Episode 14 of The Carbon Curve is with Peter Minor, Director of Science and Innovation at Carbon180
This episode is sponsored by Carbonfuture.
Carbonfuture is an end-to-end platform for companies who want to participate in removing carbon from the atmosphere. Unlike conventional marketplaces, Carbonfuture’s monitoring, reporting, and verification platform solves carbon credit uncertainty for buyers like Microsoft and SwissRe while Carbonfuture’s support helps scale the world’s most promising carbon removal ventures for real climate impact.
Since its founding in 2015, Carbon180 has played a central role in building the dynamic carbon removal (or CDR) ecosystem that exists today. Carbon180 is a climate NGO focused exclusively on CDR, collaborating closely with policymakers, peer organizations, and entrepreneurs to design the policies needed to get CDR to gigaton scale.
Carbon180’s tireless work is paying off in a big way - with key CDR provisions in the recently passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act (listen to my episode on recent CDR policy wins). We’re now entering a new phase of growth in CDR, and Carbon180 believes that the success of that growth depends largely on trust. Their view is that measurement, reporting, and verification (or MRV) can be designed to enhance accountability while addressing the needs of a wider group of stakeholders, beyond just serving as a means for carbon accounting.
So, Carbon180 has developed a tool to help us reframe our thinking on MRV. Today they introduced their High-Accountability MRV Matrix (see blog post). A principles first approach to MRV that will help drive innovation and enhance confidence in CDR among the next wave of its buyers.
Peter Minor from Carbon180 will talk us through this tool and what it means for the CDR industry as it enters a new stage of growth. He also previews how high-accountability MRV could one day be used to build trust with communities at the front lines of CDR deployment and help unlock the public sector dollars we’re going to need to scale up this critical climate solution.
In this episode, Na’im and Peter discuss:
Peter’s role at Carbon180
The importance of monitoring, measurement, reporting, and verification
The risks of setting a “low bar” for MRV, and the benefits of setting a “high bar” without stifling innovation
Why Carbon180 took a principles-based approach to MRV
An introduction to the High-Accountability MRV Matrix, what it’s trying to solve (and not trying to solve)
How this matrix will be used and Carbon180’s plans for MRV going forward
Relevant links:
A procurer’s guide to high-accountability MRV, by Anu Khan, Deputy Director of Science and Innovation (blog post)
High-Accountability MRV Matrix (Google Sheets)
About Peter Minor:
Peter Minor (LinkedIn) uses his knowledge of the latest science, along with his relationships within the innovation community, to help the Carbon180 team craft policy recommendations that catalyze the carbon removal industry. Before joining the fight against climate change, he built a startup accelerator and venture fund focused on frontier innovation. He is a staunch believer that technology can help solve humanity’s greatest challenges. Peter is based in the SF Bay Area and is a friend to all who are working in climate.
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. I’m pausing release on new episodes for two weeks following this one, but if you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via Twitter and LinkedIn.
Na’im Merchant, Founder and Managing Director of Carbon Curve, is an advisor and thought partner to start-ups, policy groups, and research organizations on scaling up climate technologies to meet the monumental challenge of removing billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Every week, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing bold new ideas and taking a collective action approach to scaling up carbon removal.
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