Last week, Reps. Annie Kuster (D-NH) and Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) introduced the REMOVE Act, a bipartisan bill that aims to coordinate federal efforts on carbon removal with the creation of an expert Committee on Large-Scale Carbon Management. An expansion and reimagination of a similar bill introduced in 2020, the REMOVE Act would support a whole-of-government approach to carbon removal RD&D, a crucial step in coordinating myriad programs, data, and knowledge on CDR. With the inclusion of community-level research and data dissemination, the REMOVE Act would augment efforts to assess how carbon removal projects would impact communities and improve opportunities for community consultation. The Act also makes a unique and integrated effort to assess, scale, and evaluate the merits and tradeoffs of a complete portfolio of carbon removal solutions, from soil carbon sequestration to direct air capture.
Coordinating federal efforts to scale carbon removal has never been more necessary — just last year, DOE unveiled its Carbon Negative Shot, $3.5 billion was dedicated to the DAC Hubs program, and USDA invested $10M in soil carbon monitoring (and those are just a few highlights).
With this momentum showing no signs of slowing, the REMOVE Act offers the coordination we need to enhance the efficacy of federal RD&D. From carbon accounting to data collection to federal spending, the Committee is set to address many of the challenges that come with large, cross-government efforts and support carbon removal in reaching gigaton scale.
Edited by Dana Jacobs.
