Advocating for Carbon Removal and Environmental Justice

Just the gist

Short on time? Here’s what you need to know for this update:

• 🗺️  Recent Developments and Future Plans for Carbon Removal Policy — Erin Burns, the executive director of Carbon180, talks about what's happening in policy and the general sentiment on Carbon Removal.
• 👩‍⚖️ Environmental Justice in Climate Policy — A new report from XPRIZE and Carbon180 explains how carbon removal companies can ensure their projects benefit everyone fairly, with the help of environmental justice experts.

For more project updates, follow Wren on Twitter and Instagram.

Carbon180 is a climate NGO with the goal of reversing the effects of two centuries' worth of carbon emissions. They work to develop fair, science-based policies in collaboration with US officials, entrepreneurs, and peer organizations to scale up solutions for carbon removal to the gigaton level. You can learn more about the work Wren subscribers support here.

Wren's goal is to make a tangible difference in reversing the climate crisis, and better climate policy is undeniably part of the solution. While supporting climate policy groups does not directly offset carbon emissions, the dollar-for-dollar impact can be just as impactful.

Recent Developments and Future Plans for Carbon Removal Policy

The United States’ Congress ended 2022 with a huge $1.7 trillion Fiscal Year (FY23) appropriations package that included $154.1 million in annual funding for getting rid of carbon. Coupled with other new climate-related bills introduced in this year’s budgeting, it’s important to see that this funding gets distributed for maximum impact.

Carbon180’s policy team has been busy writing out appropriations requests for the FY23 funding bill. With $154.1M for carbon removal (including research, development, and demonstration) distributed across the Departments of Commerce, Defense, and Energy as well as the USDA, Carbon180 has written up recommendations to keep the U.S. government accountable.

Each fiscal year, annual budgeting gives Congress new chances to help entrepreneurs, scientists, developers, communities, and producers by funding new programs that work to solve the climate crisis and get rid of carbon already in the air. With the FY23 bill, Congress built on previous funding levels, filled in gaps from past climate and infrastructure bills, and invested millions in getting rid of carbon through agricultural research, tree nurseries, geologic carbon storage permitting, and more. The Carbon180 team will also keep an eye out for the President's 2024 Budget Request, and monitor which Congress appropriations are continued in FY24.

Erin Burns, executive director at Carbon180, sat down with CleanTechnica to discuss the state of the world in terms of carbon removal policy, and what things might look like moving forward. Burns predicts that there will be more governmental efforts to buy carbon removal in the next few years. The federal government can use private investments to boost innovation and speed up the process of removing carbon by using many of the same policy levers and financing mechanisms that were used in the past.

Burns also notes that people should pay more attention to environmental justice, a key piece in policy discussion.

Right now, the Carbon180 team is focused on growing their environmental justice program, prioritizing monitoring, reporting, and verification, and preparing for the Farm Bill in the coming year.  They aim to advocate for projects that have high-quality labor standards, uphold community benefits agreements, and center community voices.

Environmental Justice in Climate Policy

Environmental justice calls attention to the past and continuing issues of pollution, and argues for policy change to guarantee access to clean, healthy environments. Climate justice focuses on the worldwide need for large-scale carbon removal as well as the local effects of projects.

XPRIZE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose goal is to encourage breakthroughs that solve the most important problems facing humanity, and Carbon180 have released a report outlining how early-stage carbon removal companies can integrate environmental justice into their work to ensure that benefits are widely and equitably distributed.

The carbon removal industry is expanding rapidly as more companies try to cut down on their carbon emissions. Now, these companies have an opportunity to include environmental justice in their business plans. This would be a change from industries that have traditionally neglected the environment and marginalized communities.

Carbon removal must be done both sustainably and ethically. A new report from XPRIZE and Carbon180 looks at how early-stage carbon removal companies, carbon removal purchasers, investors, civil society organizations, government actors, communities, and other people in the field can build environmental justice into their work from the start.

The report draws on the expertise of outside environmental justice experts, including social scientists, practitioners, and advocates, to explain how companies can avoid replicating past mistakes and make sure that the benefits of their projects are fairly and widely distributed.

That's all for this update! As always, thank you for your support.
— the Wren team 🧡