Changing the conversation on carbon removal

Episode 45 is with Eli Mitchell-Larson, Co-founder and Chief Scientist at Carbon Gap, and Robert Höglund, Co-founder of CDR.fyi and Fund Manager at Milkywire.

Today Na’im speaks with Eli and Robert about their latest publication titled “All excess emissions must be removed”, which argues for the central role of carbon removal (CDR) to address the global carbon debt, especially among historically high emitters, not only the “residual emissions” remaining at the year of net zero - and how this reframing expands the use case for carbon removal.

In this episode, Na’im, Eli, and Robert discuss:

• Previous research collaborations - the ability to pay and mitigation deterrence;

• The significance of carbon budgets;

• The definition(s) of residual emissions and CDR optimal emissions;

• The need for large-scale carbon removal and the role of historic emitters;

• Justice issues and the equitable management of carbon budgets; and

• The importance of innovative carbon removal use cases.

Relevant Links:

• Carbon Gap’s Website

• Who Can Pay for Carbon Removal? - Carbon Gap

• How to avoid carbon removal delaying emissions reductions - Carbon Gap

• All excess emissions must be removed - Carbon Gap

• Marginal Carbon Substack

• Warming caused by cumulative carbon emissions towards the trillionth tonne - MR Allen et al

About Eli:

Eli Mitchell-Larson is a climate advocate, policy entrepreneur, and researcher based at the University of Oxford. He is co-founder and Chief Scientist at Carbon Gap, Europe’s leading NGO focused on building expertise and policy proposals to responsibly scale carbon dioxide removal. As a research Associate @ Oxford Net Zero, his work has helped form the basis of scientific frameworks to define durable net zero, climate-compatible offsetting (Oxford Offsetting Principles), supply-side climate policies (Carbon Takeback Obligation).

About Robert:

Robert Höglund manages the charitable Milkywire Climate Transformation Fund, Co-founded the market overview CDR.fyi, writes for Carbon Gap, as well as his own publication Marginal Carbon.

This episode was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Consecon Foundation.

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This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.

Na’im Merchant is the co-founder and Executive Director of Carbon Removal Canada, a policy initiative focused on scaling carbon removal in Canada. He is on the advisory board of the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative and Terraset, and a former policy fellow with Elemental Impact. He previously ran carbon removal consulting practice Carbon Curve, and publishes The Carbon Curve newsletter and podcast. Every two weeks, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing the policies, technologies, and collective action needed to scale up carbon removal around the world.

Tank Chen is the Head of Content and Community at CDR.fyi, a public benefit corporation dedicated to accelerating carbon removal through transparency. He is also the co-founder of CDRjobs, a career platform for the carbon removal industry. Based in Taiwan, Tank is a carbon removal advocate focused on educating policymakers, corporate leaders, and the public on the importance of carbon removal, using data-driven insights to support communication and policy advocacy. 

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