🧽 Carbon removal options are expanding for buyers

Plus: Oil's wild ride and big companies push clean power standard | Wednesday, July 07, 2021

Open in app View in browser   Presented By NextEra Energy   Axios Generate By Ben Geman and Andrew Freedman ·Jul 07, 2021 Good morning! Today's Smart Brevity count is 1,135 words, 4.3 minutes. 📊 Data point of the day: 2%. The percent of energy startups as a share of total startups in recent years, down from a high of almost 5% in 2007, per IEA data. 🎸 And tomorrow marks 40 years since R.E.M. released its debut single that's today's intro tune...     1 big thing: The expanding carbon removal market Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios   Carbon Engineering, a firm looking to commercialize nascent "direct air capture" tech, just unveiled a new retail offering for its services in partnership with the firm BeZero Carbon. Driving the news: The new service is basically about buying future removal in smaller amounts than the startup has previously offered and packaging them with other removal options via BeZero. Carbon Engineering is planning to build commercial-scale facilities. Ahead of that construction, BeZero has "pre-purchased" removal that it will, in turn, sell to clients, which can also be part of a "basket" of "removal offsets." Catch up fast: Carbon Engineering opened its doors for removal purchases earlier this year, which inaugural customer Shopify ordering 10,000 tons of CO2 removal. But that service has a minimum purchase of 100 tons. Customers pre-purchasing through BeZero's platform buy removal amounts of any size, Carbon Engineering tells Axios, which expands the pool of companies and people. The big picture: It's the latest sign of an expanding suite of ways that businesses — and even individual clients — can purchase services or make investments that, if all goes well, will directly result in the removal of CO2 already in the atmosphere. Here are some other examples (not a complete list!)... May brought the launch of the nonprofit group Climate Vault. It's complicated but involves the purchase of emissions permits from regulated trading markets, which are then monetized to finance removal efforts. The Swiss DAC firm Climeworks launched a retail subscription service in 2019. The startup Nori has launched a soil carbon removal market. Last month Nasdaq took a majority stake in the firm Puro.earth, a business-to-business trading marketplace for carbon removal credits. Elsewhere, the online payments company Stripe last year launched "Stripe Climate," which allows users of its platform to direct some revenues toward companies investing in CO2 removal tech. Why it matters: There's growing interest in CO2 removal, a basket of tech and methods like direct air capture, afforestation, carbon mineralization and much more. Corporate heavyweights including Amazon, Microsoft, BP, Chevron and Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures are investing in various kinds of "negative emissions" startups. It comes at a time when global efforts to cut emissions are nowhere near on the scale needed to meet the goals of the Paris agreement. A major 2018 report by the United Nation's science panel found that pathways to limiting warming to 1.5ºC — the Paris deal's most ambitious goal — rely on varying levels of removal. Yes, but: Removal doesn't replace the need for steep emissions cuts to meet the Paris Agreement goals, and verification can be a mixed bag too. Also, it's extremely unclear when and to what degree carbon removal will be deployed at a significant scale. Experts warn that potential carbon removal deployment in the future should not be used to delay or weaken emissions mitigation, especially given all the uncertainties.     2. Oil's on a roller coaster as OPEC squabbles Data: FactSet; Chart: Axios Visuals Oil markets are in a volatile stretch as traders weigh the OPEC+ impasse over jointly managed production increases. Driving the news: Prices dropped sharply over the course of Tuesday after spiking earlier in the day, with U.S. futures hitting 6-year highs. That chart above takes you through late Tuesday afternoon. WTI is currently at $73.83, while the global benchmark Brent crude is at $75.01. What we're watching: More potentially market-moving news will arrive later today when the American Petroleum Institute releases data on U.S. stockpiles. Go deeper: Oil Rises as OPEC+ Clash Over Supply Boost Keeps Prices Volatile (Bloomberg)     Bonus petro-notes: Shell and Keystone XL Big Oil: "Royal Dutch Shell will boost returns to shareholders via share buybacks or dividends earlier than expected after a sharp rise in oil and gas prices helped it reduce debt, the Anglo-Dutch energy firm said on Wednesday." (Reuters) Trade: "TC Energy Corporation, the company that developed the Keystone XL pipeline project, is seeking to recover more than $15 billion in damages from the United States, claiming the US government breached its free trade obligations when it revoked the permit for the project." (CNN)     A message from NextEra Energy New study shows how green hydrogen will spur job growth     NextEra Energy believes federal support for green hydrogen will be a catalyst for good-paying jobs. Key number: Green hydrogen is poised to create approximately 1-2 million domestic jobs with a median salary of about $55,000, according to a Boston Consulting Group study. Get more details.     3. Corporate giants back clean power standard Over 75 companies including big names like General Motors, Apple, Unilever and eBay are urging lawmakers to require that power companies supply sharply rising amounts of zero-carbon electricity. Why it matters: A new open letter shows an effort to keep a proposed "clean energy standard" (CES) in the mix on Capitol Hill despite huge political hurdles. What they're saying: "A federal clean electricity standard should achieve 80 percent carbon pollution-free electricity by 2030 on the pathway to 100% clean power by 2035," the letter states. The effort is organized by the sustainable investment advocacy group Ceres, the Environmental Defense Fund and others. What we're watching: Whether last month's extreme heat in the Pacific Northwest will influence politics at all. "Millions of Americans are already feeling the impacts of climate change. From recent extreme weather to deadly wildfires and record-breaking hurricanes, the human and economic losses are profound," it states. Catch up fast: The White House last week said it wants a CES in the package of energy, health and child care measures Democrats hope to move in a filibuster-proof "reconciliation" package. But backers face big challenges corralling votes and need to craft a CES compliant with reconciliation, which is meant for spending and revenue measures, not regulatory policy. Go deeper: Can Biden's signature climate policy clear Senate rules? (Washington Examiner)     4. Taking stock of June North American heat Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   North America just had its hottest June in temperature records that date back to the 1800s, researchers with the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said Wednesday. Why it matters: Their monthly analysis helps contextualize the late-month heatwave that saw many temperature records shattered. "These heatwaves are not happening in a vacuum. They are happening in a global climate environment that is warming and which makes them more likely to occur," Copernicus scientist Julien Nicolas tells AFP. Human-induced climate change dramatically increases the odds, severity, extent and longevity of extreme heat events. By the numbers: June in North America was 1.2°C above the 1991-2020 average. Until last month, the warmest June on record in North America was in 2012 at 1.05°C above that three-decade average, they said. On a worldwide basis, Copernicus said: "June 2021 joins June 2018 as the fourth warmest June on record globally, after the Junes of 2016, 2019 and 2020." Catch up fast: Last month saw many records fall, often by large margins. That included Portland, Oregon hitting hit 116°F (roughly 46.7°C) and Lytton, British Columbia reaching 121°F (or 49.4°C). That town was devastated by a wildfire the day after that peak. Go deeper: Pacific Northwest heat wave, Canada temperature record shock experts     5. Quote of the day "[A]sset sales do nothing for climate change, you're just moving emissions from one hand to another." Who said it: Biraj Borkhataria of RBC Capital Markets. He's quoted in this in-depth Financial Times piece about oil giants shedding some oil production assets as they face pressure to act on climate.     A message from NextEra Energy Why federal support for green hydrogen is the best path forward     A Boston Consulting Group analysis found that a $3/kgH2 production tax credit for green hydrogen would: Make the U.S. the largest green hydrogen market globally by 2030. Drive competitiveness, cost reduction, and job creation. Grow the U.S. market to as much as double the E.U. market by 2030.   Like this email style and format? Learn more about Axios HQ. It'll help you deliver employee communications more effectively.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. 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