Tag: governance

Peer-reviewed Publications

Boettcher & Brent (2024): The potential of the BBNJ clearing house mechanism to enhance knowledge pluralism in marine carbon dioxide removal assessment

Miranda, Boettcher, Kerryn Brent IN: Frontiers in Climate, 6, doi: 10.3389/fclim.2024.1497476

The open ocean, which already absorbs a substantial portion of anthropogenic carbon dioxide, is increasingly seen as a promising site for various types of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR). All of these approaches are in the preliminary stages of development, and many questions remain with regard to their assessment and governance. This paper discusses the potential role of the newly established Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) in assessing and governing mCDR.

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Science-Policy Documents

Grubert & Talati (2023): The distortionary effects of unconstrained for-profit carbon dioxide removal and the need for early governance intervention

Emily Grubert, Shuchi Talati IN: Carbon Management, https://doi.org/10.1080/17583004.2023.2292111

Governance and institutions, especially related to how CDR is allocated and paid for, will fundamentally shape CDR efforts, including by structurally incentivizing particular approaches and monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) objectives. The authors argue that the emerging tendency toward market-based, unconstrained, and for-profit CDR presents fundamental and predictable risks for climate and justice goals. Such a model incentivizes growth in profitable compensatory removal applications, effectively allocating limited resources based on ability to pay rather than public good, while also increasing the amount of CDR required to meet global climate targets. They describe the need, development context, function, and resource limitations of CDR, then characterize the major challenges with the emerging unconstrained, for-profit governance model.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Stanley (2023): Carbon ‘known not grown’: Reforesting Scotland, advanced measurement technologies, and a new frontier of mitigation deterrence

Theo Stanley IN: Environmental Science & Policy, 151, 103636, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103636

In Scotland, private companies are bringing these Advanced Measurement Technologies (AMTs) from ecological science to market. Companies offer landowners the chance to independently measure and verify natural capital commodities, such as woodland carbon credits, using these technologies. Drawing from 61 interviews with stakeholders in the Scottish land sector, alongside six months of ethnographic research, this paper explores the climate governance consequences of high-tech forest carbon measurement.

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Science-Policy Documents

Edenhofer et al. (2023): On the Governance of Carbon Dioxide Removal – A Public Economics Perspective

Ottmar Edenhofer, Max Franks, Matthias Kalkuhl, Artur Runge-Metzger; CESifo Working Paper No. 10370

This working paper highlights the importance of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies for climate policy. The authors first describe their role in iconic transformation pathways and discuss removal costs and storage duration of different technologies. Based on economic principles, the authors characterize optimal removal flows and reservoirs for non-permanent removals. Furthermore, they discuss different pricing regimes that achieve an optimal allocation under different information and liability conditions.

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Events

Webinar: Scrubbing the Skies – Quantifying Biochar CDR Global and Country-Level Impact: Lessons for Climate Change Policy and Action Plans

November 21; 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm ET, hosted by Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy

This webinar will focus upon a newly published paper that quantifies, for the first time, biochar production’s carbon removal potential at ~6% per year on a global scale, the equivalent of India’s annual emissions or removing 803 coal power plants. The paper’s framework also quantifies the potential contribution biochar can Wil Burns, Co-Director, ICRLP

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Reports

Report: C2G – Impact and learning report

Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative; November 2023

For the past 7 years, the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G) has been working to bring the need for more comprehensive governance around large-scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and solar radiation modification (SRM), to the attention of the international community. With the initiative’s work now completing at the end of 2023, this report shares some key insights from C2G’s journey, exploring its impacts, and sharing some of the important lessons learned along the way.

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Events

This is CDR: Residual Emissions and the Climate Role of CDR

Tuesday, July 25 · 6 – 7pm CEST

This Is CDR is 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 Dr. Holly Jean Buck will discuss her recent paper (with colleagues) “Why Residual Emissions Matter Right Now,” and the implications of this work on the climate role of CDR.

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Science-Policy Documents

Jacobs et al. (2023): Governing-by-aspiration? Assessing the nature and implications of including negative emission technologies (NETs) in country long-term climate strategies

Heather Jacobs, Aarti Gupta, Ina Möller IN: Global Environmental Change 81, 102691, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102691

The authors assess here how NETs are discussed in 29 long-term climate strategies, in order to ascertain the risk that including the promise of future NETs may delay the taking of short-term mitigation actions. Their analysis shows that almost all countries plan to rely on NETs, particularly enhanced use of natural carbon sinks, even as a wide array of challenges and trade-offs in doing so are highlighted.

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Reports

Report: Strengthening MRV standards for greenhouse gas removals to improve climate change governance

Leo Mercer & Josh Burke; Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment

This report seeks to identify the factors underpinning the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of greenhouse gas removal (GGR) across the spectrum of biological, chemical and geochemical techniques, and the risks associated with GGR-specific MRV. It provides recommendations for policymakers to reduce the complexity and ensure the industry continues to innovate with high levels of integrity.

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Calls

Call for Applications: Carbon Removal Justice Fellows Program

Deadline for applications: May 20, 2023

Two-week Fellows Program will run from July 10-24, 2023

The National Wildlife Federation and the Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy at American University invite applicants for the inaugural cohort of the Carbon Removal Justice Fellows Program (“the Fellows Program”). It is designed to bring environmental justice voices and perspectives into the fast-developing field of carbon removal policy, research, and private sector activity. The Fellows Program will:

  • Provide participants with an introduction to the field of carbon removal, centering environmental justice considerations and concerns;
  • Include conversations with key figures in U.S. federal policymaking, the private sector, and civil society; and
  • Involve site visits to two U.S. locations grappling with decisions around carbon removal. 

They invite applications from people who work with or in environmental justice organizations, who represent frontline climate communities, or who have a strong background in environmental justice-oriented organizing and practice. The Fellows Program will provide up to ten participants with a two-week introduction to the field. In addition, one participant will take up a full-time 11-month position with the National Wildlife Federation and work closely with staff at the Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy. Applicants should identify whether they are applying for the two-week fellowship, the 11-month opportunity with the National Wildlife Federation, or both.

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