Our Reports
White paper
Depending on the Ocean: Research and Policy Priorities for Responsible Ocean Carbon Removal
The ocean is a global commons on which billions of people and animals rely. It is also the largest carbon sink on the planet and contains almost 50 times more carbon dioxide than is currently in the atmosphere. The ocean has the potential to both remove and store CO₂ and may even offer significant non-climate benefits. But the ocean is vast and full of many unknowns — in order to leverage its full potential and ensure responsible development, we need policies that can help us better understand this promising solution by addressing today's key challenges. Only then can we make informed decisions about the future of ocean carbon removal.
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REPORT
From the Ground Up: Recommendations for Building an Environmentally Just Carbon Removal Industry
Historically, global companies and industries have sidelined disadvantaged communities, leaving them without a voice in the siting and overall direction of projects. Carbon removal offers a chance to do things differently: by involving communities from day one, developers can demonstrate their commitment to learning from past injustices and set themselves on a path to scale sustainably and with societal support. In partnership with XPRIZE, this report offers a snapshot of how innovators currently understand environmental justice (EJ), as well as tailored recommendations for early-stage startups to integrate EJ into their work every step of the way.
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white paper
How Direct Air Capture Succeeds: A Framework for Effective DAC Hubs
Direct air capture (DAC) hubs will soon begin to come online and set the US on a course to remove millions of tons of CO₂ — but the field currently lacks clear, shared markers of success. This white paper offers an original framework to assess progress and ensure these hubs empower innovators and communities.
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WHITE PAPER
Setting DAC on Track: Strategies for Hub Implementation
The federal government is backing DAC — with a record-setting $3.5 billion for four regional hubs. This is our opportunity to define the field with high-quality projects that create robust environmental and public health benefits, jobs and economic opportunities, and broad community support. Our white paper lays out key recommendations for a durable, just, gigaton-removing DAC Hubs program.
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REPORT
Soil Carbon Moonshot: Grounding Carbon Storage in Science
By focusing on our soils, the US can radically transform the agriculture sector’s relationship to climate change. Yet today’s efforts to promote healthy soils are deeply fragmented. The Soil Carbon Moonshot is a five-year proposal for a coordinated, interagency program to establish the foundational science, tools, and projects that will unlock the full potential of US farmlands to support both farmers and the environment.
REPORT
Removing Forward: Centering Equity and Justice in a Carbon-Removing Future
Climate change and socioeconomic injustice are deeply intertwined. As the carbon removal field navigates development and deployment, its acceptance hinges on its ability to address legacy pollution and bring significant benefits to vulnerable groups. Together, advocates and lawmakers can pass justice-oriented policies that invest in and protect frontline communities and ensure carbon removal is implemented widely, safely, and fairly.
REPORT
Zero, Then Negative: The Congressional Blueprint for Scaling Carbon Removal
Building on recent momentum, US Congress has a rare window of opportunity to catalyze the next wave of transformation for carbon removal solutions. Key federal actions taken over the next one to three years, including increased RD&D funding and deployment incentives, new infrastructure, and equitable and actionable regulations, will be essential to overcoming barriers to achieving full scale and realizing the field’s climate, social, and economic potential.
WHITE PAPEr
Paving the Way for Low-Carbon Concrete: Recommendations for a Federal Procurement Strategy
Concrete is the most used building material on the planet, and its production contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions. Decarbonizing concrete is critical, and federal procurement policy is a powerful lever for accelerating the development and widespread use of low-carbon concrete. This white paper explores concrete’s relevance to the climate crisis, surveys existing state and municipal low-carbon concrete procurement initiatives, and proposes a comprehensive set of policy recommendations focused on opportunities to accelerate low-carbon concrete commercialization through the power of federal government procurement standards.
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report
Transition Book: Priorities for Administrative Action on Carbon Removal in 2021+
We are at the inflection point for stopping climate change. Growing public awareness and mobilization alongside increasingly devastating impacts from wildfires, hurricanes, and drought make clear that this moment is critically positioned for addressing the climate crisis. The next administration will need to take bold action in 2021 and beyond to drastically and swiftly reduce emissions across all sectors of the economy. This report serves as a guide for transition teams as they explore pathways for administrative action on climate.
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white paper
Rooted in Resilience
COVID-19 has created particular hardship for rural communities across the US. Farming and forestry communities also face unique challenges as their economic future is inextricably linked with the climate. Rooted in Resilience explores the potential for legislative packages focused on economic stimulus to leverage US lands, from farms to forests, to recover and rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic while also driving climate action.
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report
Leading with Soil
For the last three years, Carbon180 has been working with local organizations and agricultural producers across the Rocky Mountain states to harness a climate solution beneath our feet: soil. Agricultural practices that store carbon in the soil can help fight climate change while also improving soil health and increasing producers’ bottom lines. These practices are slowly gaining traction, but need to be scaled more quickly to address climate change. In Leading with Soil: Scaling Soil Carbon Storage we translate lessons from our work into recommendations for new, robust federal policies that can unlock the potential of this powerful climate solution.
report
An Innovation Plan
Building a New Carbon Economy: An Innovation Plan brings together researchers from across the country to set an innovation agenda for the new carbon economy. In this report you’ll find a technical review of carbon removal solutions, the identification of research gaps, and recommendations for the New Carbon Economy Consortium's future work.
report
A Review of Global and U.S. Total Available Markets for Carbontech
This is the first comprehensive market sizing report for carbontech, a new economic industry focused on converting carbon at all stages of the supply chain into valuable products, like building materials, fuels, plastics—even shoes. The report estimates potential revenue for carbontech to be over $1 trillion per year in the U.S. and over $5 trillion worldwide. Download the Supporting Information for insights into our sources and accounting.
report
Carbon Conversion to Valuable Products
This report is written to inform the research & development community about current interests and challenges in transforming carbon into valuable products. It reflects conversations from “The New Carbon Economy Corporate Roundtable: Carbon Conversion to Valuable Products,” a 2018 workshop hosted by Carbon180 and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory convening business and industry leaders, researchers, entrepreneurs, civil society, and government representatives.
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report
Federal Opportunities for Action
Our 2017 report Carbon Removal Policy: Opportunities for Federal Action details bipartisan policy options, from legislative to regulatory action, that will drive carbon removal innovation.
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report
Philanthropy Beyond Carbon Neutrality
This 2016 report provides an overview of carbon removal-related philanthropy between 2008 and 2014. It explores the opportunity for near-term philanthropic grants to elevate and instigate the research, development, and deployment of carbon removal solutions, moving us closer to long-term climate goals.