Tribal Carbon Solutions

Opinion piece by Tribal Carbon Solutions journalist Mark Fogarty

“MRV is fundamentally about accountability. And so, you need that accountability in order to work towards justice. It's not the only thing you need to achieve justice, but it's certainly a link in the chain.” — Anu Khan, Deputy Director of Science & Innovation at Carbon 180

Tribes looking to get involved with large-scale carbon removal plants may find upcoming opportunities as the firm that has built the now-functioning Orca plant in Iceland is mounting a big expansion into the United States.

The oceans represent a huge resource for sequestering carbon dioxide. But they also represent possibilities to compound threats like previous ones experienced in deep seas—overfishing, biodiversity loss, pollution, acidification and deoxygenation.

The carbon generated by direct removal from the air and carbon capture can be turned into ethanol and other fuels through a manufacturing process using bacteria. But it will take a definite transformation to accomplish it.

Federal legislation is needed to advance ocean carbon dioxide removal research in the United States. According to an article in Climate Law tribes should be partners in the regional resource councils called for in model legislation.

“The European Commission has published its proposed framework for carbon removal certification ... A new report [however,] contends that incorporation of soil carbon removals into the framework could prove problematic." Wil Burns

Allied to tribal sovereignty and carbon is the central role tribes have had in protecting ecosystems and the environment.

“I think we’re at a very fortunate CDR space in biochar. It's very much a physical asset that you can see and you can weigh and you can measure the volume of it, which then makes it a little bit more easy to measure.” Freddie Catlow, Co-Founder or Planboo and panelist at AirMiners biomass MRV webinar.

Coastal ecosystems take in huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but researchers are still deciphering how much methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas, they put back into the system.

Africa, which has produced quite a low percentage of the world’s carbon emissions, is a relatively easy target to get to Net Zero and to provide an effective location for carbon removal.

“Blue carbon” mandates include protecting oceans and coastal waterways and learning how to leverage systems that are already more carbon- intensive than equal amounts of dry land.

Climework’s Orca plant, outside Reykjavik, Iceland, was launched in September 2021 and is working now, so it is possible to get a glimpse at what a functioning DAC plant looks like, and what it does.

“We need to be verifying, credibly, that the carbon somebody is paying for as an offset, removal, or reduction is actually there in the soil. Today, the way that is done at the most gold standard level is through soil sampling.” Jenette Ashtekar, head of product at CIBO Technologies and AirMiners MRV panelist.

“You still have to manage the CO2 once you capture it. Whether it’s from the atmosphere or from a point source you have to do something with it in a way that’s permanent and durable so it doesn’t re-enter the atmosphere.” Jennifer Wilcox, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in FECM at the U.S. Department of Energy.

While enhanced rock weathering is scalable and cost-effective, it is necessary to develop an MRV framework that can ensure trust, vigor, and credibility in the field.

To be determined. That seems to be the most descriptive answer to the question of what the four direct air capture hubs, authorized in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, specifically will look like, exactly where will they be located, and other questions.

Tribes looking to take advantage of the new tax credits in the recent Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which included an increase in the credit for carbon dioxide removal, may benefit from a new policy divulged at a recent American Indian program funding webinar of the Office on Indian Energy Policy and Programs.

Almost all of CDR is currently coming through land management, and that needs to change. “Novel” CDR methods like direct air capture, biochar and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage are needed to close the CDR gap.

CarbonCapture’s Project Bison is planning on working on two tracks over this decade: ramping up its active carbon dioxide removal to five megatons a year and reducing the cost of the process.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) should urgently strengthen its reporting requirements on long-term national climate strategies, say Harry B. Smith and Naomi Vaughan, academics from the University of East Anglia.

“Many of us believe COP27 may be looked back on as an inflection point for carbon dioxide removal in meeting the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement.” - Wil Burns

Market forces alone will likely not be enough to achieve large-scale development and deployment of carbon dioxide removal technologies, according to a principal at Energy Futures Initiative.

Many tribes have large land bases, and some have big energy operations, such as wind farms or other electricity-generating ventures. That’s a good match for the big picture in DAC, one that can lead to construction and permanent jobs for tribal members.

“The community is ... calling for a code of conduct to guide CDR research in a coherent way. The international landscape is a bit fragmented at the current moment.” —Dr. Gabriella Kitch

Energy Futures Initiative has a plan to remove carbon from the atmosphere by the gigaton by 2050. And direct air capture can play a big part.

The monitoring, verification, and reporting of carbon removal is an airplane that is still being built as it taxies down the runway, an urgent job that doesn’t have the luxury of time to linger over.

A Canadian firm doing a big direct air capture (DAC) venture with a British Columbia First Nation, is expanding its DAC efforts with plans to open a large plant in south Texas that could become a model to “franchise” up to 70 modular DAC operations by 2035.

“The CHIPS Act galvanizes carbon removal not only through direct federal support but also by signaling the strength of the market to the private sector.” —Ben Rubin, Executive Director of the Carbon Business Council.

The U.S. government got credit for greenlighting lots of carbon removal money, in recent legislation, at a conference on aligning federal policies to accelerate deployment, but some participants wondered if the bureaucracy is staffed up enough to handle the massive challenges ahead.

Carbon removal isn’t the only opportunity tribes have to launch successful environmental ventures in the Inflation Reduction Act era. The IRA specifically makes them eligible to tap a big pot of money for greenhouse gas reduction. And it is available right away.

The federal government wants input from tribes and other interested parties about an Ocean Climate Action Plan to come from its Office of Science and Technology Policy.

American Indians are well suited to play a major part in carbon removal, and many tribes are eager to engage with the biggest problem facing humanity.

Congressional funding for carbon removal and carbon capture has swelled in the last four years, mobilizing billions of dollars to accelerate growth of these emerging fields through research and development and early deployment.

It’s too early yet to apply for funding under the many carbon removal, carbon capture and climate change provisions of the Inflation Removal Act, but it’s not too early for tribes and others to start thinking about it.

A well-known Native food sovereignty advocate sees many parallels between her award - winning business and tribal efforts to remove carbon from the atmosphere or catch it before it is released into the air.

A trifecta of legislation is creating an atmosphere where carbon removal startups may be able to increase dramatically.

It’s been overshadowed by the passage of $369 billion in climate funding in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) , but the recently signed CHIPS and Science Act includes $1 billion for carbon removal research and development between 2023 and 2026.

A Department of Energy tribal loan program that can include carbon reduction projects has been supersized by the Inflation Reduction Act, with its guarantee authority expanded tenfold, from $2 billion to $20 billion.