student CDR competition launching Sept. 18

[Sue Dorward]

The OpenAir Collective's 4th is launching the 4th annual Carbon Removal Challenge, a global university student CDR competition. The main student deliverable is a 10-page white paper, due in March. External expert judges evaluate submissions for quality, creativity and novelty, and potential. The Challenge includes a mentoring program and monthly webinars, with this year's expected topics being DAC, CDR jobs, startups, accelerators, buyers, and VCs.

We had a great year in 2025, doubling our participation from 2024. We brought the five finalist teams to New York City to present at the Carbon Unbound East conference in May. (Three of these teams are launching startups!) We expect to do this again in 2026, provided we can raise sufficient funds.

We're launching the program with a webinar on Thursday, September 18th at noon ET. Please help by:

1. sharing the webinar registration link: https://luma.com/zae5n44d,
2. forwarding this email to other CDR researchers,
3. letting me know of anyone who you think might be interested in becoming a judge, mentor, or panelist, and
4. letting me know of any organizations you think may be able to sponsor the program (our primary cost is student travel and accommodations in May).

Thank you!

Sue Dorward
Principal, Carbon Manager LLC

and Lead (volunteer), OpenAir Collective's Carbon Removal Challenge
s...@carbonmanager.cc

[Wil Burns]

Dear Sue,

I'd be game to serve as a judge or panelist for the program. I'm an international lawyer by training, but keep up on the scientific literature, and can also speak a lot about the legal and business aspects of the CDR ecosystem. wil

---

From: carbondiox...@googlegroups.com <carbondiox...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Sue Dorward <s...@carbonmanager.cc>
Sent: Thursday, September 4, 2025 4:54 PM
To: Carbon Dioxide Removal <carbondiox...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [CDR] student CDR competition launching Sept. 18

 

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[Sue Dorward]

That would be excellent. I recently attended your CCL GGReAT talk about mCDR. Last year we had a few mCDR submissions and not enough judges familiar with the field, so it would be great to have you on board as a judge. I will put you on our judges list.

Thanks,

Sue

Principal, Carbon Manager LLC

and Lead (volunteer), OpenAir Collective's Carbon Removal Challenge