Meet the group working on ‘the little pieces’ of carbon removal

By Corbin Hiar | 08/06/2024 06:26 AM EDT

The nonprofit Carbon Removal Standards Initiative aims to create a consistent set of tools for measuring the benefits of sucking climate pollution from the air.

A bank of fans draws air through filters at a carbon removal plant in Iceland.

A bank of fans draws air through filters at a carbon removal plant in Iceland. John Moore/Getty Images

As climate tech companies with promising plans to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere have proliferated in recent years, so too have a dizzying array of processes to measure their claims.

A nonprofit launched Tuesday aims to standardize the way carbon removal providers, credit trading platforms and regulators calculate the technologies’ climate benefits.

The Carbon Removal Standards Initiative is led by Anu Khan, the former science and innovation director at the climate think tank Carbon180, and it’s funded by Bill Gates’ climate-focused investment group Breakthrough Energy Ventures and several environmental foundations.

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The goal of the initiative is to build confidence in the carbon removal industry so the nascent field can grow large enough to play a meaningful role in the fight against climate change.

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