In Between Times 3-29-2024
Serious investment in C capture, Sustainable ag comes on strong, Rewarding the preservation of forests
JOIN US April 22-26 in Dallas Texas!
Earthx2024
One Planet - One Mission
There’s no other sustainability gathering like it.
April 22-26 in Dallas - Save Your Place - CLICK HERE
SLB to invest nearly $400 million in carbon capture company in push to scale technology
When Schlumberger (the former name of SLB) an oil giant starts taking carbon capture seriously, and starts figuring it into not only its costs, but also as something that will add to its bottom line it is time to pay attention.
Of course there are those who pooh-pooh carbon capture as a lifeline to the fossil fuels industry, but so what if carbon is being reduced in significant ways on the whole? Oil and gas are not going to just die because some activists want it to. Oil and gas constitute a massive part of the world economy, indeed at this point it still drives much of the world economy. Additionally the industry is filled with the exact expertise the world needs to make carbon capture viable and to make a greener future in general. While the likes of China and India continue to increase their carbon emissions at much higher levels than the west as a whole, it only makes sense for us to develop this tech.
(From CNBC)
The oilfield services giant SLB, formerly known as Schlumberger, is aiming to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture technology through an investment in Norway’s Aker Carbon Capture.
SLB said late Wednesday that it will pay about $380 million, or 4.12 billion Norwegian kroner, for an 80% stake in the pure-play carbon capture company. The deal is expected to close by the end of the second quarter.
Click here for the article.
Carbon capture ramp-up to billions of tonnes is 'realistic' — Rystad Energy founder explains how
Lego invests $2.4 million in direct-air capture carbon removal
Who doesn’t love Lego. Seriously? But Lego makes a lot of plastic.
The steps outlined in the attached article are small steps but they are steps and as more companies make these steps, and as these steps become more economically viable with adoption, the steps will become bigger.
(FromGreenBiz)
Lego Group plans to double its annual spending on emissions reduction and sustainability measures between 2023 and 2025, investing a total of $1.4 billion over the period.
The Danish company this week committed a small portion of that money to a $2.4 million carbon removal contract with Climeworks, which makes technology that filters carbon dioxide emissions out of the air. The family-owned holding company behind Lego, Kirkbi A/S, also disclosed a separate $405,000 contract. This is Lego’s first carbon removal contract.
Switzerland-based Climeworks operates the largest direct-air capture (DAC) facility in the world, Orca, in Iceland.
Click here for the article.
Biochar is ‘low-hanging fruit’ for sequestering carbon and combating climate change
The thing is, not all carbon capture needs massive infrastructure and cutting edge technology. Carbon sequestration happens all the time in nature. Every tree that grows, every blade of grass, sequesters carbon. (Whether it stays sequestered is the important factor.)
(From Inside Climate News)
Biochar is made from burning organic material in an oxygen-deprived environment. It enhances soil fertility and increases the ability of soil—one of the world’s largest carbon sinks—to capture and store carbon, absorbing the emissions from fossil fuels that human activity releases into the air…
…Last year, 125,000 tons of CO2 were removed worldwide by the durable carbon market—a carbon credit marketplace for human CO2 removal projects—of which biochar was responsible for 92.9 percent, despite having received only 7 percent of carbon credit purchases. These numbers do not reflect the CO2 sequestered naturally in the ocean and forests.
Laird said biochar alone cannot achieve the 2050 goal, but it’s the easiest and most economically viable first step. He called biochar “the low-hanging fruit.”
“We need multiple, multiple efforts, multiple different processes all working together,” Laird said. “Biochar is one of those.”
Your editor uses biochar, homemade biochar, in his garden and has seen fantastic results (for all the gardeners out there, drop us a line and we’ll show you how to do it).
Click here for the article.
Sustainable agriculture gets a push from big corporations
For “sustainable agriculture” to be truly sustainable it has to be widely adopted and it has to be, at least over time, profitable. The best projects are sustainable from both the ecological and economic perspectives. If an enterprise is both positive feedback loops emerge and positive feedback loops are what long term sustainability is all about.
(From WSJ)
Regenerative agriculture isn’t one-size-fits-all, but rather a location-specific choice from practices including growing cover crops, reducing tillage, crop rotation and agroforestry. After an initial three- to five-year transition period, these methods increased farmers’ long-term income by up to 120%, according to a study from Boston Consulting Group. Tom Crowther, professor at Swiss university ETH Zurich, said experts estimate the soil can capture around 100 to 120 gigatons of CO2 from the atmosphere.
Third-generation farmer Walter Furlong said regenerative methods have improved the profitability and resilience to extreme weather of his farm in southeast Ireland while also making it more environmentally friendly. He sells his barley to drinks company Diageo to make Guinness. Furlong has used some regenerative methods for more than 20 years, but added new ones as part of a Guinness pilot.
Click here for the article.
Regenerative agriculture as a carbon solution powerhouse
On environmental issues, from climate to recycling to practically every current challenge, the future is (believe it or not) bright. There is so much brainpower going into solving many of these problems that the only logical disposition has to be one of general optimism. That regenerative agriculture is being taken seriously, is being deployed increasingly at scale, by industry, is just one reason for general optimism. That regenerative agriculture appears to be profitable after a period of transition (which can take years) is another reason.
(From Impaktr)
The term “regenerative agriculture” might be new, but its holistic practices are grounded in age-old agricultural methods. In practice, regenerative agriculture is a dynamic, resilient system that not only sequesters carbon but also enhances the overall health of the farming ecosystem. The symbiotic relationship between plants, soil microorganisms, and the environment results in a positive feedback loop, promoting sustainability and longevity. Custodians of sustainable practices for generations, and smallholder farmers worldwide offer invaluable insights into nurturing both environment and community.
Click here for the article.
How to reward tropical forest conservation
One way we’ve mentioned in past letters is if raw land can be valued in terms of carbon capture. How much carbon does a piece of virgin forest sequester? How much does a mangrove owned by an individual or company sequester? What is the equivalence in carbon credits? Could individuals take a tax deduction equivalent to what the stretch of real estate would equal in terms of a recognized carbon value protocol? Just one idea of many out there.
In the attached article Brazil wants to PAY landowners to keep land wild, which has its place but why not offer tax deductions that benefit the landowner, the environment, and don’t cost taxpayers anything?
(From Mongabay)
Faced with the global challenge of ending the deforestation of tropical forests without enough resources for the task, at the end of 2023, the Brazilian government launched a mechanism to encourage forest conservation. How? Creating a payment system per hectare of preserved or recovered forest to those responsible for its preservation. If a hectare ends up deforested instead of preserved, the opposite happens: Landowners no longer receive the equivalent of 100 times the value of the preserved hectare.
“Tropical forests are essential for biodiversity,” Minister of Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva said at the launch of the mechanism at COP28, in the United Arab Emirates. “They are a great repository of countless species and responsible for water balance. We need mechanisms to protect them. In addition to laws, efforts and incentives within each national state, it is essential to have a global payment mechanism for the ecosystem services provided by tropical forests. Around 80 countries that have tropical forests, including vulnerable ones, [must be] paid for each hectare of forest preserved and for each hectare of forest restored,” Silva said.
Click here for the article.
Event
Apr 04 - Apr 04
Building Trust by Building Together
Living Room Conversations
Location: Online
Amid today’s increasingly divisive politics and growing mistrust, it is imperative that we find ways to come together and take action. The best place to start is in our local communities. That’s why Living Room Conversations and The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation are teaming up for an interactive online discussion on April 4, 10am PST/1pm EST focused on building trust by building together.
Join Joan Blades (Founder of Living Room Conversations) and Rich Harwood (Founder and President of The Harwood Institute) for an intimate fireside chat, including audience Q&A, on what it will take to build trust in our local communities and how we might find the common ground we need to fundamentally move our communities forward.