One of the most critical gaps in further exploration, development, and testing of mCDR technologies is the very limited amount of financial resources being invested into the space.
Without exception, all mCDR technologies examined in these road maps need substantial increases in public, philanthropic, and private investment to accelerate technology development, de-risk technologies, and develop monitoring, reporting, and verification protocols. The global community of experts who participated in the scoping workshops for these road maps broadly agreed that mCDR pathways remain substantially underinvested given their potential to contribute to gigaton-scale, affordable CDR.
While there has been a recent uptick in public and private funding for CDR research, including mCDR, these investments still fall short of what is needed to assess mCDR's potential climate impact. Funding needs to include scientific research and the development of a new suite of ocean monitoring tools and sensors, and investment in new policies and legislation that will allow for timely testing and evaluation of mCDR techniques. Several initiatives, advanced market commitments, and prize competitions focused on CDR research play a crucial role in driving research, and complement existing government funding. Some notable examples include Frontier, Microsoft, XPRIZE, and
to Sea (CDR.fyi).
[post_title] => Overview
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Participants in the expert workshops leading to the production of this road map broadly agreed that there exists a “vicious cycle” whereby the lack of investments into mCDR pathways has prevented proof-of-concept field trials from taking place. These field trials are in turn critical to answer key questions on environmental benefits and risks, as well as technical feasibility, which in turn could enhance public confidence in further exploration of mCDR pathways. While a handful of field trials and demonstration projects are getting off the ground (mCDR Field Trial Database) it will be critical to continue and increase efforts towards investment and awareness.
Without this essential information, and/or without increasing public support, there is likely to be continued underinvestment into pilot projects.
[post_title] => “Vicious Cycle” of Low Investment/Low Awareness [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => vicious-cycle-of-low-investment-low-awareness [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-04-18 22:13:41 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-04-18 22:13:41 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 1927 [guid] => https://oceanvisions.org/roadmaps/finance-investment/critical-obstacles-and-development-needs-expanding-investment/vicious-cycle-of-low-investment-low-awareness/ [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => page [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )Public investment from governments must play a critical role in providing early-stage funding to the development and field testing of mCDR technologies, which in turn helps to “de-risk” private investment and finance of mCDR efforts. This public investment de-risking function is critical to creating the enabling conditions for building an industry and a market and has been done successfully in several fields, from healthcare to renewable energy. So far, public investment in mCDR is lacking.
A previous analysis by the Energy Futures Initiative and the Bipartisan Policy Center of US federal investments in mCDR RD&D found a total expenditure of only $44.3 million on marine pathways across 115 projects from 2005 to 2018 (Hezir et al., 2019). In 2022, the Biden administration and Congress committed $60 million to better understand the ability of oceans to remove and store carbon dioxide. While this commitment is promising, it represents only a fraction of the National Academies’ projection of at least $10 billion needed to truly understand how to better help oceans combat global climate change through CDR (Climateworks Foundation, 2023).In the US, the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is the primary source of US public support through the $50 million MARINER program designed “to develop the tools to enable the United States to become a global leader in the production of marine biomass” (but for energy, not CDR) and through $2 million in recently announced awards to support research and development on direct ocean capture (electrochemical) technologies. The ARPA-E SEA-CO2 (Systems for the Enhanced Acquisition of Carbon Dioxide from the Ocean) initiative focuses on funding research and development projects that explore novel approaches to remove carbon dioxide from seawater, aiming to address climate change by harnessing the potential of the ocean as a carbon sink through innovative technologies and processes.
In the EU, the OceanNETs (NETs: Negative Emission Technologies) project is evaluating a wide range of mCDR pathways for their theoretical, technological, economic, social, and political viability. OceanNETs is funded at € 7.19 million (~$8.75 million).
While these government funding programs are steps in the right direction, they fall well short of the recently released call for a 10-year, $1.75 billion US federal investment in mCDR research, development, and demonstration (EFI, 2020).
Philanthropic investment is also important to build an enabling environment for increasing public awareness and support of mCDR pathways (Gagern, 2021). The ClimateWorks Foundation and the Grantham Environmental Trust are two of a small number of philanthropic organizations that include mCDR in their portfolios.
[post_title] => Minimal Levels of Public Investment to Date [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => minimal-levels-of-public-investment-to-date [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-04-18 22:30:14 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-04-18 22:30:14 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 1927 [guid] => https://oceanvisions.org/roadmaps/finance-investment/critical-obstacles-and-development-needs-expanding-investment/minimal-levels-of-public-investment-to-date/ [menu_order] => 1 [post_type] => page [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )The lack of well-developed markets for carbon removal and permanent storage also affects the flow of early-stage investment into mCDR pathways specifically. While terrestrial CDR has spurred the creation of numerous certifications and over two dozen standards-developing organizations, this proliferation has not consistently resulted in high-quality CDR implementations. There is much to learn from the successes and failures of the terrestrial carbon markets and apply them to the nascent mCDR markets (Arcusa & Sprenkle-Hyppolite, 2023).
There has recently been some progress to develop carbon removal markets (e.g. Nori, Puro Earth), and there are a growing number of corporate commitments to carbon removal, alongside several high-profile CDR ‘futures’ purchases from Stripe, Shopify, and Microsoft.
However, more work is needed to keep growing the markets for CDR and to better connect the growing demand for carbon removal to the potential suppliers of carbon removal. More clarity and certainty on the demand side (scale, specifications, pricing, etc.) will give clarity to potential early-stage investors and may increase capital flow into the development of the technologies and enterprises that can ultimately deliver carbon removal at a competitive price.
As outlined in the technology-specific road maps (Electrochemical CDR, Macroalgae Cultivation & Carbon Sequestration, Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement, Microalgae Cultivation and Carbon Sequestration, and Blue Carbon Restoration and Carbon Sequestration), many of the mCDR pathways also generate co-products that can serve as important sources of revenue for carbon removal ventures. These include, but are not limited to: high-value bioproducts, bioplastics, and bioenergy from macroalgae; hydrogen, chlorine, and oxygen gases, as well as hydrochloric acid from electrochemical processes; and valuable metals refined from ocean alkalinity enhancement pathways. Unknowns about the current and projected sizes of the markets for these co-products hinder the development of more accurate business models for investors into mCDR pathways.
[post_title] => Underdeveloped Markets for Carbon Removal [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => underdeveloped-markets-for-carbon-removal [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-04-18 22:33:51 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-04-18 22:33:51 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 1927 [guid] => https://oceanvisions.org/roadmaps/finance-investment/critical-obstacles-and-development-needs-expanding-investment/underdeveloped-markets-for-carbon-removal/ [menu_order] => 2 [post_type] => page [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )There was strong agreement in the expert workshops that a shortage of capacity, skills, and knowledge in the mCDR field amongst researchers, entrepreneurs, marine managers, and key stakeholders creates obstacles to the enhanced development and testing of mCDR pathways. More effort is needed to further identify the requisite knowledge and skills set for mCDR development and to work with relevant institutions to train and develop people with the capacity needed globally,
[post_title] => Limited Expertise and Labor Force [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => limited-expertise-and-labor-force [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-04-18 22:37:09 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-04-18 22:37:09 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 1927 [guid] => https://oceanvisions.org/roadmaps/finance-investment/critical-obstacles-and-development-needs-expanding-investment/limited-expertise-and-labor-force/ [menu_order] => 3 [post_type] => page [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )Investment is needed not only in the development of mCDR technologies but also in the associated tools needed to support the field (examples of this include [C] Worthy and entities in the private sector). This includes a new suite of hardware and software products that can:
- Provide physical, chemical, and biological information at sufficient spatial and temporal density necessary to make informed carbon sequestration estimates.
- Provide remote verification of carbon sequestration and permanence.
- Provide the autonomous or remote monitoring, maintenance, and troubleshooting necessary to support large-scale offshore operations.
Advancing the investment into the development and testing of mCDR approaches will require governance structures that both enable the permitting of legitimate testing and development and ensure that the public interests are protected.
Current governance-related gaps include:
- There are no specific regimes in the US nor internationally governing mCDR.
- Uncertainty and lack of expertise/knowledge around the jurisdiction and application of relevant international governance regimes to mCDR (e.g. London Convention/London Protocol, UN Convention on Biological Diversity).
- In many countries, there are complex regulatory mazes to navigate to gain permits for in-water experimental trials, hindering the development of trials. This is particularly challenging in countries (e.g. the US) featuring overlapping jurisdictions and authorities in the coastal zone.
These and other governance and regulatory uncertainties present real challenges and risks to those working to conduct research and development on mCDR pathways and inhibit private investment.
Regimes and protocols around monitoring, reporting, and verification for mCDR also need to be strengthened to clarify the roles and responsibilities of CDR providers (sellers), buyers, and regulators.
[post_title] => Nascent and Uncertain Governance and Regulatory Regimes [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => nascent-and-uncertain-governance-and-regulatory-regimes [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-04-18 22:37:56 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-04-18 22:37:56 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 1927 [guid] => https://oceanvisions.org/roadmaps/finance-investment/critical-obstacles-and-development-needs-expanding-investment/nascent-and-uncertain-governance-and-regulatory-regimes/ [menu_order] => 5 [post_type] => page [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )Investment in mCDR will not happen at the scale needed without addressing the current situation of policy and regulatory uncertainty. It is critical to build enabling governance frameworks (a mixture of policy, regulatory structures, and public investment) that provide increasing clarity around how mCDR can move forward such as the model legislation for mCDR research by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. This must include things like clarified permitting processes, and clearly identified oversight authorities. Details on key elements of this priority can be found in the Engaging Key Audiences Road Map.
[post_title] => Develop Supportive Governance and Regulatory Regimes for RD&D [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => develop-supportive-governance-and-regulatory-regimes-for-rdd [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-04-18 22:40:12 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-04-18 22:40:12 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 1928 [guid] => https://oceanvisions.org/roadmaps/finance-investment/first-order-priorities-expanding-investment/develop-supportive-governance-and-regulatory-regimes-for-rdd/ [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => page [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )A growing carbon market will be ultimately necessary for the successful scaling of mCDR. Ensuring that mCDR pathways will be accepted into carbon markets will depend upon resolving some critical information challenges in the first instance, including:
- Scope and develop the measurement technologies, and verification tools to support creation and application of standards and protocols for each mCDR approach to provide assurances to negative emissions markets. See current work being done by [C]-Worthy on measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV).
- Develop the science needed to underpin standards for verifying carbon sequestration and permanence from various mCDR pathways. For example, Oceans2050 is already developing a methodology for quantifying natural carbon sequestration underlying macroalgae farms (Duarte et al., 2022), but additional science and research on carbon fate and transport is needed for macroalgae cultivation and sinking. See recent framework to guide research on seaweed cultivation and sinking for carbon dioxide removal.
- Lessons may be learned by looking to the more mature terrestrial carbon markets.
Corporate buyers of carbon removal (e.g., Stripe, Microsoft) can play a key role in providing support for RD&D needed to make future carbon credit purchases possible.
- Scope creation of a “Carbon Removal Buyers Alliance” to pool demand and resources to help develop ocean-based pathways for carbon removal. Such an Alliance could:
- Provide early developmental and testing funding in exchange for future CDR options
- Provide forward contracts for future purchase of CDR allowing entrepreneurs to make investments now
- Develop and coordinate the specifications needed for the private removal market (as the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance did for wind and solar). This also would build on existing investments and/or purchase of CDR (Stripe's first purchase, Stripe commits $8M, Shopify invests $5M) that have allowed for infusions of capital into entrepreneurial efforts needed to further test and develop these approaches.
Co-products generated from mCDR (e.g., Albright & Fujita, 2023) pathways need viable routes to market to provide revenues that can offset the costs of mCDR deployment. Market analyses need to be performed that evaluate the potential for:
- Existing markets to accommodate additional supply of co-products (e.g. hydrogen gas produced from electrolysis) (Understand Market Potential for Co-Products)
- New markets to grow to match the supply of new co-products with buyers
Additional human and physical resources are needed to accelerate mCDR technology RD&D. Opportunities to accelerate RD&D include:
- Building new public-private partnerships, such as between universities, national laboratories, and industry to address critical bottlenecks in the technological readiness of various mCDR pathways. (See Carbon to Sea as an example.)
- Cataloging outstanding science questions/gaps pertinent to mCDR development and working with existing funders of basic and applied science to build funding programs around for the needed science. One such option is encouraging relevant national science funding agencies (e.g., the US National Science Foundation), to open requests for proposals around key science needs.
Much higher levels of public investment are needed to move mCDR RD&D forward. This in turn requires a supportive policy environment. Supporters of mCDR must cultivate awareness and support among policymakers by:
- Developing targeted education and communication strategies for key policymakers at different levels of government to increase support for mCDR RD&D
- Engaging a diverse coalition of organizations to help educate and inform policy and appropriations for mCDR RD&D.
There are several emerging innovators and entrepreneurs working on mCDR, but they often lack access to the critical talent and expertise needed to move their innovations out of labs and into field trials and potential deployment. There are key actions that can help create a more supportive environment for these entrepreneurs.
- Facilitate related technology transfer out of academia: These road maps can be used to work with specific universities to profile needed technology development and then to help connect academics with external actors. To facilitate better tech transfer, a series of outreach materials and webinars to familiarize ocean scientists and engineers with technology transfer offices at key universities would be useful.
- Build partnerships with leading accelerators, such as Y-Combinator, the Ocean Solutions Accelerator, Creative Destruction Lab, Larta Institute, or Indie Bio to increase their focus on mCDR ventures and to access their expertise for building these ventures.
- Work with prizes and competitions, such as those hosted by The Ocean Exchange to ensure the inclusion of mCDR in prizes and competitions.
- Ensure that mCDR research and development is well represented in the myriad “ocean clusters” springing up (e.g., Alaska Ocean Cluster) to support a global Blue Economy
- Develop a publicly available database where people can track investments and projects. Ensure that this includes tracking of public investment in mCDR, and from countries besides the US and the European Union, to gain a full picture of the global landscape around mCDR.
- Develop targeted outreach and materials for investor education to build their familiarity and comfort with CDR, and mCDR specifically (something akin to the Climateworks – Economist knowledge hub for mCDR pathways). Reach out to specific associations such as TONIIC.
- Develop comparative analyses (e.g., cost-benefit) between mCDR and terrestrial-based or technology-based CDR to inform and reduce barriers to entry for CDR investors looking to support ocean-based pathways.
Expanding Finance and Investment
Increasing public, philanthropic, and private investment in R&D