🇩🇪 Looking back at 2023: how far Germany has come on carbon removal 🇩🇪

📰 I clearly remember reading about the news from #Germany around a year ago: Green Minister Robert Habeck going against his party line and striking a CO2 transport and storage deal with Norway.

💪 For me, this was a clear signal that the time was ripe to turn Europe’s largest economy into a powerhouse for carbon dioxide removal (#cdr) and a role model for fighting climate change in #Europe.

A year on, so many promising things have followed that crucial initial decision:

☁️ Germany is developing and almost finalised a carbon management strategy

⭐ Germany is about to develop a CDR strategy

🎯 Germany is going to establish targets for technological CDR for 2035, 2040, 2045 and even 2060

💡 To do our bit, we launched the Deutscher Verband für negative Emissionen e.V. (DVNE). What started as a casual conversation with Chris Sherwood and Oscar Schily in April, has now become the EU’s first national CDR industry association. Just a few months in, we can look back at:

👥 Attracting almost 40 members, spanning the entire CDR spectrum, from university spin-offs to industrial powerhouses

📅 Hosting two events already with members of parliament, secretaries of state and leading civil servants

💰 Obtaining the funds we need to ramp up significantly

💼 Recruiting an exceptional Executive Director and about to publish openings for two more roles

🌐 Establishing the DVNE as the go-to expert for all things CDR in Germany, appearing in media key (Handelsblatt, Die Welt, Energate Messenger) and being invited to stakeholder events in Ministries and the Bundestag.

🥂 This bodes incredibly well for 2024! Time to push the acceleration pedal and make significant strides. Let’s make 2024 one to remember for Germany and Europe.

🙌 Huge shout-out to the peers who have been next to me in the trenches working their butts off voluntarily to make this all happen: Lisa Mangertseder, Carolin Güthenke, Magnus Drewelies, Alexander Zeihe, Christoph Beuttler, Stephanie Bischof, Jonas Loetscher, Oscar Schily, Leo Hille, Yvonne Mäntele, Andreas Kuhlmann, Dirk Spilker.

🚀 Aufwärts!