Kickstarting a $1 trillion market for carbon removal

enNovember 18, 2021

Catalyst with Shayle Kann

Podcast Summary

Stripe's Role in Carbon Removal Market: Stripe, a tech company, is leading the charge in carbon removal by being transparent about procurement, aiming to grow the market, and overseeing purchases and market development.
The world needs to not only decrease emissions but also remove gigatons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere to limit global temperature rise. The carbon removal market is still small but growing, with various technology approaches, including nature-based solutions and artificial methods like direct air capture. The cost of these methods varies widely, from as low as $10 a ton to over $1,000 a ton. Stripe, a tech company worth $100 billion, is leading the charge in carbon removal by being transparent about their procurement process and publishing details of their contracts. They aim to help grow this market from its current state to a much larger one. Nan Ransa Hoff, the head of climate at Stripe, oversees the team responsible for making these purchases and developing the market. Overall, the need for carbon removal is crucial, and Stripe's transparency is valuable in understanding the potential of various technology pathways.
Stripe Climate's focus on creating a market for carbon removal: Stripe Climate aims to make carbon removal affordable and accessible by investing in promising technologies and making it easy for businesses and consumers to contribute to carbon removal efforts, helping to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
Stripe Climate is working to create a large-scale market for carbon removal, with a focus on raising funds to invest in promising carbon removal solutions. This includes making it easy for businesses and consumers to contribute a portion of their revenue towards carbon removal efforts. Carbon removal is crucial for reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, as we need to not only reduce emissions but also remove historical emissions. This process involves capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it permanently. Carbon removal is distinct from carbon capture, which focuses on preventing emissions rather than removing existing carbon from the atmosphere. Stripe Climate is specifically focused on the former, with the goal of helping to bring down the cost of carbon removal technologies to make them viable at a large scale. Overall, the company aims to help accelerate the development and implementation of a diverse portfolio of carbon removal solutions to help address the global carbon emissions challenge.
Stripe's Efforts in Carbon Removal: Tech company Stripe identifies carbon removal market gap, invests in long-term, affordable, large-scale, and food-neutral solutions, and aims to scale the market by mid-century
Stripe, a tech company, identified a significant gap in the market for carbon removal and has dedicated resources to addressing this issue. They have already procured carbon removal by paying companies to pull CO2 from the atmosphere and have published details of their purchases. Stripe looks for carbon removal solutions with long-term permanence, the potential to reach sub-$100 per ton, the ability to remove more than half a gigaton, and do so without competing with food production or land use for shelter. Examples of companies they've purchased from include Charm Industrial, which converts biomass waste into CO2 and sells the captured CO2 to be used in enhanced oil recovery. The carbon removal market is currently small but needs to grow significantly by mid-century, and Stripe is exploring how to scale this market.
Innovative carbon removal solutions: Exploring nature-based and engineered approaches for permanent carbon removal, Stripe Climate partners with early-stage companies to discover new, untapped carbon removal pathways.
There are various innovative solutions being explored to address the challenge of permanent carbon removal. These solutions range from utilizing nature's processes, such as pyrolyzing corn stover to create bio oil and injecting it underground, to more engineered approaches like direct air capture machines that suck CO2 out of the air and inject it into basalt rock. Nature-based solutions use what nature is already doing, but they often lack permanence, while engineered solutions offer more permanence but require more resources. The field of carbon removal needs a diverse range of approaches as the goal of removing 10 gigatons of CO2 is significant. Stripe Climate, as a buyer, is contributing by partnering with early-stage companies and offering to be their first customer. The discovery of new, untapped carbon removal pathways is a promising prospect.
Stripe and partners help bridge commercialization gap for permanent carbon removal: Stripe procures carbon removal at a fixed price, agnostic to current market price, to help technologies reach affordability and scalability, aiming for near $100 per ton and removal of half a gigaton of carbon.
Stripe and its partners are actively working to bring more companies to the starting line of permanent carbon removal by offering procurement contracts to help bridge the commercialization gap. These contracts are given to companies that meet specific criteria, and the ultimate goal is to make these technologies affordable and scalable, with a directional price of near $100 per ton. Stripe's focus is on the long-term potential of these technologies and their ability to reach sub-$100 per ton and remove at least half a gigaton of carbon, rather than the current market price. The company is agnostic to the current price and is more concerned with understanding each technology's glide path to affordability. For most companies, Stripe purchases the same dollar value of carbon removal, regardless of the number of tons. This approach is based on the idea that learning curves, similar to those seen in the electric vehicle industry, will drive down costs over time.
Long-term contracts needed for carbon removal market growth: To grow the carbon removal market and make a significant impact on the climate crisis, long-term contracts are needed to de-risk investments and attract more financing.
The carbon removal market, currently small and supply-constrained, is not yet on track to make a significant impact on the climate crisis due to the uncertainty around scaling these technologies. However, the market could benefit from long-term contracts, similar to Google's pioneering work in renewables, to help de-risk investments and attract more financing. If the market grows with more buyers and sellers, it could potentially become a normal commodity market with a single price for carbon removal. But, the path to getting there requires addressing the challenges of scaling these technologies and securing long-term contracts.
Standardizing carbon removal market: The carbon removal market needs standardization to attract more players and investment, but treating it as a commodity too early might not be effective. Instead, a nuanced approach is necessary to understand and compare each technology's unique features.
The carbon removal market may evolve into a commodity market in the long term, but it's currently far from reaching that stage. The market needs clear benchmarks and categories to compare different carbon removal pathways with varying characteristics, such as permanence and scalability. Currently, the market is fragmented, with significant price differences between different methods. To move forward, some standardization and simplification are necessary to attract more players and investment. However, treating carbon removal as a commodity too early might not set it up for success. Instead, a more nuanced approach is required to understand and compare the unique features of each carbon removal technology.
Market for carbon removal technologies is uncertain with various factors at play: The market for carbon removal technologies is uncertain and it's unlikely that a single solution will reach the 10 gigaton goal for carbon removal by 2050. Instead, a few winning solutions in different areas will collectively contribute to the goal.
The market for carbon removal technologies is still in its infancy and it's uncertain which technology or combination of technologies will ultimately win out due to various factors such as scalability, cost, and resource constraints. The technologies, such as Direct Air Capture (DAC), have the potential to scale to a significant size but will take years or even decades to reach the same cost level as others. The scale required to reach the 10 gigaton goal for carbon removal by 2050 is immense, and it's unlikely that a single company or technology can achieve that on its own. Instead, it's more probable that a few winning solutions in different areas will collectively contribute to the 10 gigaton goal. The current market for carbon removal is still small, with only about 30 million dollars spent to date, and there is a massive need for both supply and demand growth to scale the market.
Private sector's role in carbon removal market and need for policy support: Stripe Climate's efforts in carbon removal market are significant, but policy support is crucial to reach $1 trillion annual investment for 10 gigaton annual removal target. AMCs, where governments and philanthropists fund early-stage tech startups, could incentivize larger companies to invest in carbon removal solutions.
Stripe Climate, and similar initiatives by private companies, are playing a crucial role in spurring the market for carbon removal in the absence of substantial policy. However, the private sector alone is unlikely to reach the necessary $1 trillion annual investment needed to effectively address the 10 gigaton annual removal target. Therefore, policy is essential to take us the rest of the way. Regarding Stripe's procurement of carbon removal solutions, the company has mostly engaged with early-stage technology startups. This is likely due to the lack of a compelling business case for larger companies to invest in carbon removal. To address this issue, the concept of an Advanced Market Commitment (AMC) has been suggested as a potential solution. AMCs involve governments and philanthropists providing substantial funding to incentivize companies to develop and produce solutions for markets that lack a viable market. This approach has proven successful in vaccine development and could potentially be applied to carbon removal to help bridge the gap until policy catches up.
Challenges in carbon removal market: Supply and demand gaps: Despite promising carbon removal technologies, challenges in storage, verification, and demand signals hinder market growth. Government procurement and policy incentives are crucial to address these issues and build confidence for investors.
Both the supply and demand sides are currently behind in the carbon removal market. On the supply side, there are promising carbon removal technologies, but challenges exist in storage and verification. For instance, the transportation and storage of CO2 streams is a significant issue, and standardizing verification across various technologies is another gap. On the demand side, net zero commitments have been made, but the "deal with the rest" component is unclear. Companies may not know whether to invest in carbon removal or other offsetting measures, leading to a lack of demand signal and confidence for investors. Moreover, government procurement and policy incentives are crucial to accelerate the market's growth. In summary, addressing these challenges in supply, demand, verification, and policy will be essential to build confidence and encourage more investment and innovation in the carbon removal market.
The Catalyst Podcast Team's Net Zero Commitment: The team behind Catalyst podcast aims to reach 100,000 downloads in the first month and will name their unborn child 'net zero' as a commitment to sustainability.
The hosts of Catalyst podcast, Shail Khan, Canary, and PostScript, have made a personal commitment to give their unborn child the middle name "net zero" if the podcast reaches 100,000 downloads in its first month. They encourage listeners to provide feedback and suggest future topics on social media using their handles @Canary, @PostScript, or @Catalyst with the hashtag #CatalystFeedback. The podcast's producers are Daniel Waldorf and Stephen Lacey, and Sean Marquand composed the theme song. Listeners can find the episode's topic and guests' links in the show notes or on the website canarymedia.com.

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Related Episodes

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Teenagers Are Convinced Climate Change Is #1 Issue

Since at least the 1990s, teenagers have been the demographic most concerned with a changing climate and the environment as a whole. Thinking back, it’s not hard to remember various start-ups, NGOs and marketing campaigns that were directed at and often featured teenagers in their marketing. That is because when people are in their teens, they are very receptive, energetic, and usually at their most idealistic. Most teenagers since the invention of the word at least want to try to solve all the world’s problems.

According to a recent article by Bloomberg, the situation hasn’t changed much. Approximately 69% of teenagers around the world currently view climate change as an emergency. It doesn’t go into comparing that with percentages from other times but experience indicates that the numbers would be fairly high. The key of course is channeling that concern into action. In all seriousness, being concerned and angry while sitting at home and tweeting about it probably does more harm than good.

Some have certainly figured out how to channel their energy productively. Plenty of people who grew up in the 1990s are now running companies that have taken the job of caring for the environment seriously. That’s the whole reason for LEED standards, the growth of geothermal technology, more efficient batteries, recycling water bottles into clothing, and the list goes on. They’ve helped drive changes in other companies as well. When was the last time you saw a fast food place with a Styrofoam container? How many different hair sprays contain CFCs? If it wasn’t for people from that generation growing up and converting their concern into productive action, the environmental situation would be much worse. I know, for example, that the local river is cleaner today than it was thirty years ago, and there is less litter lying around locally as well.

So, how can we help encourage other teens to channel their energy productively? One way is to share the stories of people who have made a difference. If people see an emergency before them but no clear way of dealing with it, it is at least as likely that they will be paralyzed by despair as galvanized into action. Telling the positive stories of those who have managed to improve the environment can give hope that something can be done and inspire a new generation to take up the mantle. This is part of the reason some religions have specific saints, to provide examples of how to deal with the trials and tribulations the world will throw at you. Examples are powerful motivators regardless of what you want to motivate.

Another, of course, is education. But, and this is key, not merely telling people about the climate, but teaching them how to figure it out for themselves. Instead of just telling people how bad things are or might be, give them the tools to educate themselves. Where can they go and find the data for themselves? Show them how to deal with difficult questions by letting them ask those questions and taking them seriously. Real education isn’t creating drones who repeat what they are told. It’s helping people develop their capacity for independent thought. That, plus the energy of youth is precisely how teens become young adults developing out-of-the-box solutions that can have a genuine, positive effect.

Finally, encourage them to take care of the little things. To go out and take care of some of the litter at the local beach. To go to the town meetings on approving a new power plant, or a car charging station. Or to go out and plant trees, volunteer at the animal shelter. Encouraging teens to take care of small local things helps build a real appreciation for the environment and gives them a personal experience with making the world a better place.

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enJuly 30, 2021

How To Protect Ourselves From Extreme Heat — And Our Planet From Climate Change

We know that climate change is making all sorts of extreme weather events more likely all around the globe. So what can we do about that?

In this episode, NPR's Allison Aubrey gives us tips on how to avoid heat-related illnesses when temperatures soar to dangerous levels.

And we hear from a climate researcher about what steps we would need to take on a global scale to try and bring temperatures down.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

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Consider This from NPR

en-usJuly 20, 2023

Picturing Displacement with Luciana Abait

Luciana Abait is a multimedia artist whose artworks can be seen in all manner of place: in galleries, at airports, in shop windows, and projected onto enormous walls. Born in Argentina, living in the USA, movement, migration, displacement, and nationhood are all core themes of Luciana's works. So too is the topic of climate, and the connections between climate crisis and forced migration.

In this episode, Laura Hassler talks to Luciana Abait, taking a deep-dive into her mixed-media works such as the Iceberg and Displacement series'. They talk migration, maps, and climate protest.

See all of Luciana's works and upcoming projects: lucianaabait.com

ReSounding was produced and edited by Ed Holland.

The art27 theme music ‘Come Together’ was written and performed by Matteo Galesi and was produced for art27 in collaboration with SYNCR.

You can find Matteo at:
www.facebook.com/matteo.galesi
www.instagram.com/teogalesi/
twitter.com/TEOgalesi

art27 Presents: ReSounding

enSeptember 29, 2023

Creating Change Through Radical Optimism with Dr. Paul Zeitz

In this episode, Sharon talks with Dr. Paul Zeitz, author of Waging Optimism, about how to identify our complacency and make a move toward impacting the world around us. Together, the pair discusses how optimism leads to courage, and how courage leads to action. Oftentimes, making change requires experimentation; Plan A doesn’t always work out, so it’s good to have more than one Plan B in place. While it can be easy to feel discouraged that our actions don’t lead to revolutionary change, we can bolster our optimism by remembering that every action ripples outward and carries an impact. Two foundational ways to be a catalyst for change? Always be ready to act and continue to learn new things about how the system works so you can generate ideas on how to improve it.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here's Where It Gets Interesting

enFebruary 16, 2022