The Carbon Business Council, the organization collaboratively pushing for responsible scaling of the carbon dioxide removal (CDR) market is celebrating its 1 year anniversary on July 19th. The Council’s first birthday marks a year of accomplishments and milestones, essential for the formation and development of the sector.
Carbon Business Council is a member-driven nonprofit coalition of companies unified to drive decarbonization initiatives and restore the climate. For the first year, the coalition has grown to over 100 companies and organization members and more than 20 observers and allies. They have combined assets of more than $16.5 billion dollars focused on scaling carbon management.
Those members are the preeminent industry voice for carbon management. They are also climate tech innovators, driving decarbonization solutions towards commercialization. Their methods of carbon removal, carbon management, or carbon capture have won multiple awards and have secured purchasing commitments from major corporations like Stripe, Microsoft, and Shopify.
“We launched the Carbon Business Council one year ago with the core belief that a rising tide can raise all ships as we work together to make a gigaton-scale climate impact… With a membership base that’s more than doubled since our inception and multiple proof points for successful collaboration, the Carbon Business Council is a platform to bring innovators together and unlock gigaton-scale solutions,” said Ben Rubin, Executive Director and Co-Founder of CO2BC.
Relevant: Clear Definition Needed For Carbon Removal Says Carbon Business Council
During its first year, the Carbon Business Council achieved impressive milestones to advance carbon management. The Council published three issue briefs, touching on critical components of the burgeoning industry that will help plot the optimal course going forward:
- Defining Carbon Removal for Policy Issue Brief – the issue brief explains how to define carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and why embracing a clear and consistent definition of CDR for policy that is method-neutral, criteria-based, and IPCC-aligned is needed to support the portfolio of CDR approaches;
- Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) Issue Brief – with this issue brief, the Carbon Business Council is joining in a global call for better, clearer MRV standards for CDR;
- U.S. Farm Bill & Carbon Removal Issue Brief – The Farm Bill is legislation covering all aspects of food production and is passed every five years. Its reauthorization is critical as it can enhance and expand public sector support for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and other carbon management pathways that can deliver great economic and agronomic benefits to America’s farmers, ranchers, foresters, and agricultural communities.
The CO2BC was also instrumental in several other initiatives:
- Organizing a coordinated response to claims made in a UNFCCC information note that engineered carbon removals are not suitable for implementation: the organization sent an open letter with over 100 signatories to the Supervisory Body working on the UN’s Article 6.4 mechanism to use the carbon dioxide removal (CDR) definition adopted by the IPCC in its information note, which states that CDR is required as part of the solution to global warming.
- Launching the “Ethical Oath to Restore the Earth“, which invokes the ethical oaths that doctors and lawyers sign with tenets specific to carbon management. It has received more than 120 signatures so far.
- Amplifying carbon management: the Carbon Business Council’s initiatives are routinely featured in major media outlets, including Axios, Bloomberg, Politico, The Hill and Washington Post. Throughout the last year, the members and leadership have spoken about carbon management on international stages like COP27, ClimateWeek, and the World Economic Forum.
- Supporting the carbon management ecosystem: the organization provides support for the carbon management ecosystem with a biweekly newsletter read by thousands of subscribers and a monthly membership meeting that highlights key trends and developments.
- The organization is planning to launch an online training program Responsible Deployment Training 101 this fall, an introductory online course on responsible deployment, community engagement and more for carbon removal project practitioners. A certificate of completion will be shared at the end of the 1.5-hour training.
- Expanding the team: the Carbon Business Council’s team has grown to include professionals with decades of combined experience, including board members and advisors from premier organizations. Isabella Corpora serves as an Associate Director, Toby Bryce is a Policy Advisor, Elizabeth Baum is a Communications Lead, and Delaney Pues is a Senior Fellow.
With a growing list of achievements, the council will continue shaping public policy in the future. It will also be announcing new policy working groups in the months ahead.
As we need to remove a gigaton-scale amount of carbon emissions from the atmosphere, the rest of 2023 and beyond is a critical time to inspire action, unite the carbon removal community together and work towards developing the new market seamlessly.
Read more: Carbon Business Council Joins Call To Ensure Carbon Removal’s Place In UN Policy
