Yale School of the Environment event led by Anu Khan
Recently, the Yale School of the Environment hosted a series of events focused on Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW). One of these events centered on Climate Policy and ERW was led by Anu Khan, Founder and Executive Director at the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative. This webinar introduced attendees to the interconnections between climate policy and carbon removal strategies, particularly how Climate Policy and Enhanced Rock Weathering is a scalable solution to climate change.
Understanding climate policy foundations
The session began with an overview of key international climate frameworks, particularly the Paris Agreement, which has become the most widely adopted and accepted to date.
Nearly three-quarters of the world’s global greenhouse gas emissions are covered by a net-zero law, policy or political pledge as of early 2022 . In its simplest form, net zero involves balancing some amount of remaining emissions with an equal amount of negative emissions through carbon dioxide removal. This idea of achieving a ‘balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks’ was enshrined in Article 4.1 of the Paris Agreement and has become a prominent feature of recent IPCC assessments as well as country strategies. – Source: Why Residual Emissions Matter Now, Nature
Khan noted the overarching goal of holding temperatures to a maximum increase below 2C above pre-industrial levels, and that understanding this regulatory backdrop is essential for ERW to fit within wider carbon removal initiatives like Climate Policy and Enhanced Rock Weathering.
There are three concepts that are crucial for carbon removal policy development – net zero targets, trading emission credits, and carbon removal necessity. Understanding these concepts and their interaction with each other in diverse scenarios drives most policy development around carbon removal.
- Net Zero Targets: The idea of achieving a balance between CO₂ sources and sinks, which is fundamental for stabilizing global temperatures and mitigating climate change..
- Trading Emission Credits: The mechanism that allows emissions reductions to be traded across entities or locations, promoting cost-effective solutions to emissions reduction.
- Carbon Removal Necessity: The recognition that to achieve net zero, carbon removal strategies, including enhanced weathering, are essential and not optional.
Why carbon removal policy innovation is crucial to advancing adoption
There is at present a gap between carbon removal policy innovation and what exists – and although that gap is closing every day, Khan emphasized the role of innovation in current carbon removal policies, sharing that Climate Policy and Enhanced Rock Weathering must advance through policy frameworks that support research and commercialization.
“The majority of policy for carbon removal today is innovation policy… to support carbon markets.” – Anu Khan
She emphasized the need for policy frameworks that support research, development, and commercialization of new technologies that are inherently and purposefully for carbon markets. Pilot procurement and carbon border adjustments were among some of the tools discussed that could incentivize adoption and spur economic growth.
Pilot procurement CDR is the initial stage of a government-led program designed to purchase carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits from private companies. This type of program aims to stimulate the CDR market, reduce emissions, and is intended to accelerate the development of technologies that can remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a policy designed to prevent “carbon leakage” by ensuring imported goods entering a country, like the EU, are subject to a carbon price equivalent to that of domestically produced goods. In essence, it aims to level the playing field for industries within the country by making imported goods pay for their embedded carbon emissions.
Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) as a market influencer
The discussion also shed light on the significance of robust Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems in ensuring the integrity of carbon removal claims. Khan posed a thoughtful question: should MRV focus primarily on accurately quantifying carbon removal, or should it establish a threshold of credibility for market entry? She suggested that market mechanisms should be viewed as innovation levers, which then influence how MRV is approached.
What it means to have diverse pathways for CDR policy
Beyond conventional frameworks, Khan’s presentation shed light on diverse policy mechanisms for ERW. She discussed the need for Climate Policy and ERW beyond crediting and compliance markets to achieve gigaton scale carbon removal.
Integrating ERW into policy requires nuance, and she shared some approaches that could help to advance it. These include but aren’t limited to agricultural yield improvements, nutrient use management, fertilizer dependence reduction, and development aid.
- Agricultural Yield Improvements: Using enhanced weathering to boost crop yields, thereby providing direct benefits to farmers.
- Nutrient Use Management: Addressing nutrient pollution through targeted policies could stimulate adoption in agriculture.
- Reduced Dependence on Fertilizers: Promoting the use of local rock powders to lessen use of imported fertilizers, particularly in regions like Brazil.
- Development Aid: Leveraging ERW initiatives to support agricultural productivity in the Global South, which has great potential for soil health and CDR.
Innovation across sectors is the path forward
The webinar concluded with a call for innovative thinking across both science and policy, aimed at achieving ambitious carbon removal targets required by mid-century and beyond.
“Our goal is not to get durable CDR or enhanced weathering to be a big fraction of the current voluntary carbon market… we need to think bigger.” – Anu Khan
This reflects a growing recognition that achieving meaningful reductions in atmospheric CO₂ will necessitate not just adherence to existing frameworks, but the creative development of new strategies that can scale effectively to meet the pressing challenges of climate change.
