 | | | | Links to recent scientific papers, web posts, upcoming events, job opportunities, podcasts, and event recordings, etc. on Carbon Dioxide Removal TechnologyHelp secure the future of this service by choosing a paid subscription! TABLE OF CONTENTSNote: Click on the headings listed in the table of contents above to easily navigate to the sections you're interested in. THIS WEEK’S TOP CDR HIGHLIGHTSNEWS: Climeworks announced plans to cut about 10% of its roughly 500-person workforce, citing “economic uncertainty” and a slowdown in climate tech markets. The layoffs come on the heels of media reports that Climeworks’s two flagship Iceland DAC plants—Orca (max capacity ~3,000 t/yr, delivered <1,000) and Mammoth (~36,000 t/yr, delivered ~105 net)—have significantly underperformed against advertised CO₂ removal targets. Read reactions from Climeworks co-founder Jan Wurzbacher, climate scientist Cyril Brunner, policy analyst Glen Meyerowitz and energy consultant Jack Andreasen. CDR JOBSCAPE: A new series of renderings by Third Way show how America can combine nascent CDR approaches with its legacy industries to create durable jobs for everyday Americans, improving local communities, and solidifying the US' place as a global leader in technological innovation. RESEARCH PAPER: New research suggests we could trap 18 billion kilos of CO₂ annually by tweaking wastewater treatment—adding alkaline rocks like olivine before it hits the ocean. Notably, olivine dissolves over 20 times faster in treated wastewater than in seawater. Read the summary here. CDR PREPRINT SERVER: CarbonPlan launched CDRXIV, an open-access preprint server and data repository for carbon dioxide removal research. Hear more about the project in their interview on the Reversing Climate Change podcast. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY—Horizon Europe announced new funding calls: one on Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement, open until 16 September, and another on Direct Air Capture, launching on 16 September. CO₂ FILTER GIGAFACTORY: Svante has opened the world’s first gigafactory for carbon capture filters in Burnaby, BC. The Redwood facility can produce enough filters to capture 10M tons of CO₂ per year—equal to 27M cars off the road. Read on to unpack more updates: COMMERCIAL NEWS Share RESEARCH PAPERSAuthors: Nabajit Lahiri, Libor Kovarik, Sandra D. Taylor, Jarrod V. Crum, Eugene S. Ilton, et al.Synopsis: Field-scale CO₂ mineralization in basalt reveals a newly identified cation-ordered ankerite phase that controls carbonation. Using electron microscopy, researchers mapped carbonate growth stages, improving understanding of subsurface processes and guiding future geologic carbon sequestration modeling.
Authors: R. Sanders-DeMott, L. R. Hutyra, M. D. Hurteau, W. S. Keeton, K. S. Fallon, et al.Synopsis: Most forest carbon credit protocols in North America—spanning improved management, reforestation, and avoided conversion—score poorly and lack robustness. Only one new, unused protocol was rated satisfactory. Without reform, current systems risk undermining climate goals.
Authors: Jorge Palmero-Barrachina, Petr Blazek, Santi Sabaté, Teresa Sauras-Yera, et al.Synopsis: This study estimates biomass and carbon accumulation over 40 years in European afforestation, focusing on timber plantations under the Life Terra project. Results show wide regional variation (54.7–232.6 t/ha by year 40), influenced by tree type, survival rates (22–49.7%), and local conditions. The method offers a robust, adaptable framework for carbon assessment, though further validation—especially for nontimber projects—is needed.
Authors: Wei Zhang, Adnan Ozden, Yu Yang, Aoni Xu, Fengwang LiSynopsis: Electrochemical direct ocean capture (eDOC) faces key challenges: pH-swing processes leave treated seawater insufficiently neutralized, causing unintended acidification. This is due to imbalanced effects on carbon chemistry and precipitate formation. Improved process designs are needed to ensure eDOC’s environmental sustainability.
Authors: Injy Johnstone,Sabine Fuss,Nadine Walsh &Robert HöglundSynopsis: Scaling carbon dioxide removal requires major investment, with carbon markets key to unlocking funds. This article reviews current CDR trends in voluntary markets and explores future roles across compliance regimes. Though CDR use is limited today, strong fundamentals suggest markets can play a major role—if further developed.
Authors: Ayami Hayashi, Fuminori Sano & Keigo AkimotoSynopsis: Meeting Paris Agreement goals risks critical mineral shortages—especially lithium, cobalt, and neodymium—if clean tech deployment relies heavily on EVs and renewables. Broader tech mixes, including hybrids and CDR, reduce demand pressures, supporting a more resilient energy transition.
Authors: Yongzhe Chen, Xiaoming Feng, Yuanyuan Huang, Shunlin Liang, Lijuan Wang, et al.Synopsis: Integrating wood vaulting with strategic plantation thinning could boost China’s forest carbon sink by over 32% from 2020 to 2060 under varied emission scenarios, without reducing live biomass carbon. This optimized approach offers a promising pathway for China’s carbon neutrality and global climate mitigation.
Authors: Luiza M. Karpavicius, Katarina Elofsson, Gregor Levin & Arezoo Taghizadeh-ToosiSynopsis: Transaction costs severely limit cost-effective carbon sequestration from cover crops in Denmark. At €220/tCO2e, adoption offsets just 15.4 tCO2e/year—0.002% of agricultural targets. Ignoring these costs overestimates supply by 13,030 tCO2e. Transaction costs can comprise up to 90% of total costs, shifting optimal sequestration across farms and regions.
Authors: Yaowen Xu, Chuping Wu, Jiejie Jiao, Liangjin YaoSynopsis: Conversion of broadleaf forests to Moso bamboo reduces soil organic carbon (SOC) by 12.58% and shifts SOC composition—decreasing microbial-derived C and increasing plant-derived C. These changes are driven by soil pH, enzymes, and mineral properties. The findings highlight distinct carbon pathways and the potential for soil management to enhance carbon storage in bamboo forests.
Authors: Yuanke Chen, Ronghui Wu & Po-Chun HsuSynopsis: Distributed direct air capture can complement centralized systems but faces efficiency limits from energy-intensive sorbent regeneration. This study analyzes regeneration energy and carbon footprints across sorbents, emphasizing the need for full impact assessment.
Authors: Xuejin Ying, Xiao Zhao, Mao Ye, Cheng Wang, Baojian Zhan, Jianjun Zhao, Zixin He, Xiaoxiong NieSynopsis: Adding 5% waste rice straw biochar (WRSB) to recycled concrete (RC) and using CO₂ curing boosts carbon sequestration (24.66 g/kg) and compressive strength (37.74 MPa). It enhances durability, with 90.7% sulfate resistance and just 8.68% freeze-thaw strength loss.
Authors: Xin Sun, Ramón Filgueira, Yihua Sun, Ming Han, Qisheng Tang & Yao SunSynopsis: Oyster farming boosts carbon storage by increasing organic carbon burial flux 2.6-fold (to 106 g C·m⁻²·yr⁻¹) over 50 years. Farming drives microbial necromass buildup and raises recalcitrant carbon from 42.52% to 60.19%, clarifying its role in ecosystem carbon budgets.
Authors: Qifeng Song, Xinduo Li, Baojian Zhan, Tung-Chai LingSynopsis: This study showcases high-gravity (higee) carbonation of steel slag using a rotating packed bed, achieving rapid CO₂ sequestration and material reuse. The process cuts emissions (−6.8 kg CO₂-eq/ton), lowers energy use by 36–40%, and boosts mortar strength by 164.6%, offering a scalable, cost-effective solution for CO₂ utilization and slag upcycling.
Authors: Yoshiki Kanzaki, Noah Planavsky, Shuang Zhang, Jake Jordan, J Suhrhoff, Chris ReinhardSynopsis: Enhanced weathering in US agricultural soils can store CO2 by increasing alkalinity, but carbon removal lag times range from years to decades, influenced by soil properties and management. Optimizing for faster carbon uptake may reduce total removal and affect nutrient use and N₂O emissions. This temporal disconnect challenges monitoring and verification of carbon removal via enhanced weathering.
WEB POSTSWhat if carbon removal was priced by how long it lasts? (One Percent Brighter) One Percent BrighterI’m on record complaining that carbon dioxide removal pricing makes no sense. A ton of CO2 captured by planting trees costs something like $30, but that same ton captured with a fancy Direct Air Capture (DAC) plant will set you back a thousand bucks… 4 days ago · 12 likes · 10 comments · Quico Toro Interviewing Jarvis about Exergy Destruction and CO2 Capture (XCaptureCO2)XCaptureCO2 This interview is derived from AI prompts from my notes and prompt collection. The intent is to help others understand the thermodynamics of CO2 capture and why carbon capture has such a long history of failure… 3 days ago · 1 comment · mike landmeier Share Carbon Removal Updates REPORTSUPCOMING EVENTSLAC Soil Carbon 2025 | 25-28 June 2025 | Reo de Janeiro (Brazil)We have curated a “Carbon Removal Events Calendar.” Explore and stay informed about upcoming events, conferences, and webinars on Carbon Dioxide Removal technology. Sync specific events / all events to your default calendar to ensure you never miss out on important CDR updates. Carbon Removal Events Calendar GUIDELINES:Sync selected events to your default calendar in these simple steps:1) Click on the event you want to sync.2) Tap the menu icon (three vertical lines) at the top left.3) Choose 'Share.'4) Pick your default calendar.5) Save the event.Sync the entire Teamup Calendar to your default calendar with these simple steps:1) Tap the menu icon (three vertical lines) at the top right.2) Choose 'Preferences.'3) Click 'iCalendar Feeds.'4) Copy the URL shown for 'CDR Events / CDR General Guidelines / CDR Job Deadlines.'’5) Paste the URL into your default calendar settings.6) Click 'Subscribe' or 'Add Calendar.'
You can directly sync all Carbon Removal events to your default calendars by pressing the link below: Sync CDR Events to your Default Calendar JOB OPPORTUNITIES"This PhD will explore how different CDR approaches — including engineered options like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), direct air capture (DACCS), and nature-based solutions — can be responsibly integrated into pathways to Net Zero. It will use an interdisciplinary approach (using quantitative and qualitative methods) to examine how the role of CDR evolves over time, under different assumptions about mitigation ambition, overshoot, equity, and feasibility. The research will engage with national and international policy contexts, drawing on integrated assessment model (IAM) outputs to explore trade-offs and policy levers for guiding strategies for near- and long-term deployment of CDR."
"Isometric is the world’s most trusted carbon registry."
"Graphyte is introducing the world’s first and only carbon dioxide removal solution that is durable, affordable, and immediately scalable."
"InPlanet is a CDR startup headquartered in Germany and Brazil to reverse climate change and make tropical agriculture more regenerative, low-carbon, and sustainable
"GCT was founded in September 2022 with the ambition to develop a low-cost, robust Direct Air Capture technology that captures CO2 at world-leading energy rates, whilst supplying hydrogen as a by-product."
"Climate Impact Partners delivers solutions for climate action. We are carbon market specialists and a go-to partner for every stage of the net zero journey."
"Invert invest in projects that result in carbon credits being created, such as planting a forest or building a machine that sucks CO2 from the air. By selling these credits on to individuals or businesses, we are able to generate revenue that lets us make more investments in projects that reduce or remove CO2, and we continue the cycle!"
"At SCW Systems, we develop new ground-breaking technologies that convert waste into green energy and permanently remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. Our technologies are the most energy-efficient in the world and can be applied anywhere in a variety of sizes."
"CarbonCure Technologies is a fast-growing carbon utilization tech company deploying easy-to-adopt solutions that enable concrete producers to use captured CO₂ to produce reliable, lower carbon concrete mixes."
Looking for your dream job in CDR? There are 672 jobs available *right now*: check them all out at: CDRjobs Board
Help secure the future of this service by choosing a paid subscription! PODCASTS"Against all odds, the Liberal Party just won the Canadian general elections. Mark Carney’s party explicitly campaigned to turn Canada into a global leader in carbon dioxide removal.Canada plans to do so by - among other things - extending its investment tax credit to 2035, supporting a broad range of CDR tech, and introducing dedicated CDR targets for 2035 and 2040.This all sounds incredibly promising. But will Canada be able to realise this ambition?No better person to answer this question than Na'im Merchant, Executive Director of Carbon Removal Canada, an organisation that has been instrumental in raising the profile of CDR in Canada over the last two years.Na’im joins co-hosts Sebastian Manhart and Eve Tamme for a fast-paced, 30-minute session that gets right to the heart of the debate."
"In this podcast, Hasan Muslemani speaks to Nnaziri ihejirika about carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) as a carbon management tool and its role in the energy transition. The podcast discusses different definitions of CCU and of emerging carbon utilisation pathways, including biochar production, manufacture of concrete and aggregate materials, and production of e-fuels and e-chemicals. The podcast also highlights issues around storage permanence and interactions with CCS and carbon removal developments."
"In the second of our three-part deep dive, we plunge into the murky, acronym-rich depths of carbon removal policy across the UN, the EU, the US and beyond - and we promise to come up for air, eventually."
"Advisory Board to CDRXIV) and Tyler Kukla (a CDR Research Scientist at CarbonPlan and the Content Manager for CDRXIV) are on the show to explain how pre-print servers drive progress in other scientific fields, why CDR needs one, and how it may change our industry."
"Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Two views on the future of impact investing from Calvert Impact and Innovative Finance Initiative. Temasek makes the case for the private equity opportunity in climate adaptation and resilience (09:10). And, how Mati Carbon plans to leverage its $50 million X-Prize to remove carbon and support farmers in tropical zones (14:15)."
"For this episode, we are joined by Greg Stangl, CEO of Phoenix Energy, a company focused on removing CO2 from the atmosphere, while also generating energy for local communities. Phoenix Energy is among the earliest adopters of biochar, and today uses both biochar and BECCS (bioenergy with carbon capture and storage) to fight the climate crisis."
"There's been growing research and investment in projects that use the oceans to artificially remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Such techniques involve both a biological and a chemical approach.To date, carbon removal technologies have been largely land-based, using giant air-purification machines, or planting trees to consume and store carbon. Those efforts have struggled to gain scale and acceptance. So, will a marine-based approach make any difference? It's a controversial idea and not without its difficulties."
"What will it truly take to reach net zero and what role do carbon markets play in getting us there, especially when it comes to carbon dioxide removal (CDR)?In this episode, Anna and Adrian are joined by Sebastian Manhart, Senior Policy Advisor at Carbonfuture, to explore how economic and policy frameworks can accelerate the scale-up of durable climate solutions.Together, they unpack:• Why carbon markets are essential to advancing CDR• How permanent removals link to net zero targets• Which instruments and policies are driving real progress• What gaps remain—and how we can close themWhether you're a climate policy expert, carbon market participant, or simply CDR-curious, this conversation offers clear insights into one of the most complex (and crucial) pieces of the net zero puzzle."
YOUTUBE VIDEOS(Re-)Loading the XXL Lysimeters (Project Carbdown) | Dirk Paessler "Welcome to project carbdown! Three years ago we set up the XXL lysimeter project in Fürth Germany. We wanted to measure the enhanced weathering of basalt rock dust on soil, a promising solution to the climate crisis.
Unfortunately we found that the soil of this field did not cooperate. To the contrary, here we have found a soil which does not seem to support timely enhanced weathering at all as measured by leachate alkalinity - at least with the basalt we used. We call this soil the cat-ion eating monster soil."
How capturing CO2 from seawater could help clean the air | REUTERS | Reuters "A trial is underway on England’s south coast, where scientists are harnessing the ocean’s natural power to extract CO2 from seawater, which is absorbed from the atmosphere."
285 million tons per year by 2030 | Tito - AirMiners Biochar: A Silver Bullet for Carbon Removal? | The Utopia Podcast "In this episode I speak with Tom Previte and his company, Restord, a pioneering start-up which is creating biochar as a carbon removal method in Cornwall.
We discussed some of the benefits and issues associated with scaling up biochar carbon removal projects as part of the UK’s net zero journey. We also discussed the controversies surrounding corporate purchases of carbon removal credits and the associated carbon offsetting claims."
Vaulted Deep, runner up of the XPRIZE Carbon Removal Competition, joins NYSE Floor Talk | New York Stock Exchange "Vaulted Deep, a U.S.-based waste management company, earned recognition as second runner-up and $8M for permanently storing otherwise unusable organic waste deep underground. (Souce: XPRIZE)"
Meet Aircapture: How Direct Air Capture Turns CO₂ from a Climate Threat into a Global Resource | Aircapture "At Aircapture, we design and deploy modular Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology that pulls CO₂ straight from the air — and puts it to work. We are proving that carbon removal isn’t a future promise. It’s running. Right now.
Founded by Matt Atwood, a chemist-physicist turned climate tech entrepreneur, Aircapture exists to do something useful with CO₂. We’re solving real problems for real customers — beverage companies, agriculture tech, carbon sequestration projects — by delivering on-site CO₂ that’s clean, reliable, and cost-competitive."
Upgrading Carbon Accounting for a Net Zero World | Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal "The science is clear — Reaching net zero will require us to lower emissions as much as possible and remove the rest from the atmosphere. Achieving this means developing and scaling the necessary technologies for both emissions reductions and negative emissions, starting today. However, in their existing form, life cycle assessment (LCA) methods struggle to differentiate when a climate project is shrinking the amount of net emissions reaching the atmosphere or drawing them down out of the atmosphere. Without this specificity, there’s a real risk that the climate benefits being delivered are overstated, and that negative emissions are not provided the resources needed to reach critical scale.The solution is an updated approach to carbon accounting called emissions flux models. Emissions flux models are designed to match the planet’s carbon cycle, allowing them to assess the benefits of a climate project based on what actually matters: the net change in emissions in the atmosphere. The Absolute Carbon Standard is the first accounting standard that utilizes these models, allowing project claims to match their atmospheric impacts."
Is Mineralization the Answer to CDR's Scaling Challenges? | Institute for Responsible Carbon "CDR suppliers far outnumber CDR buyers, with the vast majority of CDR purchases resulting from Microsoft. In order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, the CDR industry needs to scale to 10 gigatonnes of removals per year by 2050. In order to scale, recent opinion has been that a massive shift is needed in the CDR market. Arca posits that we need to leverage the scale of existing industries such as mining. There is a multibillion-dollar opportunity for the mining industry, and an opportunity to scale for the CDR industry, so a partnership between the two industries is advantageous to both parties. The mining industry is adept at moving material at the gigatonne scale, have existing infrastructure and decades of data and research which can all be leveraged for CDR. CDR as a whole may have challenges towards scaling, but mineralization may be unique out of the existing pathways in having a clear solution to this problem."
Sponsored Carbon Removal Challenge Info Session: CarbonX -Millions of USD for CDR and more! | OpenAir "We were joined by Dr. Xinwo Huang, Senior Director at Tencent, and Tencent Business Analysis Manager Dr. Safina Huang, who will introduced Tencent’s unique funding CarbonX Program 2.0, which will provide millions of grants for CDR projects. Submissions are due at the end of May, so watch to learn about this program and see them answer questions about how best to prepare your materials for success. We think this is an incredible opportunity for the OpenAir community, not just Carbon Removal Challenge teams."
GGR Insights: Critical factors in financing GGR technologies from 2026 onwards | CO₂RE - The Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub "The webinar draws on the CO2RE Hub's research on business models and includes reflections from those involved in project development and finance."
Weekly Carbon Dioxide Removal Updates from 12 May - 18 May 2025 | Carbon Removal Updates BulletinDEADLINESFollow us on:Twitter | Bluesky | LinkedIn | YouTube | Substack | Podcast 1 | Podcast 2
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