CDR library

😎 The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies today published a paper I co-authored with Raphaël Cario. (And yes: this is different from last week’s Oxford University paper on Global South CDR industrialisation - I know, we are on a roll!). The core message? 📣 Biochar carbon removal (BCR) is the most deployment-ready, lowest-risk durable CDR option available today and should be among the first options integrated into the EU and UK ETS. 🇪🇺 As a reminder: the European Commissi

👎 Let’s start with the bad news: Multilateral climate policy is failing us. 🪵 Yet again, a COP has been unable to deliver what we need most: a clear commitment to phase out of fossil fuels. To add insult to injury, a COP hosted in the Amazon also failed to propose a deforestation roadmap. ⚠️ This is inexcusable. It’s not aligned with science. And the world deserves better. 🏃 Yesterday, as I went on my angry post-COP run, I listened to (the very appropriately titled) Outrag

⛰️ The latest example: Patagonia, just published one of the most transparent, self-critical sustainability reports in the corporate world. They immediately got dragged across social media, including by several climate influencers on my feed. 😡 This is a pattern I keep seeing (including in CDR). Every time a company actually tries to change its industry, we tear it down. Meanwhile, the 99% doing absolutely nothing are left *untouched*. But if the companies leading the transit

🤩 This is the biggest research project I’ve ever worked on: months of work with the TIDE Centre, University of Oxford, together with my brilliant co-author Raphaël Cario , culminating in a 60-page analysis on the Global South’s overlooked industrialisation opportunity. 📈 The headline: if scaled with the right policies, durable CDR could create 3 to 9.5 million jobs and $180-600 billion in annual economic value across the Global South by 2050. 🚀 Holding >70% of global bioma

🤷 Yesterday, I asked you whether we should have a COP at all. Is all this massive effort - and the associated emissions - even worth it? The community seems split, which isn’t surprising. 🎯 I personally believe that COPs have an important role to play, and that it will take years of hard work to position CDR where it needs to be: as a horizontal, essential building block across climate targets and initiatives at large. 🤩 So did we make any progress on this front during COP

🌐 Here’s something most people do not know about me: I have never been to a COP. Nor do I plan to. 🤔 Why? I have a simple litmus test for my business travel: Will the event go ahead the same even if I do not attend? 👎 Clearly it will make no difference whether I am one of 50,000 people in attendance at COP30 or not. So I pass. 🤳 COPs have come under heavy - IMO justified - criticism. Every year, this mass gathering leads to around 100,000t-150,000t of CO2 emissions. And i

📈 Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen job seeker traffic across all the CDRjobs channels more than double: from 300-400 individuals to almost 800 per week, hitting an all time high since we started tracking. So why are we seeing this trend and why now? Couple of hypothesis: ✅ Carbon removal is becoming better known - see some of my recent posts for proof ✅ People are increasingly looking to switch careers into more meaningful, climate work ✅ The CDR job market stays strong a

📥 Just a few minutes ago, the EU Parliament voted (379 Yes, 248 No, 10 abstentions) to adopt its position on the EU 2040 Target. 🎯Despite attempts by the right to water down the target to 83% – which was thankfully voted down and averted – it’s almost identical to the Council’s position from last week: 90% overall target, 5% international credits, up to 5% additional international credits at member state level, and a review clause every two years. 🌍 A notable difference, h

👀 I had to rub my eyes to believe it. The Guardian, not necessarily the most pro-CDR media outlet, highlights the need for carbon removal scale up as its top global news item. 🌐 Yesterday, I shared Johan Rockström’s excellent pre-COP30 article that we need 600Gt of CDR this century. He was now joined by more leading climate scientists in this Guardian piece. 📣 Their message is clear: to avoid climate tipping points and reverse overshoot, we will need hundreds of gigatons o