This is CDR

Join us for a conversation with award-winning producer-director Leila Conners about her latest feature documentary Legion 44, which chronicles dozens of visionary innovators worldwide advancing groundbreaking carbon removal technologies. From the vulnerable islands of Tuvalu to the Hajar mountains in Oman, the film showcases human ingenuity and collaboration in the face of our unfolding climate emergency. Leila will share the story and goal of Legion 44's conception and production, and information on how you can help spread the word and bring the film to your local cinema.

This Is CDR is pleased to welcome Dr. Brendan Hermalyn, Founder and CEO of Thalo Labs, to share the NYC-based CDR startup's innovative direct air capture technology for urban environments. Thalo Labs is pioneering scalable DAC systems designed to remove CO₂ and other pollutants from indoor spaces and city air, turning captured carbon into valuable products while generating revenue through carbon credits. With a background that includes leadership roles at NASA and Waymo, Dr. Hermalyn brings a wealth of knowledge to the conversation about the future of carbon removal technology in our cities.

This week, This Is CDR is excited to welcome Helen Lundebye, Co-Founder of CDRjobs, a comprehensive platform launched earlier this year dedicated to careers in carbon dioxide removal (CDR). It offers an extensive job board featuring hundreds of active listings from more than 685 companies, catering to both seasoned professionals and newcomers in the CDR sector. Beyond job postings, CDRjobs provides valuable industry data and insights, including salary reports and hiring trends, to assist users in making informed career decisions.

This week on This is CDR, we're joined by the organizing team behind the Carbon Removal Challenge: Matt Parker, Sue Dorward, and Duncan McDowall. The OpenAir Carbon Removal Challenge provides students from colleges and universities around the world an opportunity to design and build new carbon removal solutions and build connections that will bring the next generation of talented engineers, thinkers, and designers into the carbon removal world. There are educational webinars throughout the Challenge and 5 lucky finalist groups are invited to an in-person showcase in New York City in May 2025. This will be the 3rd annual CRC, so please join us to learn about the success of past Challenges and details about participating and supporting this years CRC.

This Is CDR welcomes Dr. Luke Shors, President of Capture6, a pioneering Direct Air Capture company headquartered in California and New Zealand. Capture6 is at the forefront of DAC innovation, offering a unique, water-positive direct air capture (DAC) technology that not only removes CO₂ from the atmosphere but also enhances freshwater availability. By integrating their systems with existing water treatment facilities, Capture6 transforms waste brine into valuable resources, addressing both carbon removal and water scarcity challenges. Dr. Shors is the Co-Founder and President of Capture6. He holds a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education where he also was a fellow at the Harvard Center on Energy and the Environment. Dr. Shors professional interests span health, energy, education and technology, and he has worked in over twenty countries with a range of bilateral and mulitlateral clients including the World Bank, OECD, UNICER and USAID.

​OpenAir is excited to present This Is CDR, an online event series that explores the wide range of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions currently being researched, developed, and deployed, and discusses them in the context of policies OpenAir seeks to form and advance at every level of government in the U.S., as well as in national and subnational jurisdictions globally. ​This week we are excited to welcome Stacy Kauk and Neil Hacker of Isometric. https://isometric.com/ ​Neil Hacker leads Research and Partnerships at Isometric, the leading carbon removal registry. His work involves working with suppliers and building out a suite of high quality protocols for crediting in pathways like Enhanced Weathering, BiCRS and DAC. In his role, he spends a lot of time thinking about how Isometric can leverage high quality monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) to build trust and demand in the voluntary and compliance carbon markets. Stacy Kauk is Isometric's Head of Science. This includes ensuring that rigorous science underpins all of Isometric’s carbon crediting decisions and that the Protocols and Modules are in line with the Isometric Standard. Stacy was previously Head Of Sustainability at Shopify where she was responsible for building Shopify’s $55M+ CDR portfolio and was a founding member of Frontier. She also serves on the advisory boards of Carbon Removal Canada and Collaborative Fund, a venture capital firm. She has a background in environmental engineering and public policy, with 20 years of experience working at the intersection of science and regulation in both the private and public sectors. ​Join us for a discussion of what Isometric does, how Isometric is different from other registries with their focus on scientific rigor, transparency, aligned incentives, and speed, what quality means when it comes to carbon credits, and Isometric's modular approach to protocol development and what protocols have launched recently.

​This Is CDR is back! ​OpenAir is excited to present This Is CDR, an online event series that explores the wide range of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions currently being researched, developed, and deployed, and discusses them in the context of policies OpenAir seeks to formulate and advance at every level of government in the U.S., as well as in national and subnational jurisdictions globally. ​This week we are pleased to welcome Anu Khan of the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative. Link: https://www.carbonremovalstandards.org/ ​In the fall of 2022, Carbon180 published its guide to high accountability MRV, CDR industry stakeholders met in San Francisco to discuss the state of standardization, and scientists convened in Rhode Island to consider the technical and social underpinnings of MRV in open systems like the ocean. Since then, interest in MRV has exploded, with events, panels and workshops all over the world. And Anu Khan (former Deputy Director of Science & Innovation at Carbon180) has been going around to those events asking: What are standards? Where do standards come from? And whose job is this anyway? ​18 months of research on the carbon removal ecosystem, extensive industry interviews, and case studies from other emerging industries has led to the launch of the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative (CRSI). CRSI is a new nonprofit initiative focused on bringing rigor and accountability to the CDR sector through the uniquely powerful mechanism of regulatory standards. In today's episode of This Is CDR, Anu explains what CRSI does, why they focus on policy, and how they work with partners across the CDR ecosystem. ​Anu founded CRSI in early 2024 while an Entrepreneur in Residence at Carbon180. She previously led the Science & Innovation team at Carbon180. Prior to Carbon180, Anu worked in climate philanthropy at Founders Pledge. Her academic background is in electrochemistry and materials science.

In this episode This Is CDR is pleased to welcome Deep Sky Chief Carbon Scientist and Head of Engineering Dr. Phil De Luna to discuss how the company is building large-scale infrastructure in Canada to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate. Deep Sky: https://www.deepskyclimate.com/ ​​About Dr. Phil De Luna: ​​Dr. Phil De Luna is renowned scientist and carbontech innovator, responsible for building Deep Sky Labs. Previously, Phil was a Sustainability Expert at McKinsey & Company. With a PhD in Materials Science & Engineering and a Masters in Chemistry, he has published 50+ papers in high impact science journals. A Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient in 2019, Phil was also a finalist in the $20M Carbon XPRIZE. ​

In this episode we are pleased to welcome Graphyte's CEO Barclay Rogers and CTO Dr. Hannah Murnen to discuss how the company's Carbon Casting process offers carbon dioxide removal that is permanent, affordable, and immediately scalable. Graphyte: https://www.graphyte.com/ ​About Barclay: ​Barclay Rogers is a seasoned executive with extensive carbon experience, including leading business development efforts for Indigo Agriculture (agricultural soil carbon removals) and overall development activities for C12 Energy (geologic carbon sequestration). Barclay holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge, an LLM from the University of Arkansas, a JD from Lewis & Clark college, and a B.S in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arkansas. ​About Hannah: ​Dr. Hannah Murnen is a proven leader in developing and scaling industrial technologies. She served as Managing Director of Activate Anywhere and Chief Technical Officer at Compact Membrane Systems. Hannah also spent several years with McKinsey and Company, advising industrial companies on growth strategy and operations. Hannah holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California Berkeley and a Bachelor of Engineering from Dartmouth College.

This week we are pleased to welcome Dr. David Hughes of Penn State University to present his work with PlantVillage and discuss how we can advance biochar carbon removal to gigatonne scale. ​PlantVillage: https://plantvillage.psu.edu/ About David: ​David Hughes is the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Global Food Security at Penn State University and Director of USAID Innovation Lab on Current and Emerging Threats to Crops. David is additionally founder of PlantVillage; the for-profit enterprises Carbon4Good and PlantVillage+; and the Village Youth Fund. PlantVillage is a public good research enterprise at Penn State that leverages AI to help smallholder farmers adapt to climate change and leverage their farms to mitigate climate change via AI. PlantVillage is one of the fifteen teams to have won an XPRIZE Carbon Removal Milestone Award and is now competing for the Grand Prize. PlantVillage has developed a digital monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) system which is available to co-development partners including Biochar Life, Carboneers, and others via PlantVillage+ and the company's Biochar App.

In this episode This Is CDR is pleased to welcome Teresa Hartmann and Ted Christie-Miller from BeZero Carbon to present and discuss the company's work as a carbon ratings agency, and how independent, risk-based, project-level ratings can help build the market trust necessary to scale high-quality CDR. ​About Teresa: ​Teresa Hartmann is the Chief Ratings Officer at BeZero Carbon. Teresa has extensive experience in scaling carbon market development, transparency, and integrity. Before joining BeZero, Teresa led market formation for the ICVCM and helped develop the Core Carbon Principles. Teresa also held roles at WEF, UNEP, and a national park in Africa, as well as authored key reports on nature and climate finance such as WEF’s Nature and Net Zero report. ​About Ted: ​Ted Christie-Miller is Director of Carbon Removal at BeZero Carbon, a global carbon ratings agency. Ted joined BeZero in October 2021. Prior to BeZero, he founded and led the bipartisan Getting to Zero climate policy programme at the thinktank Onward. Ted regularly writes in the national media on the topics of climate and carbon markets and is a regular speaker at carbon events around the world. ​About BeZero Carbon - https://bezerocarbon.com/ ​BeZero is a carbon ratings agency. Its ratings and risk products equip world-leading organisations with the knowledge, tools and confidence to make better climate decisions. Its aim is to scale investment in environmental markets that deliver a sustainable future.

In this Episode we welcome Holocene Co-Founder and CEO Anca Timofte to present and discuss the company's novel low-temperature DAC process which leverages organic chemistry for scalable and affordable CDR. Holocene: https://theholocene.co ​ABOUT ANCA: ​Anca Timofte serves as Holocene’s CEO, having started Holocene from her Stanford GSB dorm room after 8 years of experience designing & developing DAC facilities at Climeworks. Originally from Romania, Anca holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Environmental Engineering from Washington University. She earned a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from ETH Zurich and completed her research thesis at Stanford University. She completed a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University focused on climate technology deployment and climate finance with an emphasis on carbon dioxide removal.

In this Episode This Is CDR welcomes Robert Höglund back to the program to present and discuss CDR.fyi's recently released 2023 Year in Review and other key CDR market developments. CDR.fyi: https://www.cdr.fyi/ ​About Robert: ​Robert Höglund is an advisor in carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and climate impact. He manages the charitable Milkywire Climate Transformation Fund, co-founded the CDR market overview CDR.fyi, works with the NGO Carbon Gap, and writes reports and articles on carbon removal and corporate climate contributions. He is also a member of the EU Expert Group on Carbon Removals (observer status), and of the Science-based Target Initiative's (SBTi) Technical Advisory Group.

​This week Toby and Megha welcome Dan Maxbauer and Sean McCauley from Alkali Earth to present and discuss the company's novel process which delivers high-quality, permanent, and verifiable CDR through optimized application of alkaline industrial minerals in gravel roads. Alkali Earth: https://www.alkali.earth/ ​About Dan: ​Dan Maxbauer is Alkali Earth's Co-Founder and Science Lead. Dan is an Assistant Professor of Geology at Carleton College and has expertise in mineral weathering and carbon cycling along with past experience consulting on carbon removal methodologies and project review with Verra, Frontier Climate, and XPRIZE. ​About Sean: ​Sean McCauley is Alkali Earth's Co-Founder and Business Lead. Sean is a Carleton College geology alumnus, PhD geochemist from Cal Berkeley, and has spent a long career working in consulting and private equity with large corporations such as McKinsey, TPG Capital, Target, and Charles Schwab.

In this episode Toby and Megha welcome Rory Brown and Jasper Wong from Airhive to present and discuss the company's novel DAC process which employs fluidisation to dramatically accelerate the mineralization of atmospheric CO2. Airhive: https://airhive.earth/ ​About Rory: ​Rory Brown is Co-Founder and CEO of Airhive. Rory is an experienced manager and strategist who has delivered over £200M in overseas programmes for the UK government. Rory brings leadership and delivery expertise to rapidly scale Airhive’s technology. ​About Jasper: ​Jasper Wong is Co-Founder and CTO of Airhive. Jasper is a PhD research engineer from Imperial College London with a background in decarbonisation. He holds a BA and MEng from the University of Cambridge. Jasper brings scientific and engineering expertise to Airhive’s technology.

This week we are pleased to welcome Alex Gagnon and Julian Sachs from Banyu Carbon to present and discuss the company's novel photochemical CDR process to capture carbon dioxide from seawater. https://www.banyucarbon.com/ ​About Alex: ​Dr. Alex Gagnon (PhD Chemistry, Caltech; BS, UC-Berkeley) is an expert in marine carbon who was recognized with a National Science Foundation CAREER award. He has shared his work with President Obama and as an invited panelist for the National Academies. He is deeply involved in marine carbon removal research in both his academic and now his business roles. As a member of a mountain rescue team during graduate school, Alex learned the value of leadership, resilience, and community, lesson that he brings to his role as an entrepreneur. The next 20 years will determine if we can manage atmospheric CO2 and keep global temperatures below dangerous levels. Alex can think of no higher calling than developing climate technology to meet this challenge. Alex is on leave from his faculty duties at the University of Washington to advance the carbon-dioxide-removal technology developed with co-founder Julian Sachs. Alex loves to run, hike, and garden with his family. ​About Julian: ​Dr. Julian Sachs (PhD, MIT; BS, MIT) is a marine organic chemist and climate scientist. His 120 scientific publications have been cited more than 8,000 times. He’s been obsessed with weather and climate since childhood when his family evacuated Martha’s Vineyard in advance of a hurricane and a blizzard closed his New Jersey school for a week. Majoring in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science in college, earning a PhD in Chemical Oceanography with a dissertation on past climate, then researching and teaching climate science for the last 20+ years fueled his passion to understand the earth system. No longer satisfied with studying the global warming threat, Julian is motivated to help avert it. Toward that end Julian is on leave from his faculty position at the University of Washington to advance Banyu Carbon’s carbon removal technology. Outside Banyu, Julian loves to do anything on a bike (inclines & obstacles preferred), snowboard, toss frisbees to his dog, and spend time with his wife and two teenagers.

In this episode of This Is CDR week we are pleased to welcome Rudy Kahsar and Gloria See to present and discuss RMI's November 2023 Applied Innovation Roadmap (AIR) for CDR that a provides comprehensive, objective, and action-oriented perspective on how to best advance the technical readiness of 32 carbon dioxide removal (CDR) approaches this decade. Roadmap Link https://rmi.org/insight/the-applied-innovation-roadmap-for-cdr/ ​About Rudy: ​Dr. Rudy Kahsar is a Manager on RMI’s Climate-Aligned Industries CDR team. Prior to joining RMI, Rudy led the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Track in the Masters of Environment program at CU Boulder where he taught classes in energy policy, energy systems and technologies, data science and visualization in energy, the energy water nexus, and international energy and sustainability. Before that, he served as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Policy Fellow in the US Department of Energy in Washington, D.C., first in the Office of International Climate and Clean Energy and then in the Advanced Manufacturing Office on the Strategic Analysis Team. He has also worked in energy consulting, focusing on measurement and verification, energy efficiency, and renewables integration for the oil and gas and electricity sectors. ​Rudy’s Ph.D. focused on heterogenous catalysis with applications in bio based fuels and chemicals. ​About Gloria: ​Dr. Gloria See is a Senior Associate on RMI's Climate-Aligned Industries Team, working on CDR pathways with a focus on biogenic approaches. Gloria is an electrical engineer and has worked on hardware and model development for precision agriculture, photovoltaic devices, environmental monitoring in museums, and wearable sensors. She also has experience in business development, academic research, entrepreneurship, and sustainable product development, including field research in India and Tanzania. Gloria earned a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Lowell.'

In this episode Toby and Megha welcome Dr. Antonius Gagern and Irene Polyni from Carbon to Sea, the leading initiative to evaluate whether ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) can safely remove and store billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide. https://carbontosea.org/ ​About Antonius: ​Dr. Antonius Gagern is the Executive Director at the Carbon to Sea, a non-profit initiative to systematically evaluate the viability of ocean-based CDR pathways. Prior to this, Antonius spent five years building philanthropic strategies to advance ocean CDR, first at CEA Consulting and later as a Director at Additional Ventures, which spun out Carbon to Sea. Before entering the CDR universe, Antonius was a natural resource economist focused on fisheries and marine conservation in the tropics, as well as on climate smart agriculture. Antonius holds degrees in Biology (BSc.), Marine Ecology (MSc.) and Natural Resource Economics (PhD). ​About Irene: ​Irene Polnyi leads the development of Carbon to Sea’s global field research network. Before joining Carbon to Sea Initiative, Irene served as Executive Director of the Institute for Abundant Oceans, where she led the strategic direction and scientific mandates with Professor Carlos Duarte to unlock new methods to fund and develop blue natural capital. Prior to her work in oceans, Irene co-led a nonprofit accelerator focused on human rights and democracy-building in Southeast Asia and was a management consultant for over 10 years. Irene holds a BS in Economics and Marketing from NYU’s Stern School of Business and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

https://www.rewind.earth/ https://openaircollective.com/ This week This Is CDR welcomes Rewind Co-Founders Ram Amar and Professor Dror Angel who will discuss the company's approach to CDR via terrestrial biomass sinking in anoxic zones of the Black Sea. ​About Ram: ​Ram Amar is the CEO of Rewind.earth. Ram's background is in physics, computer science and entrepreneurship. Since selling his previous startup, Alooma, to Google, Ram has turned to work on mitigating the climate crisis. He co-founded a think tank and advocacy project for a Net Zero Israel, started a community of entrepreneurs transitioning to climate-tech, and after 3 years of research, co-founded Rewind. ​About Professor Angel: ​Prof. Dror Angel leads the Applied Marine Biology & Ecology Research group at the Department of Maritime Civilizations, University of Haifa. He studies a variety of environmental issues that affect and are affected by human activities, such as aquaculture and microplastic pollution. Dror’s group explores ecological and socio-economic consequences of invasive species and jellyfish blooms, employs citizen science in the study of jellyfish and has developed a public website and application for this purpose. The group also studies carbon sequestration as a means to combat climate change and the key scientific processes involved.

This week we are pleased to welcome Dai Ellis and Dr. Jennifer Mills from the founding team of Cascade Climate, a newly launched field-building organization for open-system climate interventions, starting with enhanced weathering (EW). Cascade Climate: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cascade-climate/ ​About Dai: ​Dai Ellis is an entrepreneur with experience founding and scaling high-performing nonprofit and for-profit ventures across climate, health, and education. He is a thought leader on field building and market shaping for social impact. Earlier in his career, Dai led the Clinton Health Access Initiative’s pioneering work on market shaping for drugs, vaccines, and other health products in the Global South. More recently, he has been at the forefront of efforts to import learning and tools from global health market shaping into climate tech. Between his time in global health and climate, Dai spent the better part of a decade building education ventures, including a VC-backed pan-African network of K-12 schools called Nova Pioneer offering world-class education at affordable tuition levels. ​About Jennifer: ​Dr. Jennifer Mills is a geochemist by training working at the frontier of climate solutions and carbon removal. She was most recently a Senior Scientist at Heirloom Carbon, where she helped develop and scale a pioneering direct air capture process underpinned by carbon mineralization. She is a carbon cycle specialist with expertise spanning terrestrial to marine ecosystems, and fundamental geochemistry to environmental economics. Jenny holds a PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from UC Berkeley. She earned an MPhil in Earth Science from Cambridge and MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London where she was a Marshall Scholar, and received her BA from Northwestern University. Hailing originally from the Midwest United States, Jenny is an avid urban gardener and former president of the Churchill College vegetable growers society.

​OpenAir is excited to present This Is CDR, an online event series that explores the wide range of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions currently being researched, developed, and deployed, and discusses them in the context of CDR policies OpenAir seeks to formulate and advance at every level of government in the U.S., as well as in national and subnational jurisdictions globally. ​This week we are pleased to welcome Vycarb Founder and CEO Dr. Garrett Boudinot back to the program to discuss the company's innovative approach to decentralized carbon removal through real-time, autonomous, and direct measurement of CO2 in water. https://www.vy-carb.com/ ​About Garrett: ​Dr. Garrett Boudinot is the founder and CEO of Vycarb, an early-stage startup on a mission to empower the world with high-quality, high-impact carbon dioxide removal. Climate change has been the sole focus of Boudinot’s career, from carbon chemistry and ecosystem impacts to social adaptation and wildlife conservation. Boudinot earned his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado, holds dual bachelor's degrees in humanities and environmental geosciences from the College of Charleston, and served as a research associate at Cornell University. Boudinot also serves on the New York State Climate Impacts Assessment and the ClimateMusic Project.

​OpenAir is excited to present This Is CDR, an online event series that explores the wide range of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions currently being researched, developed, and deployed, and discusses them in the context of CDR policies OpenAir seeks to formulate and advance at every level of government in the U.S., as well as in national and subnational jurisdictions globally. ​This week we are pleased to welcome Dr. Rob Bellamy of the University of Manchester to discuss his recent paper "Communicating Carbon Removal." ​About Rob: ​Dr. Rob Bellamy is Lecturer in Climate and Society in the Department of Geography at the University of Manchester. His research focuses on the social science of climate, nature, and technology, exploring how climate change and responses to it are perceived, evaluated, and governed. He has published widely on these issues in top interdisciplinary and disciplinary academic journals including Nature Energy, Global Environmental Change, and Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. He is currently Co-Investigator and Lead on Responsible Innovation for the UK’s national carbon dioxide removal directorate hub, CO2RE. He was awarded a Presidential Fellowship at the University of Manchester from 2018 – 2022, and ‘Best Researcher of the Year’ 2021 for the University’s Faculty of Humanities. All the links you need to get to know and follow today’s guest Dr. Rob Bellamy of the University of Manchester! https://twitter.com/DrRobBellamy https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/rob.bellamy https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2023.1205388/full

In this installment of This Is CDR we are pleased to welcome CarbonBlue Co-Founder and CEO Dr. Dan Deviri to present the company's approach to direct ocean removal of carbon dioxide via marine calcium looping. Session Links: - https://carbonblue.cc/ - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dandeviri/ - CarbonBlue's successful Summer 2023 Frontier Application– https://github.com/frontierclimate/carbon-removal-source-materials/blob/main/Project%20Applications/2023%20Summer/%5BCarbonBlue%5D%20Frontier%20Carbon%20Removal%20Purchase%20Application.pdf ​About Dr. Deviri ​Dr. Dan Deviri is the co-founder and CEO of CarbonBlue. Dan holds three B.Sc. degrees, two in chemistry and physics from the Technion, one in molecular biology from The Open University of Israel, and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the Weizmann Institute of Science, all with the highest honors. Dan has a proven track record in research and problem-solving, has published multiple high-impact scientific papers, and won international research awards. Toward the end of his Ph.D., Dan decided to pivot from the academic path to use his scientific skills to positively impact the world by tackling climate change, which led Dan to cofound CarbonBlue with his friend Iddo Tsur at the beginning of 2022.

Stockholm Exergi's Head of CDR Erik Rylander joins This Is CDR to discuss how BECCS can sustainably scale in Europe and beyond. LINKS: https://www.stockholmexergi.se/en/ https://twitter.com/SthlmExergi https://x.com/Beccs_Stockholm https://www.linkedin.com/in/erik-rylander-8763257b/ About Erik: Erik Rylander is Head of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) at Stockholm Exergi, where his is responsible for establishing a business unit focused on deploying full-scale BECCS to mitigate climate change and deliver carbon removal services to companies and states aiming for net-zero emissions. Before his present role Erik was the Head of Open District Heating at Stockholm Exergi, where he and his team introduced a unique business model for large scale heat recovery to Stockholm’s district heating network, reducing the city’s reliance on fossil fuels and giving corporations with excess energy an economic incentive to become part of the circular economy. In parallel, Rylander also held the role of Head of Stockholm Data Parks at Stockholm Exergi, where he facilitated the attraction of data center investments to Stockholm and utilized their waste heat for the district heating system. This initiative gained international recognition for its contribution to sustainability and climate positivity. Earlier in his career, Rylander worked at Fortum Värme, where he held various managerial positions, including Manager of Customer Engineering and System Design, and Manager of Distribution District Heating and District Cooling. Erik completed his Master's Degree in Chemical Engineering from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

In this episode Megha and Toby welcome climate policy expert and Climate Principles Founder and Managing Director Eve Tamme to discuss the ongoing deliberations on carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, and their critical implications for the future of CDR. Links: - Climate Principles: https://climateprinciples.com/ - Eve Tamme's LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evetamme/ About Eve: Eve Tamme is a senior advisor on climate policy. Her expertise covers a broad range of policy tools and processes, including carbon markets, carbon removal, carbon capture and climate governance. Working on climate policy since 2004, she has led the Climate Department in Estonian national administration, advised on climate policy in DG CLIMA in the European Commission, served as a diplomat at the Estonian Permanent Representation to the EU, and shaped international climate policy engagement at a global non-profit. Today, Eve leads Climate Principles, a climate policy advisory. She works with private and public sector clients, providing strategic advice on European and international climate policy, focusing on carbon markets, carbon removal and carbon capture. Eve is the Chair of the Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP), serves on the Board of Directors at Puro.earth, and on the Advisory Board of Carbon Gap. She holds a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from TalTech University.

In this episode we are pleased to welcome South Pole Global Director of Tech Removals, and NextGen Chairman Philip Moss to discuss South Pole's work on CDR and the NextGen CDR Facility, a joint venture of South Pole and Mitsubishi. Session Links: https://www.nextgencdr.com/ https://www.southpole.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipmoss/ https://twitter.com/ManaPhilip https://twitter.com/southpoleglobal Great interview with Philip and Carbon Business Council Exec. Dir. Ben Rubin https://www.carbonbusinesscouncil.org/news/southpole

The European policy landscape surrounding CDR continues to shift rapidly, with developments at both the EU and national levels. OpenAir is excited to welcome back Sebastian Manhart of Carbonfuture to discuss his updated analysis of: The latest developments in European climate policy and their impact on CDR Carbon removal targets and policies at the national level across Europe including a discussion of best practices and opportunities. Developments and key open questions for the European Carbon Removal Certification Framework. The future of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, and what it means for CDR. The role of Germany and insights into the EU´s first national CDR association, the DVNE. Following the presentation, OpenAir's Toby Bryce will ask Sebastian a few prepared questions, followed by audience Q&A moderated by Megha Raghavan. ABOUT SEBASTIAN: - https://www.carbonfuture.earth/ - https://www.carbonfuture.earth/team/sebastian-manhart - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastianmanhart - https://twitter.com/sebmanhart Sebastian Manhart is a climate advocate, leveraging his skills and experiences to support policy makers in making better decisions for our planet. He is the Senior Policy Advisor of Carbonfuture, the world´s leading platform for high-quality carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Sebastian is also the Chair of the Board of the DVNE, the German CDR Association, as well as a founding Director of the US Biochar Coalition, a trade association unifying the voice of the US biochar industry. Previously, Sebastian spent a decade as a tech entrepreneur, advised Angela Merkel´s Chancellery, and worked with governments globally through the World Bank. Sebastian is an economist with a BA from UCL and an MPhil from Cambridge University.

In this episode of This Is CDR OpenAir welcomes [C]Worthy Co-Founder and Executive Director Matthew Long to discuss the new organization's vital mission to build software that supports multi-scale oceanographic modeling and data integration for quantifying the efficacy and ecological impacts of marine CDR. ABOUT OUR GUEST Matthew Long co-founded [C]Worthy in 2022 with Alicia Karspeck and David Ho. Prior to [C]Worthy, Matt was a Scientist in the Oceanography Section of the Climate & Global Dynamics Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research where he conducted research related to the carbon cycle, ocean biogeochemistry, and marine ecosystems in the context of climate variability and change. Matt holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in civil and environmental engineering from Tufts University and a Ph.D. in oceanography from Stanford University. SESSION LINKS - https://cworthy.org/ - https://twitter.com/_CWorthy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-long-a26016202/

This week we welcome CREW Carbon Founder and CEO Joachim Katchinoff and Processing Engineering Lead Kevin Vu to discuss how the company is moving carbon from the fast to slow cycle using enhanced weathering in engineered systems for permanent, low-cost, and measurable carbon dioxide removal. CREW has been selected as one of Frontier Climate's early carbon removal pre-purchase companies and has received grant support from the Carbon to Sea Initiative. ABOUT OUR GUESTS Joachim Katchinoff co-founded CREW Carbon in 2022. Prior to CREW, Joachim worked for seven years as a geochemist investigating fundamental questions about the carbon cycle, weathering dynamics, and biogeochemical cycles. Joachim holds a Ph.D. from Yale University in Earth and Planetary Sciences (2022) and a Bachelor of Science in Geology from The College of William & Mary. Kevin Vu is a process engineer specializing in water and wastewater treatment. He has years of experience in R&D engineering, pilot deployments, practical design of municipal and industrial treatment systems, and modeling of biological process units and sewage networks. Kevin holds a B.E. in Civil Engineering and a M.S. in Environmental Science and Engineering from Caltech, where he conducted applied research on electrochemical processes for decentralized water treatment funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. SESSION LINKS - CREW Carbon Website: https://www.crewcarbon.com/ - Joachim's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joachim-katchinoff-89838934/ - CREW Carbon's Frontier application – https://github.com/frontierclimate/carbon-removal-source-materials/blob/main/Project%20Applications/2022%20Fall/%5BCREW%5D%20Frontier%20Carbon%20Removal%20Purchase%20Application.pdf Carbon To Sea grant w/ Ebb Carbon https://carbontosea.org/grantees/

In this episode of This Is CDR we welcome Octavia Carbon Founder and CEO Martin Freimüller and Product Lead Duncan Kariuki to discuss the company's plan for deploying direct air capture (DAC) in Kenya -- and why they believe Kenya is the best place in the world to scale DAC! About Martin: Martin Freimüller is the Founder & CEO of Octavia Carbon, where he leads on strategy, sales and fundraising. His background is in strategy consulting at Dalberg Global Development Advisors, where he also served as the firm’s global CDR and carbon markets expert. He holds a B.A. and M.A. degree in Management and Political Science from the University of Cambridge. About Duncan: Duncan Kariuki is the product lead at Octavia Carbon where he leads the engineering design of the DAC machines, and tailors the tech to its deployment in the Kenyan context. He has a background in machine element design and manufacturing from Isuzu East Africa and the Kenya Space Agency. He holds a BSc in mechanical engineering from the University of Nairobi. Links: - https://www.octaviacarbon.com/ - https://twitter.com/MartinFreimlle1 - https://twitter.com/OctaviaCarbon - Octavia’s Puro listing – https://puro.earth/accelerate/project-hummingbird-100272 - James Mwangi TED Talk – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzGu9bP07i0

This week we welcome Equatic Principal Advisor Dr. Lorenzo Corsini to This Is CDR to update us on the company's evolution and progress since SeaChange was on the program in December 2021, and discuss the electrochemical mCDR company's recent offtake purchase agreement with Boeing, the road ahead, and path to scale. About Lorenzo: Dr. Lorenzo Corsini is an entrepreneur and scientist. Prior to joining Equatic, he co-founded and built PhagoMed, a biotech startup developing precision antimicrobials, which was exited to BioNTech in 2021. Before that, he spent nine years at BCG in roles of increasing seniority. Lorenzo has degrees in biochemistry and business administration and a Ph.D. in molecular biology All the links you need to get to know and follow today’s guest Equatic! https://www.equatic.tech/ https://twitter.com/equatic_tech UCLA ICM https://icm.ucla.edu/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorenzo-corsini/ Jobs at Equatic - https://www.equatic.tech/careers And Equatic (formerly SEA CHANGE) on TICDR Ep10 (Dec 2021) w/ SEA CHANGE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XJ4A9yjeS8 https://www.equatic.tech/articles/equatic-launches-low-cost-gigaton-scale-technology-to-decarbonize-at-unprecedented-speed https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-12/new-carbon-dioxide-removal-project-relies-on-ocean-to-reach-net-zero Paper on the science behind Equatic’s process https://www.equatic.tech/publications/electrolytic-seawater-mineralization-and-how-it-ensures-net-carbon-dioxide-removal.

This week we are pleased to welcome Carba founders CEO Dr. Andrew Jones and Senior Advisor Prof. Paul Dauenhauer to This Is CDR to discuss the company's method of long-duration CDR via biomass torrefaction and burial (BTB). About Andrew: Dr. Andrew Jones is an entrepreneur, scientist, inventor, and energy enthusiast. Before founding Carba, Andrew started and built Activated Research Company (ARC), an innovation firm that develops analytical technology for scientists. ARC’s portfolio of products includes a novel NSF-funded detector for pharmaceutical drug development, world-leading technology for CO2 measurement, and tools for analyzing biofuels. He and his work have been the recipient of several awards including Astronaut Scholar, R&D100, NSF Graduate Fellow, 35 and Under Young Entrepreneur Award, and MN Cup Energy/Clean Tech winner. He holds five patents. About Paul: Prof. Paul Dauenhauer is a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and a MacArthur Fellow. His research focuses on developing new technologies for converting biomass—materials derived from organic, renewable sources—into the chemical building blocks of products that are currently sourced from fossil fuels. With expertise that spans reaction chemistry (specific chemical transformations) and catalysis engineering (accelerating reactions), Dauenhauer is opening new pathways for mitigating the environmental impacts of commodity chemicals. All the links you need to get to know and follow today’s guests from Carba! Carba: https://www.carba.com/ Carba Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/carbacarbon/ Dr. Andrew Jones Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjones-arc/ Prof. Paul Dauenhauer Bio: https://cse.umn.edu/cems/paul-dauenhauer Dr. Andrew Jones Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndrewJonesARC Prof. Paul Dauenhauer Twitter: https://twitter.com/pauldauenhauer June 2023 paper on science behind Carba: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsengineeringau.2c00043 https://www.minnesotaalumni.org/stories/the-carbon-problem

This week we are pleased to welcome Dr. Holly Jean Buck back to This Is CDR to discuss her recent paper (with colleagues) "Why Residual Emissions Matter Right Now," and the implications of this work on the climate role of CDR. About Holly: Dr. Holly Jean Buck is a geographer and environmental social scientist studying rural futures, the politics of platforms, and how emerging technologies can address environmental challenges. She works as an Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, New York, and has a Ph.D. in Development Sociology from Cornell University. She is the author of After Geoengineering: Climate Tragedy, Repair, and Restoration and Ending Fossil Fuels: Why Net Zero Is Not Enough. Links: Dr. Buck's Twitter: https://twitter.com/hollyjeanbuck Faculty Bio: https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/environment-sustainability/faculty/faculty-directory/holly-buck.html Books: https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/authors/buck-holly-jean "Why Residual Emissions Matter Right Now" - Nature : https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01592-2 This is CDR Ep. 19 with Dr. Buck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqhJvDtIAhw Volts Podcast w/ Guest Dr. Buck: https://www.volts.wtf/p/the-trouble-with-net-zero#details Referenced Content: CDR Primer: https://cdrprimer.org/ Carbonomics Paper by Goldman Sachs: https://www.goldmansachs.com/intelligence/pages/gs-research/carbonomics-affordability/report.pdf

In The Carbon Removal Blended Tonne White Paper, Nori proposes combining temporary and long-term carbon storage to create a credible pathway to net zero. Tune in to this discussion with Radhika Moolgavkar and Rick Berg from Nori’s Supply team to learn how the blended tonne can contribute to the funding of future, more durable carbon removal solutions while enabling ecosystem restoration and temporary carbon storage to support proper carbon accounting and removal. Nori's Paper - https://nori.com/blog/carbon-removal-blended-tonne-whitepaper.

In this episode of This Is CDR we welcome back Mati Founder Shantanu to discuss how his new non-profit seeks to scale long duration carbon removal via enhanced weathering (EW) in partnership with smallholder farmers in India and other regions of the Global South. ABOUT SHANTANU: Shantanu Agarwal is a climate tech entrepreneur with more than 20 year of energy industry experience. Prior to founding Mati, Shantanu is Co-Founder and CEO for Sustaera, a company focused on Direct Air Capture of CO2 and also Co-Founder for climate tech R&D company Susteon. Shantanu has served as board director of multiple startups and led investments as part of a energy technology VC fund in the past. Shantanu has also consulted with McKinsey & Co and worked with Schlumberger. Shantanu has an MBA from Harvard Business School, Cambridge, USA & B. Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT, Roorkee. SESSION LINKS: - https://mati.earth/ - https://twitter.com/mati_carbon - https://twitter.com/shantanuagarwal - Shantanu on TICDR w/ Sustaera (DAC) Ep27 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiUUsUuwesc - Past EW TICDR episodes – Garrett Boudinot ex-Cornell CALS Ep2; Undo Ep28; Carbon Drawdown Ep44; Lithos Ep50; Eion Ep70 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1je2pACUAbKdS4529vLLHgZR2MGk9KLm - Garrett Boudinot et. al. report in EW in Global South https://precisiondev.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/IGSDPxD-ERW-- Enhanced-Rock-Weathering-in-the-Global-South-26-02-23-2.pdf - Dail Ellis and John Sanchez blog on “leveling the playing field” for open-system CDR approaches like EW – https://greatunwind.substack.com/p/leveling-the-playing-field-for-open - Recent David Beerling paper on agronomic cobenefits - https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.05343

This week on This Is CDR we are pleased to welcome Holy Grail CEO Nuno Pereira and CTO Sophie Griggs to present and discuss the company's modular electrochemical DAC process with mineral storage. Presentation Links: - https://www.holygrailcarbon.com/ - Linked In Nuno: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nunohg/ - Linked In Sophie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-griggs-2ab014a5/ About Nuno: Nuno Pereira is the CEO of Holy Grail. Following his work as a designer, Nuno has a long track record of founding and leading start-ups within the energy and transportation industries. He holds a degree in Product Design from the Escola Superior de Artes e Design in Portugal. About Sophie: Sophie Griggs is the CTO of Holy Grail. Originally from the UK, she is a chemist with a Masters from Imperial College London and Ph.D. in materials chemistry at the University of Oxford. She is passionate about using her STEM background to fight climate change. She oversees technology development, IP strategy, procurement, and deployment.

Carbon accounting approaches for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) are a patchwork. A combination of project-specific protocols, project-level due diligence and bespoke verification is the dominant approach. This characterizes a market that is still nascent with a limited variety of both buyers and suppliers of carbon removal credits. In this webinar OpenAir hosts Christiaan Gevers Deynoot of South Pole to present the work of the CCS+ Initiative, a unique multi-stakeholder initiative established in 2021 with the mission to scale cutting edge climate technologies by developing a scalable carbon accounting infrastructure. The approach it takes departs from common practice to cater to the needs of a fully-fledged carbon management economy. The CCS+ Initiative is expected to issue its first methodologies for public consultation by the end of June. LINKS: - CCS+ Initiative: https://www.ccsplus.org/ - South Pole: https://www.southpole.com/ - OpenAir: https://openaircollective.cc/ LEARN ABOUT: - Why it matters that CDR protocols across different markets increasingly converge. - How today's disparate landscape of bespoke protocols can lead to standards. - What CCS+ is doing to promote a race to the top in high quality carbon accounting. - Following the presentation, we'll open the floor to audience Q&A moderated by OpenAir's Megha Raghavan. ABOUT CHRISTIAAN: Christiaan Gevers Deynoot has over ten years experience working on climate issues. He currently works as a Senior Manager for Carbon Removal Platforms at South Pole. In this role, he delivers high-quality consultancy mandates related to engineered carbon dioxide removal methods and conventional carbon capture and storage, with a focus on multi-stakeholder action platforms such as the CCS+ Initiative. Christiaan has a public affairs background in EU energy and climate policy and industrial decarbonization issues in the Benelux region.

In this episode of This Is CDR we are pleased to welcome Arbor CEO Brad Hartwig and CTO Andrés García-Clark to present and discuss the company's novel, compact, and modular BiCRS process. Presentation Links: - https://arbor.co/ - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-hartwig/ - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andres-garcia-clark-5793443/ - (winning!) Frontier proposal – https://github.com/frontierclimate/carbon-removal-source-materials/blob/main/Project%20Applications/2022%20Fall/%5BArbor%5D%20Frontier%20Carbon%20Removal%20Purchase%20Application.pdf - https://www.mcjcollective.com/my-climate-journey-podcast/arbor - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2022.993230/full About Brad: Brad Hartwig began his career at SpaceX where he spent his early years developing the Draco rocket engine for Crew Dragon (as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program). After SpaceX, he worked as a Flight Test Engineer and Test Pilot at Kittyhawk while volunteering as a search and rescue specialist for Marin County and the CA Air National Guard. After seeing the devastating effects of California's wildfires up close, Brad shifted his attention to contributing to the climate fight. He started Arbor with the rest of the founding team to draw down humanity's legacy carbon emissions. By converting waste biomass into carbon-negative electricity, he and the team feel they also have a compelling and imminent solution to the growing wildfire problem. About Andrés: Andrés García-Clark started working at General Electric, and did so for 13 years, developing advanced natural gas turbines that power cities. After this, he helped SpaceX develop the Raptor full flow staged engine over 5 years, going from clean sheet design to full testing and deploying into starship. Through all these adventures, Andrés gave a lot of thought about our future and the world we are to leave our progeny. He came to the decision that here is where we make our current stand, and that we need to give a lot of focus on working on the carbon problem, which is the labor of our time. This led him to Arbor, where he works with the team developing a novel negative emissions energy plant, which can be used as a tool to remove CO2 from the atmosphere while producing energy. This approach can enable a circular economy where we recycle wastes and clean up the atmosphere at the same time!

This week on This Is CDR we are pleased to welcome Hannah Bebbington and Scott Litzelman from Stripe Climate to discuss the initial round of Frontier's offtake purchases. About Frontier: Frontier is an advance market commitment to buy an initial $925M of permanent carbon removal between 2022 and 2030. It was founded by Stripe, Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, McKinsey and tens of thousands of businesses using Stripe Climate.

In this episode of This Is CDR Toby and Megha welcome Andes Bio Co-Founder and CEO Gonzalo Fuenzalida-Meriz to present the company's innovative approach that leverages microorganisms to accelerate the sequestration of inorganic carbon in soils. Andes Bio: https://www.andes.bio/ About Gonzalo: Gonzalo Fuenzalida-Meriz Andes in 2018 along with Tania Timmermann. He is a serial entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience successfully leading biotechnology companies. Gonzalo has a background in business administration and economics and experience in investment banking before becoming an entrepreneur. He is originally from Chile and is now based in the Bay Area.

In this episode of This Is CDR we are pleased to welcome Eion Carbon Co-Founders CEO Adam Wolf and CTO Elliot Chang to discuss how the company seeks to drive innovation in the science, measurement, and operations of enhanced weathering (EW) in agriculture. About Eion: https://eioncarbon.com/ Eion is a leader in enhanced rock weathering and patented the first direct measurement methodology to unlock this highly scalable removal pathway. Working with farmers and existing agricultural systems, Eion's process of applying olivine to working lands rapidly, efficiently, and safely removes carbon while generating tangible environmental and social benefits. About Adam: Adam Wolf is co-founder and CEO of Eion. Previously he founded and led the digital ag company Arable. He holds a BSc and Msc in Agronomy from UC Davis, and a PhD in Biology from Stanford, and currently resides in Princeton NJ. About Elliot: Elliot Chang is co-founder and CTO of Eion. He previously held researcher positions at LBL and LLNL investigating metal-mineral interactions. He holds a BSE from Princeton University, and a PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from UC Berkeley. His Technology & Innovation group is located in Oakland, CA.

In this episode of This Is CDR we welcome Noya CEO Josh Santos back to the program to update us on the company's evolved approach to direct air capture (DAC), their recent funding round, and plans to deploy and scale in 2023 and beyond. Links: Noya - https://www.noya.co/ Josh's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshisantos/ About Josh: Josh Santos is the co-founder and CEO of Noya, a company that’s reversing climate change by capturing CO2 from the sky via a novel modular direct air capture process. Before starting Noya, he took the technical skills he learned during his time studying chemical engineering at MIT and applied them in the business world. After graduating, Josh was the Chief of Staff at Labdoor, a startup that tests dietary supplements on behalf of consumers, where he built B2B products and services from scratch. He then went on to become a Project Manager on the Model 3 program at Tesla, where he helped to scale the production rate of the Model 3 after it launched, and then on to become the first EV Program Manager in Harley-Davidson’s new electric vehicle division, where he helped the team scale from 6 to 30 people in the newly-opened Mountain View office. Outside of the office, you can find Josh reading or sailing in the San Francisco Bay.

On this episode of This Is CDR we are pleased to welcome ecoLocked Co-Founder and CEO Dr. Mario Schmitt who will present and discuss the company's innovative solution for climate positive concrete via the incorporation of biochar. Company - https://www.ecolocked.com/ About Mario: Mario is a co-founder of ecoLocked, a German startup working to turn biochar into a functional concrete additive to enable carbon removal and long-term storage at scale. He holds a PhD in Corporate Finance and has spent multiple years developing sustainable and climate-friendly business models with industry players and startups. Prior to founding ecoLocked, Mario worked at the Boston Consulting Group, where he helped build up the Group’s Nature and Biodiversity function and published several keystone reports, including The Biodiversity Crisis is a Business Crisis. In 2022, he was recognized as one of 30 Vordenker (“Thought leaders”) in the area of green business by BCG and Handelsblatt.

This week on This Is CDR we are pleased to welcome XPRIZE Carbon Removal Executive Director Nikki Batchelor who will provide an update on the contest's current status and next phase; give an overview of the recently released Circular Carbon Network 2022 Market Report; and discuss XPRIZE's excellent recent collaboration with Carbon180 "From the Ground Up." About Nikki: Nikki Batchelor leads the $100M XPRIZE Carbon Removal, a competition supported by the Musk Foundation to drive innovation, market adoption, and the equitable and just scaling of carbon removal solutions. In this capacity she oversees program operations, develops partnerships, and designs strategic initiatives on topics such as environmental justice and investor engagement. Nikki also supports XPRIZE’s work across the energy and climate domain and previously managed operations and impact programs for the $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, including the Circular Carbon Network, which aims to catalyze commercial activity and provide market insights for the growing carbontech and carbon removal sectors. Nikki also serves on the Carbon Business Council Board of Directors and Puro.Earth Advisory Board. Prior to that, she served as an Innovation Advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development, designing and executing challenge programs and impact frameworks, as well as managing operations for grant programs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, she has worked as a Strategist for NationBuilder, a software start-up developing product and communication strategies and expansion into new markets. Nikki holds an MBA from George Washington University.This week on This Is CDR we are pleased to welcome XPRIZE Carbon Removal Executive Director Nikki Batchelor who will provide an update on the contest's current status and next phase; give an overview of the recently released Circular Carbon Network 2022 Market Report; and discuss XPRIZE's excellent recent collaboration with Carbon180 "From the Ground Up." About Nikki: Nikki Batchelor leads the $100M XPRIZE Carbon Removal, a competition supported by the Musk Foundation to drive innovation, market adoption, and the equitable and just scaling of carbon removal solutions. In this capacity she oversees program operations, develops partnerships, and designs strategic initiatives on topics such as environmental justice and investor engagement. Nikki also supports XPRIZE’s work across the energy and climate domain and previously managed operations and impact programs for the $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, including the Circular Carbon Network, which aims to catalyze commercial activity and provide market insights for the growing carbontech and carbon removal sectors. Nikki also serves on the Carbon Business Council Board of Directors and Puro.Earth Advisory Board. Prior to that, she served as an Innovation Advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development, designing and executing challenge programs and impact frameworks, as well as managing operations for grant programs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, she has worked as a Strategist for NationBuilder, a software start-up developing product and communication strategies and expansion into new markets. Nikki holds an MBA from George Washington University.

The European policy landscape surrounding CDR is shifting rapidly, with developments at both the EU and national levels. OpenAir is excited to host Sebastian Manhart of Carbonfuture to discuss his analysis of: - Carbon removal targets and policies at the national level across Europe including a discussion of best practices and opportunities. - Developments and key open questions for the European Carbon Removal Certification Framework. The future of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, and what it means for CDR. Following the presentation, we'll open the floor to audience Q&A moderated by OpenAir's Megha Raghavan. About Sebastian: - https://www.carbonfuture.earth/ - https://twitter.com/sebmanhart?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Sebastian Manhart is a climate advocate, leveraging his skills and experiences to support policy makers in making better decisions for our planet. He is the Senior Policy Advisor of Carbonfuture, the world´s leading platform for high-quality carbon dioxide removal (CDR), accounting for around a quarter of all deliveries of high durability CDR in 2022. He is a Cambridge and Harvard trained economist, who spent a decade as a tech entrepreneur and advised Angela Merkel´s Chancellery as well as the World Bank.

In this episode Toby and Megha welcome Kita Co-Founder and CEO Natalia Dorfman to discuss how insurance can help facilitate and accelerate the scaling of CDR. Kita - https://www.kita.earth/ About Natalia: Natalia Dorfman is the CEO and co-founder of Kita, the carbon insurance specialist. Kita’s purpose is accelerating investment in high quality carbon removal projects with insurance products that reduce transaction risk and safeguard the performance of carbon purchases. Kita’s flagship insurance product is Carbon Purchase Protection Cover, protecting buyers of forward purchased carbon removal credits against under-delivery. Prior to founding Kita, Natalia spent 15 years as a business development and strategy specialist within the legal sector, including leading the Climate Risk practice strategy as Global Head of New Business at Clyde & Co LLP. Her experience with large corporations on their climate change-related challenges inspired her to help accelerate positive change through entrepreneurship. She was named among the “Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch” by NatWest and the Telegraph in November 2022.

On this episode of This Is CDR Toby and Megha catch up with Carbonplan's Freya Chay and Frontier's Dr. Zeke Hausfather who present and discuss recent updates to the organizations' excellent CDR Verification Framework. Presenter Links: Frontier - https://frontierclimate.com/ Carbon Plan - https://carbonplan.org/ CDR Verification Framework - https://carbonplan.org/research/cdr-verification About Freya: Freya Chay is a Program Manager for Carbonplan. Freya has an interdisciplinary background in decarbonization. She’s particularly interested in how climate-forced transformations will impact culture and communities. She holds an MS in Earth Systems and a BS in Computer Science from Stanford University. About Zeke: Dr. Zeke Hausfather is Climate Research Lead for Stripe. He is a climate scientist whose research focuses on carbon removal, observational temperature records, climate models, and mitigation technologies. Zeke spent 10 years working as a data scientist and entrepreneur in the cleantech sector, where he was the lead data scientist at Essess, the chief scientist at C3.ai, and the cofounder and chief scientist of Efficiency 2.0. He also worked as a research scientist with Berkeley Earth, was the senior climate analyst at Project Drawdown, the US analyst for Carbon Brief, and the director of climate and energy at the Breakthrough Institute. He has masters degrees in environmental science from Yale University and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a PhD in climate science from the University of California, Berkeley.

In this episode of This Is CDR Toby and welcome Kodama Systems' Head of Biomass Utilization and Policy Jimmy Voorhis and Yale Carbon Containment Lab's Associate Director of Science Dr. Sinéad Crotty who will discuss their research collaboration on biomass burial of unmerchantable residues from fire thinning. LInks: - https://kodama.ai/ - https://carboncontainmentlab.yale.edu/who-we-are About Jimmy: Jimmy Voorhis leads biomass utilization and policy at Kodama Systems, where he develops solutions to create value from forestry residues based on their inherent carbon. Prior to Kodama, Jimmy was a consulting geochemist for international mining companies and built water + mass balance models of major mining systems across resource types. He is expert at developing methods to better constrain Earth processes, and has pioneered studies in sulfide mineral electrochemistry as well as characterization of pit lake water quality and dynamics utilizing aerial drones. Previously he was an ice climbing and mountain guide in Alaska and National Geographic Explorer studying the impacts of climate change on winter recreation. He holds a MS from Dartmouth and a BSE from Tufts. About Sinéad: Dr. Sinéad Crotty has ten years of experience in experimental community ecology, ecosystem restoration, and environmental engineering. Her previous work utilized primarily hypothesis-driven field experiments along with regional survey techniques, geospatial analyses, and modeling efforts to investigate the effects of climate change on biodiversity, stability and functionality of coastal ecosystems. Sinéad has conducted research across the many coastal systems of the eastern US, including salt marshes, sand dunes, mangroves, cobble beaches, and live oak savannas. Sinéad holds a Ph.D. from the University of Florida in Environmental Engineering Sciences (2019). Prior to her dissertation work, Sinéad received her Bachelor of Science in Biology (Honors) from Brown University in 2015.

In this episode of This Is CDR Toby and Megha welcome Carbon To Stone Founder Dr. Greeshma Gadikota of Cornell Engineering who will present the startup's novel DAC approach that replaces conventional solvent regeneration using heat or pressure changes with direct mineralization of low-cost alkaline wastes such as steel slag, significantly reducing the energy, and thus the cost, required. The captured CO₂ is durably stored as solid carbonate materials that can be used for building materials and other industrial purposes. About Greeshma: Dr. Greeshma Gadikota is an Assistant Professor and Croll Sesquicentennial Fellow in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering with an appointment in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University. She directs the Sustainable Energy and Resource Recovery Group. She held postdoctoral appointments at Princeton and Columbia University and a researcher appointment at NIST. Her PhD in Chemical Engineering and MS degrees in Chemical Engineering and Operations Research are from Columbia University. She is a recipient of the DOE, NSF and ARO CAREER Awards, Sigma Xi Young Investigator Award, Cornell Engineering Research Excellence Award, Inaugural Cornell Rising Women Innovator Award, and AICHE Sabic Award for Young Professionals. Session Links: https://www.cee.cornell.edu/faculty-directory/greeshma-gadikota https://carbontostone.com/ https://twitter.com/carbontostone https://twitter.com/hausfath/status/1603414648732073984 https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2022/07/research-focus-greeshma-gadikota-invents-technologies-capture-and-upcycle-carbon https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2022/12/cornell-startup-carbon-stone-enters-carbon-removal-pre-purchase-agreement-frontier https://medium.com/@sgadikota/building-a-circular-carbon-economy-5caa90359218

In this episode of This Is CDR Toby and Megha welcome Robert Höglund who will present the excellent and insightful cdr.fyi 2022 Year in Review report what we can hope and expect in 2023 and beyond to get the long-duration CDR market on track for gigatonne scale by mid-century. ABOUT CDR.FYI: cdr.fyi is a community driven effort to bring transparency and accountability to the carbon removal market. We work with CDR participants to ensure accurate, trusted reporting for their purchases, deliveries, and verifications. ABOUT ROBERT: Robert is an independent advisor working with companies and organizations on carbon removal, climate contributions, and climate policy, through his company Marginal Carbon AB. He previously headed Oxfam Sweden's policy and communications team, where he authored the discussion paper Removing carbon now. He founded the Climate goal initiative, a network of organizations pushing Sweden to adopt a consumption-based climate target. Robert created and manages the Milkywire Climate Transformation Fund, sits on the board of Mistra sustainable consumption and was part of the Science-based Target Initiatives' Net-zero expert advisory group. GUEST LINKS: https://twitter.com/RobertHoglund https://www.marginalcarbon.com/ https://marginalcarbon.substack.com/ https://www.cdr.fyi/ https://twitter.com/cdr_fyi https://medium.com/cdr-fyi/cdr-fyi-2022-year-in-review-d095acd9a1a0 OPENAIR https://www.openircollective.cc