The global energy transition needs more than just replacing fossil fuels with renewables. It requires a deliberate, systems-level reimagining of the entire process: how carbon is sourced, managed, utilised, and stored. Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a leading independent nonprofit founded in 1982, is building that architecture and blueprint. Through its Applied Innovation Roadmap for Carbon Dioxide Removal, its work on the new carbon economy, and its global engagement across heavy industry sectors, RMI is fashioning the strategic and technical foundations needed to reach net-zero and beyond. The NCEC spoke with Tessa Weiss, Manager in RMI’s Climate-Aligned Industries Programme, to explore how this vision translates from form into practice.

The NGO called RMI

Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) is a global, non-partisan, non-profit clean energy organization that is employing over 300 professionals across more than 50 countries, with continental operations spanning the United States, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, China, and India. From its birth in 1982, RMI’s theory of change follows a clear progression: think, do, and scale.

RMI is predominately philanthropically funded. As Tessa stated:

“RMI is an independendent non-profit working to accelerate the clean energy transition globally. We do not have financial stake in the outcomes, but rather we look to maximize the impact of our work in driving decarbonization at scale.”

RMI’s Approach to Carbon Removal

RMI’s approach is dual-pronged: maximize opportunities for direct emissions mitigation across every major energy sector and pair with Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) to manage residual emissions. In Weiss’s own words:

“In our theory of change, RMI empahsizes energy efficiency, direct emissions reduction, then carbon management to address what can’t be reduced. CDR emerges as an important solution to managing residual atomospheric emissions from histoc emissions and from sectors in our economy that may continually rely on fossil fuels and must manage ongoing CO2 emissions.”

This dual mandate is formalised in RMI’s Applied Innovation Roadmap for Carbon Dioxide Removal (AIR), a wholistic and comprehensive independent assessment of 32 CDR approaches, evaluated across four dimensions: scalability, secure storage, measurement, and cost. The AIR guides policymakers, funders, and technology developers in coordinating non-duplicative investment toward the IPCC-identified need for 7 to 9 gigatons of atmospheric CO₂ removal annually by 2050.

What is the New Carbon Economy?

RMI’s work rests on a unified vision for the new carbon economy, an economic system that transforms CO₂ from a waste product into a valuable raw material, while attaining a net-negative emissions footprint. This vision merges five activities that must work in concert:

·       Point Source Carbon Capture (CCS): capturing CO₂ from power plants, cement, and industrial facilities

·       Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR): drawing CO₂ from the atmosphere through Direct Air Capture, Enhanced Rock Weathering, and BECCS

·       Carbon Utilisation (CCU): using captured CO₂ as a feedstock for low-emissions fuels, chemicals, and building materials

·       Carbon Storage: sequestering CO₂ in deep geological formations such as saline aquifers and depleted oil and gas reservoir systems

·       Carbon Transportation: moving carbon via pipelines, ships, and vehicles. The U.S. DOE estimates 30,000 to 96,000 miles of CO₂ pipelines will be needed in the U.S. alone by 2050, compared with 5,300 miles currently in operation

Weiss identified the critical coordination gap underpinning all five:

“There is a need for a unified vision around how we deploy carbon capture, storage, and utilization as a necessary part of sector transition strategies. There is a gap in holistic strategy and coordination around each part of this ecosystem.”

The Role of Clean Hydrogen in Hard-to-Abate Sectors

Clean hydrogen occupies a centre position within RMI’s industrial decarbonisation strategy. For sectors where complete electrification is not viable, including cement, aviation, shipping, steel, and chemicals, RMI takes a systems view to determine when to rely on renewable electricity, when to deploy hydrogen-derived fuels, and when carbon management approaches are the necessary complement. Tessa highlighted this with steelmaking:

“We see that the ability to transition from our blast furnace fleet today to using a process that uses green hydrogen and a direct reduction of iron process is something that can lead to deep decarbonization of the steelmaking process. And maybe that’s a better long-term climate-aligned outcome than deploying CCS on existing blast furnaces given the potential for more significant emissions reducitons.”

Carbon that is captured from industrial processes or directly from the atmosphere can also serve as a commodity feedstock for the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), e-methanol and green shipping fuels, and other low-emissions synthetic materials, creating what Tessa called a “circularity of process.”

Key Challenges of Carbon Dioxide Removal CDR

Tessa identified four interconnected barriers to scaling the new carbon economy responsibly:

·       Public trust and governance: Building broad public understanding of why carbon management is necessary and how it delivers co-benefits including jobs, cleaner air, and economic growth.

·       Measurement, verification, and integrity: RMI’s June 2026 collaboration with the American Forest Foundation and Beyond Alliance introduced the contracted durability framework, a new legal and financial mechanism to manage CDR reversal risk and restore confidence in carbon markets.

·       Cost and financial responsibility: Carbon management solutions carry a cost premium, raising unresolved questions about how costs are allocated across governments, industry, and consumers.

·       A misaligned civil society ecosystem: Tessa describes this as the most urgent systemic risk:

“There is a lack of a coordinated and engaged voice from a lot of the entities in society that can really start to be the effective messengers. We see that misalignment and ongoing debate on the role carbon management should play in a low emissions creates a gap in strategic shaping deployments where they are needed.”

RMI’s Community Engagement and Global Ambition

RMI operates as a strategic advisor, not a project developer. It convenes the full value chain of stakeholders to build shared outcomes, including local teams in Caribbean island communities focused on energy affordability and resilience, and active work in Kenya on localised synthetic fertiliser production. Tessa described RMI’s model exactly:

"We are not a project developer. We’re an NGO providing advisory and system shaping of energy transition. We aim to bring local perspective and concerns into how the energy transition should develop through talking with local communities and taking into account local perspectives of what the challenges and opportunities are within those regions."

While RMI’s new carbon economy vision is currently U.S. focused, Tessa is insistent that critical dimensions, including measurement and verification standards and global biomass allocation, require international coordination. RMI is convening experts through its New Carbon Economy and Roundtable Forums to build this unified global framework highly needed in such a time as this.

The Value of the New Carbon Economy Consortium

“I think what is really valuable about groups like the New Carbon Economy Consortium is we really do see that coordination and collaboration and sharing is essential to driving progress. These problems don’t exist in silos. They’re fundamentally a systems-level challenge that requires coordination and that requires partnership.”

RMI welcomes collaboration with NGOs, academic institutions, governments, and private companies. Organisations wishing to engage with RMI’s new carbon economy work may reach out to via their Website and or LinkedIn

Why This Matters

The IPCC has identified the need to remove 13 gigatons of CO₂ from the atmosphere annually by 2050, a target that emissions reductions alone cannot meet. RMI’s work is unique in its breadth: connecting the hard science of CDR with the commercial realities of hard-to-abate sectors, the policy architecture needed to govern carbon markets, and the community-level engagement required to build social licence at scale. With over 300 staff active across four (04) continents, and a growing portfolio anchored by the AIR roadmap and the contracted durability framework, RMI stands as one of the most consequential strategic partners that is available to the NCEC as it moves toward the 2026 Annual Meeting in Istanbul and beyond.

About Tessa Weiss and RMI

Tessa Weiss is a Manager in RMI’s Climate-Aligned Industries Programme. She previously worked at nuclear startup Oklo and climate advocacy nonprofit ClimateVoice. Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) is an independent nonprofit founded in 1982, active in over 50 countries. For current updates about RMI, please follow: LinkedIn