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Yesterday, the Direct Air Capture Coalition, alongside the Carbon Business Council, submitted a response to the Department of Energy’s DE-FOA-0003333: Opportunities to Support Mid-scale Commercial Direct Air Capture (DAC) Demonstration Facilities.

We are strongly in favor of public and private efforts to support the sector’s path to commercialization and you can find our response in full here —
Direct Air Capture Coalition_Carbon Business Council – DOE DAC RFI Response

London, March 13, 2024 – The Direct Air Capture Coalition (DACC) and AlliedOffsets are excited to announce the launch of a landmark initiative, the DAC Deployment Map, now live on the DACC website. This interactive map represents a significant step towards enhancing transparency, education, and collaboration in the field of Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology.

The DAC Deployment Map provides the most up-to-date overview of global DAC projects, highlighting the innovative efforts across the world in an increasingly differentiated industry. The Map has a deliberate focus on First-of-a-Kind (FOAKs) facilities and projects that are likely to come online in the near-term and avoids projects that have a high degree of delivery uncertainty (e.g., large-scale facilities projected more than four years in the future). In this sense, it serves as an accurate snapshot of DAC in its current form rather than a comprehensive outlook of long-term planned capacity. Users can explore detailed information about each deployment, including facility names, locations, technologies used, CO2 capture capacities, and operational statuses.

Key features of the DAC Deployment Map:

• A Global Snapshot: Locations of DAC facilities across the world, showcasing the projects that are due to come online in the next four years.
• Interactive Exploration: Users can click on each facility for detailed insights, including the company behind the project and its respective partners, the technology employed, CO2 capture capacity, and CO2 end use.
• Up-to-Date Information: The map reflects the latest developments in the DAC field, offering an invaluable resource for researchers, policymakers, industry stakeholders, climate advocates, frontline community organizations, and the general public.

“This map is not just a tool; it’s a testament to the explosion of progress and innovation DAC companies have made over the last few years,” said Aaron Benjamin, UK and Europe Lead of the Direct Air Capture Coalition. “Images are a powerful means to display data and by tracking and transforming the data into a map, we provide a holistic view of DAC deployments worldwide. As a living resource, we look forward to watching the map become more populated with the inclusion of further announced projects and new layers of facility data”.

“Investments in innovative technologies like DAC are essential to achieving our climate goals and reducing emissions in the years to come,” stated Anton Root, Head of Research at AlliedOffsets. “We hope that the work we have done together with the DAC Coalition to map out DAC sites and deployments will bring more transparency to the space.”

The DAC Deployment Map is part of DACC’s broader mission to support the growth of DAC by serving as a field catalyst, accelerating connectivity and collaboration in the emerging and increasingly varied ecosystem. 

Looking ahead, the analysis underscores the need for continued collaboration, innovation, and policy support to unlock the full potential of DAC. By scaling up deployment and driving down costs, DAC can play a transformative role in achieving ambitious global net zero targets. 

Editors’ Notes: Supporting Data 

• 53 DAC plants (combined pilots and commercial facilities) are expected to be operational by the end of 2024, with a combined capacity of 58 ktCO2/yr
• 93 DAC plants to be operating in 2030 with a combined capacity of 6.4-11.4 MtCO2/yr have been announced to date
• Median production of DAC plants in 2024 is still 100 tCO2/yr, and many plants are still in their pilot phase
• 2024 is a big year for DAC, as there is an anticipated 7.8x increase in global capacity from 2023 (7.4 ktCO2/yr) to 2024 (58 ktCO2/yr) due to the operationalisation of some of the world’s first kiloton plants
• By the end of 2024, 18 plants are scheduled to be operational in North America and 24 in Europe, with the leading countries being the US, UK, and Canada. 

— ENDS — 

About the Direct Air Capture Coalition

The Direct Air Capture (DAC) Coalition was founded in 2022 to provide the connectivity, coordination, and leadership in the DAC ecosystem required to achieve the scope and scale necessary for DAC to play a critical role in solving the climate crisis. The DAC Coalition is a non-profit, multi-stakeholder, climate-focused, public-spirited coalition consisting of over 110 companies, civil society groups, and research and academic institutions focused on educating, engaging, and mobilizing society to scale DAC in a sustainable, equitable, and effective way. The DAC Coalition acts as the only non-commercial global organization with a core, full-time focus on serving as a field catalyst to grow and accelerate the DAC ecosystem.

Website: https://daccoalition.org/

About AlliedOffsets

AlliedOffsets is a leading provider of carbon market intelligence and solutions, specializing in the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) and Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR). With a commitment to driving sustainable practices, AlliedOffsets empowers market participants to make informed decisions for a low-carbon future.

Website: www.alliedoffsets.com

Contact Information:

Aaron Benjamin 

UK and Europe Lead, Direct Air Capture Coalition

aaron@daccoalition.org

Anton Root. 

Head of Research, Allied Offsets

anton.root@alliedoffsets.com

2023 is nearly in the books and it’s been a momentous one for the direct air capture sector which has kept us on our toes at the DAC Coalition. Aiming to serve as the nerve center for DACtivity, we are actively helping to catalyze this vibrant field and serve as a force multiplier for the work our members and partners are doing to get this critical technology researched, developed, deployed, and scaled. 

We’ve listed some of our key achievements below. If you feel inspired by any of them or new ideas are sparked, please do not hesitate to get in contact with us, we’d love to hear from you.

Growing the Coalition

The Direct Air Capture Coalition has grown to 109 members, partners, and observers, including 51 DAC companies, and a diverse array of DAC ecosystem and stakeholder partner organizations located around the world across five continents. 

• 340% increase since our May 2022 launch and a 70% increase since January 2023.

Global Direct Air Capture Conference

The first annual Global Direct Air Capture conference was a resounding success. Alongside our partners Breakthrough Energy, Rocky Mountain Institute, and Columbia University’s Carbontech Development Initiative, the inaugural sector-wide conference hosted by the Direct Air Capture Coalition brought together experts, innovators, and stakeholders from across the globe. Bringing together over 200 attendees in person, and several hundred more tuning in virtually, highlights from the two day event included video remarks from US Climate Envoy John Kerry and Senator Bill Cassidy, engaging and insightful panels discussing issues ranging from innovation in DAC technology to policy frameworks for climate action to the geographic distribution of DAC costs & benefits to climate justice perspectives to project development challenges and opportunities, among others. We were also thrilled to provide the opportunity for DACC members and partners with a platform via lightning round presentations which spotlighted the incredible work our members are doing to advance all aspects of the DAC ecosystem. 

• Videos from the conference have received thousands of views on our DACC YouTube Channel
• Pictures from the conference can be found on our DACC Flickr Page.

Raising Awareness and Educating Decision Makers

• DACC has submitted input on various aspects on policy & regulations to:
  • U.S. Department of Energy
  • United Nations Article 6.4 Supervisory Body
  • European Commission
  • UK Department for Energy Security and Net-Zero
  • You can find our policy submissions here
• Engaged in closed-door educational sessions with local, state, federal, and international policymakers on real-world challenges and opportunities related to DAC
• Organized European climate NGO – DACC bridge-building/knowledge exchange sessions with Carbon Markets Watch
• Featured in panels at global conferences championing DAC on climate change action, including Carbon Unbound USA, UNC Clean Tech Summit, Africa Climate Summit, and the Global Business Travel Association Sustainability Summit, among others
• Engaged in extensive multimedia outreach through webinars, podcasts, and press coverage, with DACC voices quoted in outlets such as Politico, E&E News, Scientific American, and Energy Intel, among others. 

Connecting the Dots and Providing Opportunities 

• Facilitated connectivity within ecosystem to enable partnerships via 270+ member communications platform and over 300 personalized introductions made 
• Submitted DACC members and partners for consideration for the 2023 and 2024 Earthshot Prize Awards as an Official Nominator
• Monthly DACC convenings featured prominent actors and key industry leaders such as National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Breakthrough Energy, World Resources Institute, EPA, Fervo Energy, Mitsubishi, National Wildlife Federation, Carbfix, BeZero Carbon, Bipartisan Policy Center, among others engaging the DACC community on topics such as technological development and commercialization pathways, progress tracking, Class VI Well permitting processes, clear energy sourcing, investment opportunities, community engagement strategies, sequestration partnerships, and other timely challenges and opportunities facing the sector. 
• Worked with Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) to disseminate an opportunity to member companies with relevant technology to participate in DAC HVAC technical workshop. 

Building Community 

• Beyond our flagship conference, the DACC has brought the DAC and CDR community together through our bi-monthly NYCDR happy hours in NYC, with our Climate Week event bringing together well over 300 people to network and build connections across the carbon removal ecosystem. 
• We organized similar gatherings in Washington D.C., Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Nairobi, Kenya, Dubai, UAE, and London, UK. 

Sourcing Talent 

• Through our partnership with Climatebase, the DACC Jobs Board has funneled jobseekers to open positions at DACC member companies and partner organizations. Postings have been viewed over 227,000 times and 124 applications have been submitted through the site. We know sourcing dedicated professionals will be critical to the growth and success of your companies and organizations and have created this resource to help build and support your capacity. 
• Our team has been elected to the Executive Committee of the UK’s Greenhouse Gas Future Leaders Network, connecting young professionals in CDR and helping to establish a talent pipeline and fill talent gaps.

Catalyzing a Global Sector

While much of the focus on DAC is in North America and Europe, the DACC is focused on championing DAC around the world to enable deployment wherever possible and practical. To that end in 2023, we: 

• Participated in thought leadership webinar to promote DAC and CDR in Australia.
• Acted as a Core Partner and Mentor on the DACCathon in Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan.
• Participated in Kenya’s National Workshop on Carbon Removal and organized sessions at the groundbreaking Africa Climate Summit, with DACC personnel appearing on well-received panels advocating for DAC to global stakeholders
  • Helped build the case and popularize the potential for DAC in Kenya through original content and thought leadership.
• Involved in the ideation and steering committee for a DAC Innovation Centre as part of the Energy Transition Zone in Scotland
• Served as an execution partner of the CarbonRemovals at COP platform, and helped host the CDR community reception at COP 28 in Dubai, UAE, bringing together leaders in the space.

Creating Resources

We’ve been hard at work making sure the DACC website is a one-stop shop for those of you and your stakeholders who wish to learn more about DAC, compiling a host of useful resources:

• DAC Reports Library: A curated library of over 200 reports, papers and publications complete with labels and data on topics covered
• DAC FAQ: Provide credible source for foundational information about DAC
• News Hub: Collection of latest news and developments about DAC around the world 
• DAC Company Directory: Showcasing leading DAC innovators
• DAC Video Library: Repository of DAC-focused educational videos
• DACC Map: An interactive tool to explore DACC members, their niche, and where they are located 
• Info Toolkit: Easy to use communications material to explain importance of DAC to key stakeholders
• Monthly DAC Dispatch Newsletter: Over 2,000 subscribers to our monthly newsletter that provides market and member updates, events, and educational material 

We’re excited to continue to build on this work in 2024 and onwards!

Jason Hochman – Co-Founder & Senior Director

Aaron Benjamin – UK and Europe Lead

Please find the full text of the DAC Coalition’s response here: DAC Coalition – UN FCCC Article 6.4 SB Response

Dear Article 6.4 Supervisory Body, 

Thank you for the continued engagement to clarify the role of carbon removals in Article 6 to achieve our shared climate goals. 

The Direct Air Capture Coalition (DAC Coalition) is a global non-profit organization consisting of over eighty companies, civil society groups, and research and academic institutions working together to help advance and accelerate the responsible development and deployment of direct air capture technology to address climate change. 

We would like to first acknowledge and thank the Supervisory Body for their work on the inclusion of carbon removals in the Article 6.4 mechanism and for providing the opportunity to respond to the Information Note entitled “Removal activities under the Article 6.4 mechanism” (A6.4-SB005-AA-A09 version 0.40):

In summary, we would like to draw particular attention to the following matters: 

• Scientific consensus around the role of engineered removals 
• Tonne-year accounting and the importance of permanent and durable CO2 storage
• The wording used in Table 3.2 around pros and cons of “engineering-based” removal 
• The role of engineered removals in meeting Nationally Determined Contributions
• Acknowledgement of previous stakeholder submissions from SB004 Call for Inputs

We appreciate that direct air carbon dioxide capture and storage (DACCS) is among a suite of emerging engineered approaches to carbon removal, however, the current approach illustrated in the Information Note disadvantages DACCS under the Article 6.4 mechanism. This runs contrary to the extensive Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) modeling which unequivocally demonstrates its role in reaching scientifically-backed climate goals. 

The DAC Coalition remains available to support you in this ongoing process. 

Sincerely,

Aaron Benjamin

UK and Europe Lead 

Direct Air Capture Coalition

Signatories:

It is hard to believe it has already been a year since the Direct Air Capture Coalition (DACC) launched. In that short time, we have made tremendous strides in advancing and accelerating the responsible development and deployment of Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology to help fight climate change. With a diverse, growing base of DAC leaders in our organization, united by a shared commitment to being a part of the solution to the climate crisis, the Coalition has achieved some significant initial milestones. Let’s take a closer (but non-exhaustive!) look at what we have achieved together in our first year.  

The Stakeholder Rocketship: from 32 to 86 (and growing!)

From a strong base at launch of leading innovators, the Coalition has expanded from 32 companies, non-profits, and academic and research institutions to 86 organizations (and growing), including nearly 40 innovative DAC technology companies. We are often one of the first organizations that stakeholders from across the globe reach out to for advice when they have an interest to engage on DAC. We have been blown away, not just by the growth of this field, but the cross-cutting innovative approaches people are taking to DAC. 

Supporting the Ecosystem

Our goal is to  support the timely, effective, sustainable, and responsible growth of the DAC ecosystem. We have created a rich repository of DAC-focused educational and informational resources including a Report Library, FAQ, DAC Company Directory, News Hub, Video Library, and more. Our monthly newsletter, the  DAC Dispatch, recaps the latest news in the DAC space, member updates, upcoming events, open vacancies. If you have not signed up already, be sure to catch your monthly DAC dose here. 

To help serve our members, we have created a connectivity channel available to all DACC members and partners to share news, intel, updates, and opportunities for collaboration, as well as organized a speakers series for Coalition stakeholders to hear from, and engage with, key actors in the space, featuring groups such as Breakthrough Energy, Patch, Frontier, Climate Agency, Rondo, DNV, NETL, WRI, among others to address topics related to policy changes, buyer insights, RFP walkthroughs, communications strategies, zero-carbon heat and electricity sources, and measurement, reporting, and verification standardization, technological development and commercialization pathways, and progress tracking. 

A Global Champion for Direct Air Capture

Through conferences, webinars, podcasts, and media articles forums, we’ve spread the word to raise awareness and inform key stakeholders and the public about the potential for, and necessity of, developing and deploying direct air capture technology to help combat climate change.

Utilizing our broad and diverse set of coalition members, we have been and will continue to be well positioned to inform policy. Submitting public comments and responding to national consultations (e.g Department of Energy RFI on demand side support mechanisms) is foundational to our work, along with educational sessions for key decision makers across the policy, finance, academia, advocacy, and technology spheres.

Proud to be Partners

We launched the coalition with the intention of anchoring our activities alongside the bustling and ever-growing community of carbon removal organizations. Some of those we are most proud of are:

• Working with Carbon Market Watch, we co-organized Carbon Markets Watch, the first of a series of events between direct air capture companies and folks in the European environmental NGO ecosystem, kicked off last month. We hope to help build connections and allow both sides to better understand what the direct air capture technology is, where the joint priorities are, and how we can help address concerns. 
• Participated in Kenya’s National Workshop on Carbon Removal, alongside our partners the Global Carbon Removal Partnership and Climate Action Platform for Africa.
• In partnership with Climatebase, we launched the DAC Coalition Jobs Board, a bespoke hiring portal for the DACC member companies and partner organizations. 
• Collaborated with the Footprint Coalition to establish a Negative Emissions Technology leg of their Science Engine program which provides fast, small-sized grants for DAC-related research projects to help advance scientific and technology progress in DAC; 
• Partnered with OpenAir Collective to support the 2023 OpenAir Carbon Removal Challenge, a worldwide contest for students to gain hands-on experience with new technologies that capture excess carbon directly from our atmosphere, soil, and waters; and 
• Alongside several other leading CDR organizations, helped implement the CDR @ COP27 Online Portal which served as a dedicated online platform streaming events and publishing commentary, news and thinking on carbon removals during COP and beyond.
• Earthshot Prize 2023 Official Nominators

Through our focus on coalition building, advocacy, awareness raising, public outreach, fostering partnerships, knowledge sharing, connectivity, and collaboration, the coalition is driving the responsible development and deployment of DAC technologies. These achievements set the stage for even greater advancements in the days, months, and years to come, as the DAC Coalition continues to pave the way towards a sustainable and resilient future for our planet.

A MASSIVE THANK YOU to all of our members, partners, and observers.

As the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) convenes in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, the 198 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) gather to find global solutions that mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis, as well as achieve climate justice. Climate justice addresses the idea that “the historical responsibility for climate change lies with wealthy and powerful people – and yet it disproportionately impacts the poorest and most vulnerable.”¹ Additionally, climate justice addresses the fact that the impacts of climate change are unequally distributed based on factors that include (but are not limited to) age, race, gender, socioeconomic status, and geographic location. Continue reading “Climate Justice Priorities for Direct Air Capture “

The failure of the Build Back Better to pass through the Senate last month left President Biden’s bold climate ambitions in murky waters . Yet on Friday, in quite dramatic fashion, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the largest federal investment in combating climate change, passed through the House of Representatives and awaits the final stamp of approval.

When President Biden signs the bill into law, it will be a momentous moment for the U.S which may have just revived its 2015 Paris Agreement target of slashing emissions in half by 2030. Analysis by Princeton’s REPEAT project estimates that the IRA will reduce the US’s CO₂ emissions by 42% below 2005 levels by 2030. For all our readers who strictly work in gigatons and as DAC enthusiasts, this equates to “0.8-1Gt of additional carbon emission reduction in 2030 relative to current policy baseline” analysis by Jesse Jenkins of Princeton’s REPEAT. 

To do this, the IRA earmarks $369 billion for climate initiatives, a large proportion of which will contribute to the continued decarbonization of industry in the U.S, targeting both the production and consumption of renewables, electric cars, heat pumps and alternative fuels. An article in Lexology published this week, sets out a detailed breakdown of all the climate and energy beneficiaries. 

Whilst the focal point of the bill’s climate fund will be clean energy and renewables, a summary below illustrates how Direct Air Capture (DAC) will be affected, starting with the posterboy tax-credit of point-source carbon capture and direct air capture: 45Q. 

45Q’s New Look

Previous to the IRA, the tax credit awarded companies $50 per tonne of CO2 captured and durably stored or $35 per tonne for utilizing it in their manufacturing process (for instance in concrete or alternative fuels). While this was positive, frustrations ruminated amongst the nascent DAC companies, the majority of which still at pilot stage, simply did not have the 100,000 ton/yr capture capacity required to benefit from the credit. At a time where assuring capital would be essential to scaling efforts, the credit was ineffective.

The IRA changes everything, providing “more money, more time and [benefitting] smaller projects” put succinctly by Lucy Hargreaves, a policy expert at Patch. To break this down, the new 45Q more than triples the previous credit to $180/ton for durable CO₂ storage and boosts CO₂ utilization to $130/ton. However, as mentioned above, providing more finance is ineffective if companies cannot meet the minimum capture requirement. The fact that the IRA states that companies only need to capture 1000 ton/year to access the credit, will provide financial reassurance to the plethora of DAC start-ups, university spin-outs, and small-scale facilities that make up the majority of the emerging DAC ecosystem. Smaller projects will also be boosted by the fact they will now be able to receive direct pay for the full value of the credits for the projects first five years, providing capital to aid their no-doubt ambitious scaling plans.

Additionally, the enhanced 45Q will provide DAC companies with a seven year extension on the deadline for the construction of eligible facilities (until Jan 1st 2033). This will provide research projects and those still early in their DAC technology readiness, more time and peace of mind to realize their plans.

Support Extended for CO2 Utilization and Renewables

Elsewhere in the bill, is a hefty $2.15Bn investment into low-carbon buildings and the use of low-carbon materials (a big win for CO2 utilization companies such as CarbonCure and CarbonBuilt), plus a further $100m to help build out low-embodied carbon labelling. In conjunction with the 45Q revisions, both these funds will support DAC companies looking to use the sequestered CO₂ in making low-carbon concrete. However, concrete is not the only DAC+utilization pathway benefiting from the bill. Credits on alternative fuels (otherwise known as syn-fuels) have been extended until the end of 2024 alongside a $250m injection into the exploration of sustainable aviation fuel. 

The cost of renewable energy is projected to come down even further with a $30Bn assigned to production tax-credits. The ramifications of having a clean, cheap source of energy goes far beyond our carbon dioxide removal ecosystem, however, the energy-intensive regeneration step of many DAC operations, may have just been handed a solution and in turn, a rebuttal to many of their critics.

Above all, the IRA sends a strong signal to the rest of the world that the US is backing the  reality of a carbon capture and removal industry. This, alongside the CHIPS and Science Act (passed 9th August 2022) which commits $1 billion in funding for carbon removal R&D over a four year period (2023-2026) “galvanizes carbon removal not only through direct federal support, but also by signaling the strength of the market to the private sector” said Ben Rubin, Executive Director of the Carbon Business Council. 

Casting our minds forward to 2030, I have a strong inclination that we will look back on 2022 as a transformative year for carbon removal policy. As a quiet optimism sweeps through all those working on climate, we should be cautious not to sensationalize. The road is long and winding but it certainly is pleasant not to be wandering in the desert anymore.

Two weeks ago, we launched The Direct Air Capture Coalition, the first and only, multi-stakeholder coalition, driving forward the global deployment and mobilization of DAC.

The need for carbon removal at gigaton scale is not a new revelation. It has been murmured in academic circles, targeted by DAC pioneers, hedged by VCs, and cautiously (too cautiously, some might say) approached by policymakers. However, this is not surprising given how nascent this industry truly is. Yet, for us to avoid the most concerning of IPCC scenarios, we need to find solutions that solves the ‘hard-to-abate’ emissions problem as well as removing yesterday’s CO2 at a pace that unduly embodies the urgency of our planetary mission: rebalancing the climate. In contrast to this, our mission is simple: to educate, engage, and mobilize society around DAC so that we can present a unified and unwavering approach on how we can achieve gigaton carbon dioxide removal by 2030.

The Engine Driving the Coalition

Amongst all the tons, targets, and temperatures, it is easy to think that some things are out of our control. However, if human behavior got us into this current situation, then human action will find the solutions. This hope is something that underpins the coalition.

Propped up by ten volunteers spread across six different countries (some of whom left their full-time jobs) meeting weekly throughout the pandemic and into 2022, the DAC Coalition embodies this human dimension. With backgrounds spanning the whole climate spectrum from climate risk management to finance, through the murky waters of climate policy and into global marketing and science communication; we draw upon this rich palette of skills to connect and engage with the societal sectors that gigaton carbon removal involves.

Our bottom-up vision that puts the needs of our coalition members at the center of what we do, is one that has been supported by the Grantham Foundation whose catalytic grant will kickstart our metaphorical calciners.

Our Three-Pronged Approach

Fleshing out the skeleton of the nascent carbon removal market requires a huge coordination and requires that actors are reading from the same hymn sheet. Misperceptions and misinformation surrounding DAC is already a real and current problem experienced by our coalition members (see figure below).

To effectively target these concerns, we developed a three-pronged approach that will not only target the most pressing of these perceptual hazards but help the industry accelerate past them.

1. Awareness and Education – There is a dire need to shorten the time-lag between onboarding new actors and decision-makers and the frontline of DAC. Therefore providing clear and credible information will be at the heart of our approach. In commissioning the first DAC report (direct from the voices of frontline actors) and providing a curated library of DAC resources and topical sector events, we hope to free up time and resources within the DAC companies, so that more time can be spent on scaling their business objectives.
2. Connectivity and Collaboration – Facilitating active and action-orientated discussions between coalition members and key societal players will be the foundations of enabling a robust DAC market. We aim to provide a space for influential voices to collaborate on aspects of policy, finance, equity, technology and innovation.
3. Engagement and Enablement – We are well aware that this space will continue to evolve and critical parts of our collective puzzle will be unearthed revealing lessons that all stakeholders can learn from. By creating clear bi-directional communication with the public, NGOs and research institutions, we will continue to grow our knowledge base and keep those who wish to be informed and well-prepared to make decisions in their respective settings.

Drawing parallels to new markets of the recent past, time and time again we see common catalysts for market creation: Advanced Market Commitments (AMCs), favorable market influencing policies, and the idea of what Dai Ellis calls “quarterbacking” in his recent blog. Taking the metaphor from football, the idea that action is most effective when threaded through a few archetypes rather than individual spontaneous action. Acting as the quarterback for the DAC community, we will be able to pinpoint our efforts based on the needs and recommendations of the numerous players in the coalition. Serving as both a reactive and proactive driver, this may take the form of policy recommendations, filling knowledge gaps, or finding talent. By becoming a one-stop-shop for all things DAC, we can scale this nascent technology faster and more robustly.

Time is of the Essence.

Over the last few years, the interest in DAC has skyrocketed. Looking back to 2018, even the keenest of DAC enthusiasts knew of only a handful of companies actually removing tonnes CO2 (literally, not metaphorically) away from the lab bench. Fast forward four frantic years and we count over 45 projects varying in technology readiness levels (TRLs) . This number will continue to rise synonymous with increasing public interest in DAC, an auspicious funding landscape (from both public and private funds), and ever-increasing hunger for innovation, driven by competitions like XPRIZE with eye watering prize pots big enough to make the winning the lottery look like pocket money. Most importantly, governments are beginning to chime in and have started to lay the groundwork for supportive public policy – a paradigm that opened the floodgates for the cost of solar PVs to start coming down the learning curve. Whether it be in the US’s DOEs Carbon Negative Shot by 2030 or their $3.5Bn investment into DAC Hubs or the UKs £100m DAC and greenhouse gas removal competition to help first-of-a-kind projects commercialize. Eyes are fixated on this space and invested in its evolution, keen to see how the price per ton will move down with it.

As more actors enter this space and our coalition grows, more voices will be added to the choir of companies capturing carbon. We believe that by providing a concerted orchestrated voice for DAC, we will be able to amplify the needs of our members, help find communal solutions by coordinating our global multi-stakeholder members, partners and observers. In a time where bravery is needed at both corporate and state-level, it is vitally important that our leaders and decision-makers have access to experts and up-to-date educational resources (see our DAC Report Library) and, so that robust science-based decisions can be made in the shortest time possible.

It is our shared hope that we can kickstart a thriving community amongst all DAC enthusiasts. From policy-makers to those of you looking to #workonclimate, we hope that you will join us on our collective mission to make tomorrow a cleaner, more equitable future for all.

To keep up to date with DAC developments across the value chain, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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