Ted Christie-Miller from BeZero on assessing the scalability of carbon removal

Episode 19 of The Carbon Curve is with Ted Christie-Miller, Head of Carbon Removal at BeZero Carbon

Scalability is essential to the success of long-term CDR deployment - it is broadly acknowledged that by midcentury, CDR must grow from its current capacity of thousands of tons to billions of tons of removal per year. But how do we evaluate the potential to scale, the barriers that could prevent the necessary scaling, and the levers needed to overcome these barriers?

BeZero Carbon is a ratings agency for the voluntary carbon market. Combining expertise across climate science, finance and policy, it provides ratings, risk and data tools that improve information accessibility and decision making with the aim to build markets for environmental impact. As part of its work on carbon removal, BeZero Carbon has developed a methodology for assessing scalability across multiple carbon removal methods. 

Ted Christie-Miller, BeZero Carbon’s Head of Carbon Removal, discusses how the methodology was developed, what it can be used for, what its limitations are, and what’s next for BeZero on assessing CDR going forward.

In this episode, Na’im and Ted discuss:

• The strategic importance of long-duration CDR to BeZero Carbon and why BeZero decided to assess the scalability of long-duration CDR methods;

• The methodology used to assess CDR methods and how it’s different from methodologies used by other groups;

• Challenges and surprises the team encountered when assessing scalability;

• Key take-aways from this analysis and how BeZero hopes this assessment will be used, as well as planned future work.

Relevant Links:

• Carbon Removal Scalability assessment

  • Introduction

  • Methodology

  • Summary

• Deep Dive: Biochar

• Investing in early-stage carbon dioxide removal

• Removals for Growth

• Carbon Removals in the VCM

• Barriers to scaling the long-duration carbon dioxide removal industry (CarbonPlan, by Na’im Merchant, Freya Chay, Danny Cullenward, and Jeremy Freeman)

About Ted Christie-Miller:

Ted joined BeZero in October 2021 to lead the carbon removal team at BeZero Carbon. Before joining BeZero he founded and led the cross-party Getting to Zero climate policy programme at the thinktank Onward. He regularly writes in the national media on topics of climate and carbon markets, including for The Times, The Telegraph, CityAM, CarbonPulse and BusinessGreen. Previous research has been cited in a series of UK Government reports, including the Net Zero Review and the Levelling Up White Paper.

This podcast is created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Lucia Simonelli.

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 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.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via Twitter and LinkedIn.