Sliced: The Carbon Removal Standards Initiative
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Last week, the booming space of carbon dioxide removals received a helping hand.
The Carbon Removal Standards Initiative (CRSI) launched with a core mission of “providing technical assistance and capacity building for carbon removal policy, focused on quantification standards.”
While many of our readers are familiar with the term, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) refers to the process of extracting CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it securely in products or geological, terrestrial, or ocean reservoirs.
Carbon removal (CR) methods can be divided into three categories:
- Nature-based solutions such as soil carbon, wetlands, mangrove forests, and afforestation and reforestation
- Hybrid solutions such as biochar, enhanced weathering, and biomass
- Engineered solutions such as direct air capture, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), and carbon capture and utilization and storage (CCUS)
So back to CRSI.
The new initiative aims to raise standards for projects that implement CR solutions to help address concerns about their effectiveness and sustainability.
CRSI is advocating for a ‘bottom-up approach’ to standardization by providing support to regulators and organizations that are developing carbon removal policies. To do so, CRSI has created a publicly accessible database of academic research, industry white papers, and other resources to support the rapidly growing field of CDR.
CRSI is also developing tools to enhance transparency and rigor in quantifying CDR, including a ‘Carbon Reservoir and Flux Framework’ and a ‘Quantification Resources Database’ that identifies existing tools and market gaps. In tandem, CRSI is working on jurisdiction-level monitoring frameworks for enhanced weathering CDR, analyzing carbon intensity quantification for direct air capture, and mapping CDR policies.
CRSI has the potential to greatly support governments as more around the world are increasingly incorporating CDR into law and regulation, driven in part by the need to remove around 10 gigatonnes of CO2 annually by 2050 to meet the global Paris Agreement targets and limit temperature rise to 1.5°C.
The European Union has integrated CDR into its climate policies through the “Fit for 55” package, which promotes afforestation, reforestation, and carbon farming initiatives. In the United States, the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allocated substantial funding for CCUS projects, including direct air capture. The United Kingdom’s legally binding Net Zero Strategy sets a specific target of 5 million tonnes of engineered greenhouse gas removal by 2030.
And it’s not just governments.
CRSI emerged at a time when companies are ramping up investments in CDR. In 2023, 4.5 million tonnes of carbon credits were purchased from engineered carbon removal projects. Throughout the first half of 2024, major corporations like Microsoft, Stripe, and Shopify have made significant deals in carbon removal to offset their emissions. Additionally, the recently formed Symbiosis Coalition, comprised of Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce, intends to secure up to 20 million tonnes of nature-based carbon removal credits by 2030.
As the urgency to tackle climate change intensifies, CRSI’s efforts to help standardize and enhance carbon removal practices could play a role in shaping the future of CDR. With governments and corporations alike making significant efforts and investments in CDR, the real question is whether initiatives like CRSI can guide the market toward a more transparent, effective, and sustainable approach. As always, Gordian Knot Strategies will be monitoring progress.
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