Schlagwort: USA

Events

Webinar Series: Model Legislation to Advance Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal Research

May 11, 2023, 6-7 pm CEST by Ocean Visions

With support from Ocean Visions, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University recently published model federal legislation to advance safe and responsible ocean carbon dioxide removal research in the United States. In this webinar, Romany Webb, Associate Research Scholar at Columbia Law School and Deputy Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, will describe the existing legal framework for ocean carbon dioxide removal research in the U.S. and highlight key gaps and shortcomings in that framework. She will also discuss possible legal reforms to facilitate safe and responsible ocean carbon dioxide removal research.

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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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New Publications

Browning et al. (2023): Net-zero CO2 by 2050 scenarios for the United States in the Energy Modeling Forum 37 study

Morgan Browning, James McFarland, John Bistline, Gale Boyd, Matteo Muratori, Matthew Binsted, Chioke Harris, Trieu Mai, Geoff Blanford, Jae Edmonds, Allen A. Fawcett, Ozge Kaplan, John Weyant IN: Energy and Climate Change 4, 100104, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egycc.2023.100104

The Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) 37 study on deep decarbonization and high electrification analyzed a set of scenarios that achieve economy-wide net-zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in North America by mid-century, exploring the implications of different technology evolutions, policies, and behavioral assumptions affecting energy supply and demand. […] All models deploy negative emissions technologies (e.g., direct air capture and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage) in addition to land sinks to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions.

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Events

Bipartisan Policy Center’s DAC Day

June 22, 2022 from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm EDT; in Washington (USA)

BPC is bringing together representatives from DOE and the broader DAC community for an in-person convening on DAC Hubs implementation. The programming will include keynote addresses from members of Congress and multiple panel discussions featuring DOE leadership, environmental NGOs, carbon management experts, labor, and the financial community.

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Political Papers

Working Paper: Direct Air Capture: Assessing Impacts to Enable Responsible Scaling

Katie Lebling, Haley Leslie-Bole, Peter Psarras, Elizabeth Bridgwater, Zachary Byrum, Hélène Pilorgé on wri.org (World Resources Institute)

This paper discusses the expected environmental impacts (local and distributed) of building and operating Direct Air Capture (DAC) plants in the United States. It provides considerations related to decision-making and DAC siting, including responsible scaling and equitable distribution of benefits, as well as policy and procedural recommendations. The paper was written in collaboration between World Resources Institute and the University of Pennsylvania.

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Media

Bloomberg Green: Lawmakers Need to Do Whatever It Takes to Price Carbon

„Washington is once again talking about pricing carbon. The Clean Electricity Payment Program might be dead, but a carbon tax could still be on the table. Or it might not, or perhaps be replaced by expanded loan guarantees for clean energy, or by clean energy tax credits. Whichever form it might take, the politics will be tough. They always are, until they suddenly aren’t.“

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Podcasts

Podcast: Carbon Removal Newsroom: Geoengineering vs. carbon removal, and California’s Cement Decarbonization legislation

„This week on Carbon Removal Newsroom[gt], we’re back with a policy-focused episode with panelists Dr. Holly Jean Buck of the University at Buffalo Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition and host Radhika Moolgavkar of Nori. First up, we’re discussing an essay from Harvard professor David Keith in the New York Times titled, “What’s the Least Bad Way to Cool the Planet?” Keith compares Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and geoengineering, pointing out that the two approaches operate on different timescales— CDR will take decades to build up, and longer still to have a significant impact due to the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Solar Radiation Management, a type of geoengineering, could be done with today’s technology and theoretically has an immediate cooling effect. There is a lot we don’t know but his ‘hunch’ is that geoengineering would work more quickly, be cheaper, and benefit the world’s hotter regions more immediately. He calls for governments to fund more research into the topic so the two techniques can be more accurately compared. We debate David Keith’s main points and Holly Buck describes the socio-technical systems that might be necessary to deploy geoengineering and larger-scale CDR most effectively. Next, we’re looking at the Cement Decarbonization legislation passed in California that mandates the state’s cement industry to become net-zero by 2045. According to the Climateworks Foundation’s Rebecca Dell, this is the first time any US state has required an industry to eliminate its net greenhouse gas emissions. Cement production is the second-largest emitter of any industry in California, after only oil and gas production, and it also contributes to significant local air pollution. While the greenhouse gas mitigation from this move is notable, this law also has the potential to provide needed policy support to the carbon removal and carbon utilization industries. We discuss the types of incentives that might be most successful in moving the needle on hard to abate emissions, then end the episode with a good news story of the week from Chris— Japan is restarting several aging nuclear reactors in an attempt to meet its carbon emissions goals.“

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Media

Mother Jones: Is Sucking Carbon Out of the Air the Solution to Our Climate Crisis?

„In British Columbia, there’s a little valley where the Squamish River snakes down past the cliffs of the Malamute, a popular hiking spot. The hills in all directions are, like much of BC, thickly forested with firs. And nestled in that valley is a newfangled industrial plant that aims to replicate what those millions of trees do: suck carbon dioxide out of the air. The plant was built by Carbon Engineering, a pioneer in the technology known as direct air capture (DAC). In a long, squat building, a huge ceiling fan draws air inside, where it reacts with a liquid chemical that grabs hold of CO2 molecules.This “sorbent” flows into a nearby machine that transforms the gas, which is then stored in pressurized tanks. The goal is to help rid the atmosphere of its most ubiquitous climate change culprit. The Squamish plant will process up to 1,000 metric tons of CO2 annually. That’s a minuscule drop in the bucket of the planet’s annual emissions, an estimated 33 billion metric tons last year, but this plant is only a pilot facility.“

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Media

Energy.Gov: DOE Invests $45 Million to Decarbonize the Natural Gas Power and Industrial Sectors Using Carbon Capture and Storage

„The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $45 million in funding for 12 projects to advance point-source carbon capture and storage technologies that can capture at least 95% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from natural gas power and industrial facilities that produce commodities like cement and steel. These research and development, front-end engineering design and engineering-scale projects are a part of DOE’s efforts to deploy a portfolio of innovative solutions to help achieve the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and a 100% clean electricity sector by 2035.“

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