Carbon180

💯 This week's podcast is a must-listen if you want to understand the coming appropriations and budgetary battles in the United States and how they will impact carbon removal. 🦸♀️ Listen in to budget and congressional nerd Erin Burns (who is also the Executive Director of Carbon180), as she explains to host Ross Kenyon how the processes work and what we can reasonably expect. 🎧 Don't miss it! Link in the comments.

Sifang Chen on what the environmental impacts of direct air capture (DAC) are likely to be. It's something that's always in flux as innovation zooms forward — but it's still critical to put pen to paper on these concerns now. This piece, on DAC's near-term impacts on electricity and water availability, is the first in an ongoing series. Stay tuned 👀

The first thing we did when starting a policy team at Carbon180 in 2018 was launch an appropriations campaign–which resulted in the Department of Energy's carbon removal R&D budget going from functionally $0 to $68 million. Appropriations is wonky, it's opaque, and you've gotta know how it works if you want to keep federal funding flowing to CDR. Especially right now.

👩⚖️ Appropriations season is fast approaching! First of all, what even is that? And secondly, how will it impact carbon removal's prospects during the current United States budget cycle? 🌱 Returning to the podcast today is Carbon180's Executive Director, Erin Burns, who gives host Ross Kenyon an on-the-fly civics lesson, explains how coming from a coal mining family in West Virginia influences her work (this episode has the most songs in the shownotes of perhaps any show ever), and theorizes about in which kinds of ways should carbon removers adapt to current circumstances or hold their ground. Thank you also to the sponsors of this show, Offstream and Arbonics! 💚

Carbon Removal Alliance and Cascade Climate are thrilled to share a new resource outlining Research Priorities for Enhanced Weathering developed by the Enhanced Weathering Policy Working Group. The working group — composed of the field’s leaders, spanning nonprofits, academics, and industry — aims to advance critical research and deployment milestones for enhanced weathering. Enhanced weathering is a promising soil pH management and carbon removal solution that involves spreading finely crushed rocks like basalt and olivine onto fields. This practice can address soil acidification concerns while removing and durably storing carbon from the atmosphere on the timescale of tens of thousands of years. Our recommendations highlight new and existing research programs in the U.S. that could be better utilized and resourced to increase scientific understanding of the environmental, health, and agronomic impacts of enhanced weathering implementation. These public research and demonstration efforts will ultimately support farmers with the tools and resources they need to inform decision making around adopting these soil amendments.   Big thanks to all our partners who contributed to this work! Bipartisan Policy Center Carbon180 Eion Carbon RMI #carbonremoval #enhancedrockweathering #sustainableagriculture https://lnkd.in/g54GdVqj

Cat's out the bag: our co-founder Noah Deich is back home! Noah was out on loan to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), where he helped craft major CDR initiatives. We're thrilled to have him rejoin the team in an advisory role. As one of the first and most visionary leaders in US carbon removal, Noah will bring his tremendous passion to C180 as we continue shaping the field. Since returning, he's drafted a blog with 10 key takeaways from his tenure at DOE.

Cuts to federal programs or environmental protections don’t just impact climate progress, they also disrupt key industries across America. Thank you to Rep. McClellan and the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) Institute for addressing this with urgency during their discussion on energy and climate policy in the 119th Congress. In a rapidly changing policy landscape, SEEC is working with staffers to communicate how climate and energy policy impact a wide range of issues beyond just environmental agencies. Erin Burns and Alyson Lee from Carbon180 were there to learn more about how SEEC and Rep. McClellan are championing these critical conversations.

⏰ The deadline to apply for Carbon180's Director of Ocean Policy position is Friday, 1/31. If you'd be a good fit, drop us a line 🎣

We’re hiring! C180 is looking for a Director of Ocean Policy to captain strategies for ocean carbon removal ⚓️ and a Director of Land Policy to shepherd our federal agricultural and forestry work 🐑🌱 Apply here: carbon180.org/careers

The last Carbon Copy issue of the year is out ☃️ In it, we explore the untapped potential of agricultural and forestlands as carbon sinks — and how their activation will require a foundational shift in how we support land stewards. Click into the issue to read analysis from Cristel Zoebisch Bernaldo de Quiroz, Gretchen Kroh, PhD, and Mary Olive ➡️ https://bit.ly/402xDqd