The Carbon Lowdown #25
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The Carbon Lowdown #25
Welcome to The Carbon Lowdown! A fortnightly newsletter from Supercritical.
⭐️ Supercritical highlight ⭐️
In case you’ve been living under a rock, we have some big news! Last week we were proud to announce our $13 million Series A funding round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. (TechCrunch, Business Insider, Sifted, ESG today) Here are a few words from our co-founder & CEO, Michelle. “Every company in the world will have to get to net zero emissions if we’re going to stay below 1.5C of warming. There is no way of getting to net zero without buying permanent carbon removal to net out the remaining emissions.”
🍃 Carbon removal
What is happening in the world of carbon removal?
🧮 Progress with SBTi and carbon removal
Late last year, the SBTi made an urgent call for companies to invest beyond their value chains into solutions such as carbon removal now. Many leaders in the carbon removal space welcomed this call but criticised the SBTi for not giving clear guidance on when or how to do this. The SBTi recently launched a six-week public consultation on Beyond Value Chain Mitigation. We’re keeping our ears to the ground for updates and will be contributing our views.
🪨 Biochar is booming
Biochar is a charcoal-like material rich in stable carbon. It is produced by heating biomass in an oxygen-limited environment in a process called pyrolysis.
It is the most scaled carbon removal solution to date (in 2022, biochar made up 40% of the global CDR portfolio). Question marks have been raised as to whether it removes CO2 for long enough, however, a recent article by the Biochar Systems Research Group concluded a definite durability of 100 years and likely durability of 1000+ years!
Bloomberg also published an article on biochar, claiming it is the next big thing for the carbon markets. Microsoft has labelled it, a “true carbon removal solution at scale”. Biochar is certainly a popular choice amongst Supercritical customers!
🧑🤝🧑 Better together - the ICVCM and VCMI have teamed up!
ICVCM - The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Markets
VCMI - Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative
These two organisations have launched a joint commitment to ensuring buyers in the voluntary carbon market can invest confidently in high-integrity credits. They aim to establish an integrity framework to ensure quality, transparency, and accountability for the voluntary carbon market across the value chain. This includes the release of the Core Carbon Principles (ICVCM). See a comment on these by the chair here.
🚀 The world of carbon removal is taking off
Energy monitor has compiled a useful summary exploring the growth of the carbon removal market. From the scientific community identifying the carbon removal markets as necessary and scalable to the changing shift in perspective from conventional offsets towards high-quality removal, it concludes the market has grown 300% since April 2023 alone!
🔗 🚗 Mini links: Carbon removal
📗 Puro.earth has published an e-book on carbon removal
⚖️ Can carbon markets accelerate progress towards net zero? An FT article featuring our CEO, Michelle
🗺 A new map has been released that highlights blue carbon in ecosystems using new technology
💨 Carbon Direct has released a simple explainer on Direct Air Capture
💰 Who are carbon removal’s biggest buyers in 2023 so far?
🗳 Sylverra have released the results from surveying 1,500 VCM participants at the Carbon Markets Summit. Results are fascinating. There seems to be a clear preference towards nature based removal at the moment
🌎 Climate and Net Zero
What is happening in the world of climate and net zero?
📐 The standard for all standards?
This week the ISSB (International Sustainability Standards Board) released its first two finalised standards.
S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information
S2 Climate-related Disclosures
These are set to be the foundation for a comprehensive global baseline of sustainability disclosures. The standards have been set by consolidating voluntary initiatives, and have built on the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB), the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), the Value Reporting Foundation’s Integrated Reporting Framework and industry-based guidance from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). Companies applying ISSB standards will be fully compliant with TCFD.
🏃 “A period when pace must be prioritised over perfection.” How the UK needs to accelerate to hit our climate goals.
The Climate Change Committee has released its annual progress report on how the UK is progressing against its legally binding 2050 net zero goal. Unfortunately, the committee is less confident the UK will meet its emissions targets than it was last year. The UK has promised by 2030 for its emissions to be 68% lower than 1990 levels. To achieve this the rate of annual emission reduction (outside of electricity supply) will need to quadruple. Despite currently sitting at 46% lower than 1990 levels, emissions in some sectors have shown very little progress (buildings, agriculture). Edie has released a great summary article here.
🔙 The Oxford Net Zero Tracker has launched the 2023 Net Zero Stocktake report!
The report shows that 65% of annual revenue from the world’s largest 2000 companies is now covered by a net zero target but there is little progress toward the integrity and credibility of such targets. Net zero needs to move from ambition to implementation.
🔗 🚗 Mini links: Climate
📉 SBTi launches corporate guidance on Scope 3 decarbonisation
🗻 Switzerland voters approve a new law to cut use of fossil fuel, as the country faces alarming glacier melt
🦋 UNEP WCMC research shows how global targets to protect and restore nature can help tackle climate change
🌍 NASA released a visualisation of carbon emissions in 2021, highlighting the role of the global north
🌱 Heard of no-mow May? This post shows the different in (very localised) temperature between mown and ‘wilder’ grass
🧊 Large herbivore diversity slows sea ice associated decline in arctic tundra
👭 Interesting Guardian piece exploring the equality of climate impact on women in the global south
🔦 Carbon removal project spotlight
A fun and innovative carbon removal project to highlight
Ocean based methods are increasing in popularity, like Ebb Carbon who remove carbon from sea water through electrochemical ocean alkalinity enhancement. Ebb Carbon react alkaline solution with seawater at pre-existing seawater processing sites e.g. aquaculture farms and ocean research labs. The CO2 in the water forms bicarbonate ions with the alkaline solution, removing and storing the carbon. They recently raised $20 million in largest ocean carbon removal series A round to date.
🕸 Upcoming events/webinars
🗣 Missed Climeworks Direct Air Capture Summit? Read the Carbon Herald round up here, listen to The Carbon Curve episode or catch up on missed sessions here.
🗣 Reset Connect has been happening in London this week, missed it - watch the catch up here.
👨💻 Webinar: WRI’s Realizing Net Zero: Moving from Targets to Action June 29th, 2-3.15pm BST
🗣 Event: Reuters Net Zero Europe 2023, 6-7 September 2023, Houndsditch, London, UK
This newsletter is carefully crafted by Fi Watters and Tom Previte
Fi is a Climate Consultant at Supercritical with a MSc in Climate Change from King's College.
Tom specialises in selling carbon removal at Supercritical and hosts The Carbon Removal Show podcast.
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