organizing tool to accomplish this. If they’re done well, they can accelerate the scale up of public goods like CDR by mapping out the gaps in an ecosystem, prioritizing what needs to get done, and assigning responsibility to the right stakeholder groups.It creates clarity and forward motion, and enables cross-sector collaboration. It charts a path for what it’s going to take to build an entirely new sector roughly the size of the global concrete industry.That’s why I’m excited to speak to today’s guest - who co-developed a roadmap that spells out what it’s going to take to scale up geochemical carbon removal approaches to gigaton scale by mid-century. This roadmap is tremendously valuable in its own right, but is also useful as a blueprint for how to plan, organize, and mobilize stakeholders around scaling up other CDR pathways.In this episode, Na’im and Cara discuss:* The definition of geochemical CDR* Why RMI developed this roadmap and why Cara thinks it will be useful and additive* How the roadmap was developed with the input of experts in the field* What the most critical building blocks are to get to megaton and gigaton scale for geochemical CDR* Some of the key bottlenecks to scaling up geochemical CDR and the overarching roles of major stakeholders in scaling it up* How this roadmap will be used and RMI’s plans to support the CDR spaceRelevant links:* RMI’s CDR Initiative* Geochemical Negative Emissions Technologies: Part II. Roadmap in Frontiers in Climate* Geochemical Negative Emissions Technologies: Part I. Review in Frontiers in Climate* Connect with Cara on LinkedIn* Rock Solid by the Energy Futures Initiative and Innovation for Cool Earth Forum RoadmapsAbout Cara:Dr. Cara Maesano began her science career working in cosmology labs at UC Santa Barbara and Stanford University, building instrumentation for cosmic microwave background studies. She holds a PhD in Physics from UC Davis, where she helped to construct large underground particle detectors and studied interactions between cosmic rays and carbon atoms. As a postdoc, Cara focused on environmental exposure assessments and the impacts of air pollution, and climate change in general, on public health. The realities of the health impacts of climate change led her to switch her focus towards carbon removal as a solution, and she joined The Climate Map as a research scientist in Spring 2021.  At RMI, she now leads efforts on technology assessments for Geochemical CDR and how they integrate into both the broader CDR ecosystem and the wider industrial landscape. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via Twitter and LinkedIn.Na’im Merchant, Founder and Managing Director of Carbon Curve, is an advisor and thought partner to start-ups, policy groups, and research organizations on scaling up climate technologies to meet the monumental challenge of removing billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Every week, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing bold new ideas and taking a collective action approach to scaling up carbon removal. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carboncurve.substack.com

Episode 12 of The Carbon Curve is with Adrian Corless, CEO and CTO of CarbonCapture Inc.This episode is sponsored by Carbonfuture.Carbonfuture is an end-to-end platform for companies who want to participate in removing carbon from the atmosphere. Unlike conventional marketplaces, Carbonfuture’s monitoring, reporting, and verification platform solves carbon credit uncertainty for buyers like Microsoft and SwissRe while Carbonfuture’s support helps scale the world’s most promising carbon removal ventures for real climate impact.About this episode:In early September, direct air capture (DAC) company CarbonCapture announced plans to build a massive new DAC facility in Wyoming. CarbonCapture and its storage partner expect this project to permanently remove five million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere every year by 2030. It would also be the first DAC deployment to use Class VI wells for permanent CO2 storage.A few things stood out to me about this announcement. First, the scale. This is the largest DAC facility ever announced. I wanted to dig deeper on the company’s proposed modular approach to build up to its massive 5 million ton per year target capacity by 2030. Second, the announcement specifically referenced the Inflation Reduction Act. I wanted to learn more about how policy was a catalyst in this company’s major decision to move forward with a project of this size. And finally, I was curious about CarbonCapture’s partnerships with The State of Wyoming and Frontier Carbon Solutions. I wanted to hear more about how strategic partnerships translate into on the ground deployments of new carbon removal (or CDR) projects.So to answer these questions, I speak to CarbonCapture’s CEO and CTO about what it’s actually going to take, between now and 2030, from technology, policy, partnerships, and carbon markets to realize their ambitious plan - and what comes next.In this episode, Na’im and Adrian discuss:* CarbonCapture’s origin story* What make’s CarbonCapture unique and scalable, including its modular approach, open systems architecture, and project deployment model (and what about the company’s solution is still being worked out)* Roll-out plans for Project Bison, the company’s 5 million ton per year DAC plant in Wyoming and its partnership with Frontier Carbon Solutions* The challenges and opportunities with Class VI wells for CO2 storage, and Adrian’s views on Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)* What made Wyoming an attractive location for Project Bison, what recent policies helped spur this project launch, and how government procurement can be an important bridge to scaling up CDR* Recent steps taken that could make Canada an attractive destination for DAC deployment, and how CarbonCapture envisions expanding beyond North America* How the Inflation Reduction Act changed the economics of using DAC-sourced CO2 in the production of sustainable aviation fuelsRelevant links:* CarbonCapture’s website* CarbonCapture’s Project Bison announcement* The world’s largest carbon removal project yet is headed for Wyoming (The Verge)* Storage partner Frontier Carbon Solutions* My recent report on decarbonizing aviation with Clean Air Task Force, which includes a discussion on the potential role for DACAbout Adrian Corless:Adrian has spent more than 25 years developing and commercializing products in the cleantech industry. From 2013 to 2018, he was the CEO of Carbon Engineering, where he successfully developed the company into a recognized global leader in CO2 direct air capture, piloting industrial scale systems in under two years. In addition, Adrian has spent 15+ years commercializing industrial hydrogen, fuel cell, and pump technologies, serving as CEO of Rotoliptic Technologies, CTO of Plug Power, and CTO of Cellex Power Products. He holds a Master's of Science degree from the University of Victoria, BC Canada with specialization in Energy Systems, Cryogenics, and LNG.Na’im Merchant, Founder and Managing Director of Carbon Curve, is an advisor and thought partner to start-ups, policy groups, and research organizations on scaling up climate technologies to meet the monumental challenge of removing billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Every week, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing bold new ideas and taking a collective action approach to scaling up carbon removal. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carboncurve.substack.com

Episode 11 of The Carbon Curve is with Celina Scott-Buechler, Senior Resident Fellow of Climate Innovation at Data for Progress (DFP).This episode is sponsored by Carbonfuture.Carbonfuture is an end-to-end platform for companies who want to participate in removing carbon from the atmosphere. Unlike conventional marketplaces, Carbonfuture’s monitoring, reporting, and verification platform solves carbon credit uncertainty for buyers like Microsoft and SwissRe while Carbonfuture’s support helps scale the world’s most promising carbon removal ventures for real climate impact.About this episode:All too often, promising large-scale projects fall by the wayside because they’ve failed to capture the attention and imagination of the public, and they’ve failed to build trust with communities that have a real stake in the project.With new large-scale carbon removal (CDR) projects being announced and more information on the Department of Energy’s $3.5 billion DAC Hubs Program around the corner, I couldn’t think of a better time to cover this topic. My guest, Celina Scott-Buechler, has not just polled voters about their perceptions of CDR, but has engaged communities that could potentially be on the front lines of carbon removal deployment.In this episode, Na’im and Celina discuss:* Public perceptions of CDR uncovered by DFP’s polling* Why the distinction between carbon capture and storage and CDR is important* How to build protections for responsible CDR scale-up in policies* DOE’s DAC Hubs Program and flipping the typical implementation process on its head* Legacies of harm in communities, and the types of benefits communities want from DAC Hubs and CDR deployment more generallyRelevant links:* Data for Progress website* DFP’s Progressive Platform for Carbon Removal* Charting a Path to Just Direct Air Capture Hubs by Celina Scott-Buechler and Simone H. Stewart, Ph.D.* Setting DAC on Track: Strategies for Hub Implementation (Apr 2022) by Carbon180* Follow Celina on TwitterAbout Celina Scott-Buechler (Twitter):Celina is the Senior Resident Fellow for Climate Innovation at Data for Progress (DFP), where she leads DFP’s growing work on progressive carbon removal solutions—removing gigatons of past greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere by developing equitable, community-beneficial, and environmental justice-centered strategies. Celina holds a master’s in atmospheric science from Cornell University and is working toward a PhD in environment and resources at Stanford University.Na’im Merchant, Founder and Managing Director of Carbon Curve, is an advisor and thought partner to start-ups, policy groups, and research organizations on scaling up climate technologies to meet the monumental challenge of removing billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Every week, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing bold new ideas and taking a collective action approach to scaling up carbon removal. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carboncurve.substack.com

Episode 10 of The Carbon Curve is with Stacy Kauk, Head of Sustainability at Shopify. After a few weeks off, I’m excited to bring you a new series of interviews with policy experts, market shapers, and entrepreneurs who are working tirelessly to responsibly and effectively scale up the carbon removal (or CDR) innovations needed to draw down CO2 from the atmosphere.Over the next 8 weeks I’ll be speaking with guests on topics including environmental justice, measurement, reporting, and verification, and the policies that helped spur plans for a multi-million ton per year direct air capture facility in Wyoming.Today, we’re covering a topic I’m absolutely obsessed with: How are we going to pay for carbon removal? Seriously. How are we going to pay for this?Companies like Shopify, Stripe, and Microsoft made catalytic early CDR purchases which helped create the entrepreneurial, dynamic carbon removal sector we see today.So I wanted to speak to Stacy Kauk, Head of Sustainability at Shopify, who was central to that effort about: the formation of an almost billion dollar advance market commitment for carbon removal, how we bring on the next wave of corporate buyers, and what comes next for the early catalytic funders that helped stimulate the CDR sector in the first place.In this episode, Na’im and Stacy talk about:* The formation of Shopify’s Sustainability Fund, it’s objectives, and notable successes to date* The genesis of the Frontier advance market commitment * How to attract the “next wave” of corporate buyers to long-duration carbon removal* What role the public sector could play in the long-term growth of CDRRelevant links:* Shopify’s Sustainability Fund* Frontier advance market commitment* Shopify’s report on kick-starting the carbon removal market* Follow Stacy Kauk on TwitterAbout Stacy Kauk:Stacy Kauk, P.Eng. joined Shopify in January 2020 and as the Head of Sustainability, Stacy’s role is to ensure the millions of businesses using Shopify’s platform, the nearly 600 million shoppers that purchased from a Shopify merchant last year alone, and climate entrepreneurs globally are working together in the fight against climate change. Stacy leads Shopify’s Sustainability Fund, which has committed more than $32M to date (since 2019) across 22 entrepreneurial, tech-driven companies, to accelerate carbon removal solutions globally. Most recently, Stacy was behind Shopify’s decision to help build and launch Frontier, an advance market commitment to buy an initial $925M of permanent carbon removal alongside our partners, Stripe, Alphabet, Meta, and McKinsey Sustainability. She also serves on the advisory board of the Carbon Management Research Initiative (CaMRI) at Columbia University. Prior to joining Shopify, Stacy was head of the Ozone Layer Protection Program at Environment and Climate Change Canada. Previously, Stacy worked on several chemicals management regulatory initiatives and represented Canada as a member of delegations for the Stockholm Convention and Montreal Protocol.Stacy began her career as a practicing engineer designing environmental protection measures and pollution prevention controls for a variety of industry sectors. She has worked for the City of Ottawa, Morrison Hershfield, and Golder Associates. Stacy holds a Bachelor of Engineering and Masters in Public Administration from Carleton University.Na’im Merchant, Founder and Managing Director of Carbon Curve, is an advisor and thought partner to start-ups, policy groups, and research organizations on scaling up climate technologies to meet the monumental challenge of removing billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Every week, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing bold new ideas and taking a collective action approach to scaling up carbon removal. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carboncurve.substack.com

Episode 9 of The Carbon Curve is with Robert Höglund and Dr. Natalya Jarlebring from Milkywire’s Climate Transformation Fund.Over the last year or so, interest in carbon removal (CDR) has taken off.From the formation of new corporate buying coalitions, like Frontier, to large venture rounds, and ambitious new policies like Direct Air Capture Hubs, CDR is starting to hit an inflection point. All of this early traction is encouraging, but it also necessitates taking a step back, and reflecting on the carbon removal industry as it currently stands, and where it should go from here.It requires revisiting questions that some of us working in the industry with all the recent activity and excitement take for granted, like:* What is carbon removal’s role?* How should we define CDR?* How should corporates think about supporting the burgeoning CDR market?* Is it accurate to say there’s a CDR market in the first place?I’m excited to speak to today’s guests because they bring a degree of clarity to a marketplace that still feels shrouded in obscurity. They work on Milkywire’s Climate Transformation Fund supporting catalytic solutions - including permanent carbon removal - that are needed to reach global climate targets.In their capacity, they have worked through pretty foundational questions about CDR and have valuable insights to share on how we should be defining carbon removal, the state of the market today, and key priorities for the industry going forward.In this episode, Na’im, Robert, and Natalya discuss:* A more precise definition of carbon removal* Milkywire’s Climate Transformation Fund* The effective altruism case for supporting carbon removal* Does the carbon removal market even exist?* Where does the CDR industry go from here?Relevant links:* Milkywire’s Climate Transformation Fund* Climate Transformation Fund’s 2022 Progress Report* Article: Nature restoration and carbon removal are not the same. Here’s why it matters* Article: The carbon removal market doesn’t exist* CDR.FYI dashboardAbout Robert Höglund:Robert is an independent consultant dedicated to advancing the carbon removal ecosystem, writing about it, working on research and policy projects, running CDR trainings, etc. He also manages the Climate Transformation Fund at Milkywire, a donation fund that supports CDR and other climate projects. (Twitter)About Dr. Natalya Jarlebring:Natalya is a senior environmental lead at the tech platform Milkywire. She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from Södertörn University, Sweden. Her research focused on various aspects of natural resource governance, as well as forest-related policy debates and their implications for the EU climate commitments. Natalya has also extensive experience working as a consultant in natural resource management and climate adaptation solutions. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via Twitter and LinkedIn.Na’im Merchant is an advisor and thought partner to start-ups, policy groups, and research organizations on scaling up climate technologies to meet the monumental challenge of removing billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere to combat climate change. Every two weeks, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing bold new ideas and taking a collective action approach to scaling up carbon removal. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carboncurve.substack.com

Last month, the Department of Energy hosted a virtual summit convening innovators, environmental organizations, government leaders, and other stakeholders about The Carbon Negative Shot. The DOE launched this bold initiative last year to stimulate innovation in carbon removal (CDR) pathways that remove and durably store CO2 from the atmosphere at gigaton scale for less than $100/net metric ton of CO2.I wrote about this target in a recent report I did on barriers to scaling up the carbon removal industry. In my conversations with stakeholders across the carbon removal field, there’s a widely held belief that in order to scale carbon removal we need to get the cost below this $100/ton threshold. Which I can understand, but …Why are we anchoring to this number in particular? Is it even realistic? What exactly is included in that cost? Is that the cost to the carbon removal provider? Or is it the price to the end buyer? Does it include subsidies? How about the cost of measurement, reporting, and verification? I think making carbon removal much more economical is absolutely necessary to successfully scale it up - and initiatives like the Carbon Negative Shot, policies like the expanded 45Q tax credit, and others will play a big role to get us there. But I think we need more precision in how we talk about cost and a better understanding of carbon removal’s many cost drivers. So I wanted to get into this topic with someone leading a carbon removal company and navigating this uncertain road - the CEO of Heirloom. We talk about the importance of clearing up these definitions, and the ecosystem levers that can help drive carbon removal down the cost curve.In this episode, Na’im and Shashank talk about:* A baseline definition for carbon removal* Key carbon removal cost drivers and implications for sub-$100/ton carbon removal* Challenges with storage, injection, and transportation* The ideal role of the public sector in supporting carbon removal* The importance of modularity for high technology learning rates* Other ecosystem barriers that could help drive down costs and scale up carbon removalRelevant show links:* Heirloom’s website (see careers page and white paper)* Report on Barriers to Scaling Long-duration Carbon Removal* How Solar Became Cheap by Greg NemetAbout Shashank Samala:Shashank Samala, CEO of Heirloom, a company with a goal of removing carbon dioxide out of the air at gigaton scale by 2035 to help reverse climate change. Shashank grew up in Southeast India where he saw firsthand the impact of climate change on some of the world's most vulnerable people.Shahank was previously an Entrepreneur in Residence at Carbon180, a leading climate policy NGO working on atmospheric carbon removal, and a founder at Tempo, which builds mission-critical electronics for surgical robots, satellites, reusable, rockets, and more, and raised over $100M from leading investors.Shashank previously worked at Square and received his Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via Twitter and LinkedIn.Na’im Merchant is an advisor and thought partner to start-ups, policy groups, and research organizations on scaling up climate technologies to meet the monumental challenge of removing billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere to combat climate change. Every two weeks, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing bold new ideas and taking a collective action approach to scaling up carbon removal. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carboncurve.substack.com