Climate Fix: California Looks to Remove Massive Amounts of Carbon from Atmosphere to Meet Climate Goals

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

California has laid out ambitious goals of becoming carbon neutral by 2045. That means not just limiting emissions, but also removing about 100 million tons of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere. It’s not easy to extract and contain carbon once it’s emitted, but a small crop of Bay Area startups are working on technologies to do just that. Some companies use giant machines to pull carbon out of the air while others sequester it into a liquid that can be buried deep beneath the earth’s surface. There are many approaches to carbon removal, but also many questions: who will pay for it, how will the carbon be stored, how can companies scale up? For this next installment of Climate Fix, our monthly series on climate change solutions, we’ll talk about the promises – and challenges – of the burgeoning carbon removal industry. Guests: Josh Santos, co-founder/CEO, Noya. Noya focuses on direct air capture to pull excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere Dan Ress, staff attorney, Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment. CRPE is a national environmental justice organization providing legal, organizing, and technical assistance to grassroots groups in low-income communities and communities of color. Danny Cullenward, climate economist and lawyer focused on the design and implementation of scientifically grounded climate policy Laura Klivans, news and science reporter, KQED Noah McQueen, co-founder and head of research, Heirloom. Heirloom is a carbon capture technology company Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Support for Forum comes from Rancho La Puerta, a wellness resort in Baja, California, just an hour from San Diego,
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0:12.8	Summer retreat packages of three, four, or seven nights including hiking, water classes, mindfulness,
0:19.9	spa therapies, and culinary adventures with
0:22.8	farm-fresh ingredients. Learn more at Rancho LePuerta.com.
0:27.3	Support for Forum comes from Broadway S.F. presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a
0:33.2	true story. From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and
0:39.7	Lucille Frank, a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused
0:46.3	of an unspeakable crime, it propels them into an unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice,
0:53.4	and devotion.
1:02.6	The riveting and gloriously hopeful parade plays the Orphium Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through June 8th.
1:06.9	Tickets on sale now at Broadway, sF.com.
1:09.5	From KQED. From KQED. From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:23.6	The core problem of climate change is that there's too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
1:29.3	And though it still only forms a tiny bit of the air all around us, the amount that industrial societies have added to the global mix is enough to deeply change the world's biosphere.
1:38.3	So, why not just pull the carbon dioxide out of the air? It's a solution so simple that of course scientists and engineers have
1:44.3	explored the concept. For many years, it was seen as on the edge of plausibility, but now,
1:49.0	thanks to several billion dollars in recent legislation, a real industry for carbon dioxide removal
1:54.7	is taking shape, including a few Bay Area companies. Stay tuned for this latest edition of
2:00.3	Climate Fix,
2:01.3	our collab with the KQED Science Desk after this news.
2:12.6	Welcome to Forum.
	...

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