Carbon removal companies and advocates meet with Senator Brian Schatz during Climate Week

Senator Brian Schatz, the senior U.S. senator from Hawaii, has consistently been a champion for clean technology, and for carbon removal specifically.

In recent years, he has introduced landmark pieces of legislation supporting carbon removal, including the Carbon Dioxide Removal Research and Development Actopens in a new tab and the ReSCUE Oceans Actopens in a new tab. At this year's Climate Week in New York City, he was interested in gaining a better understanding of how he and other legislators can support carbon removal, and asked Carbon Renewal Alliance for help in organizing a roundtable to discuss.

So, on September 25, we hosted a discussion in which carbon removal founders and advocates were able to speak directly with Sen. Schatz about the policies they need to help grow the carbon removal industry.

Among the attendees were leaders from carbon removal companies Banyu Carbonopens in a new tab, CarbonCureopens in a new tab, Lithos Carbonopens in a new tab, NorthStar Clean Energyopens in a new tab, and Vestaopens in a new tab; investment firms Elemental Impactopens in a new tab and Prelude Venturesopens in a new tab; carbon buyers Googleopens in a new tab and Stripeopens in a new tab; and the nonprofit Advocates for Climate Innovationopens in a new tab.

Our Executive Director Giana Amador set the stage for the discussion, describing the industry's transformational growth in the last ten years, the first-of-a-kind and commercial progress being made by hundreds of carbon removal innovators, and the commitments from buyers such as Google and Stripe, which have purchased billions of dollars in carbon removal to support their net-zero goals. 

From there, attendees talked about their projects and challenges, co-benefit opportunities with other U.S. industries, and the conditions and policy support required to help the carbon removal industry reach gigaton scale. Topics included:

• The role that private market development plays alongside policy in scaling carbon removal
• How the federal government can facilitate the unlocking of more private sector purchases
• Challenges that investors are facing, and how federal policy can be complementary to private sector investment
• How carbon removal can continue to be an area of bipartisan collaboration

Sen. Schatz shared that he wants to make the case for clean technology by focusing on consumers, and by listening to what they need in their everyday lives. "I’m encouraged by the conversations I had this week with leaders from across the country and around the world," Schatz said after Climate Weekopens in a new tab, "who understand that lowering costs for people and saving the planet are not independent goals — they are one and the same.”

Carbon Removal Alliance is working to bring lawmakers to more events like this one, where they can speak directly with company leaders, understand their concerns and successes, and see their projects in action for themselves.