Carbon180's vision is to eliminate legacy carbon emissions and create a livable climate where current and future generations can thrive. They work across three primary carbon removal pathways—land, ocean, and technology—partnering with policymakers, scientists, communities, and entrepreneurs to ensure carbon removal scales quickly, effectively, and equitably.

1. How does Carbon180 contribute to removing carbon from the atmosphere?

Carbon180 doesn’t build or operate carbon removal projects themselves. Their role is to create the policy conditions that allow the field to scale. That means working with Congress to secure funding, informing legislative language, and working directly with local communities on how programs should be designed and implemented so carbon removal projects can benefit everyone. Carbon180 has been directly involved in efforts that have brought billions of federal dollars into carbon removal, including the $3.5 billion Regional DAC Hubs program.

Carbon180 also put in significant effort in translating complex science into practical guidance for decision-makers. And they work closely with communities, particularly those that have historically borne the brunt of environmental harm, to ensure their priorities shape how carbon removal develops.

2. What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in carbon removal? 

The scientific case for carbon removal has never been stronger. However, that hasn't translated into political urgency. The reality is that the value proposition for carbon removal has to extend beyond climate. The value conversation has to consider more than climate, such as the benefits provided to local communities and the economic opportunity it brings.

It is a critical moment for the industry itself. Without commercial-scale projects large enough for traditional lenders to finance, companies get stuck in a venture capital and innovation phase when they need to make the leap to scale. The question isn't which approach is cheapest right now, but the question of which ones can achieve cost reductions over time.

3. Who are the key stakeholders in the carbon removal space?

The most important stakeholders are the people carbon removal is meant to serve. It includes frontline communities that already bear the greatest burden of climate impacts and pollution, and who have historically been excluded from decisions about projects in their backyards. Farmers and ranchers can benefit from soil carbon practices that improve land health and productivity. Coastal communities depend on healthy oceans for their livelihoods. Workers in transitioning industries need pathways to quality jobs. If carbon removal is going to succeed, it has to deliver tangible benefits to these groups, not just to investors and technology developers.

On the implementation side, federal agencies like the Department of Energy, USDA, and EPA set policies, allocate funding, and regulate projects. Congress determines the legislative framework and funding levels. In the current environment, state governments are increasingly more active with their own programs. Technology developers and startups are building the projects. And environmental justice organizations and Tribal nations play a huge role in ensuring deployment happens responsibly, with community voices shaping how and whether projects move forward.

4. Who else is doing work like this in the field?

The carbon removal space has expanded in recent years. Organizations such as the Carbon Removal Alliance and Carbon Removal Canada have emerged as dedicated field-builders. Research institutions and national labs continue to advance the science. Groups such as the Clean Air Task Force engage on carbon management policy more broadly.

On the private sector side, technology developers such as Climeworks, Heirloom, and Charm are deploying projects. What distinguishes Carbon180 is the nearly decade-long track record as one of the original organizations focused solely on carbon removal, combined with a deep commitment to centering environmental justice in policy design and subject matter expertise.

5. What happens to the carbon when removed?

   • Is there a market for it?

   • How is it stored/managed?

Once CO2 is captured from the atmosphere, there are options for utilization and storage. Carbon utilization involves putting captured CO2 to work in products such as building materials like concrete, synthetic fuels, plastics, chemicals, and other specialty applications. Market prices for CO2 range from roughly $44 to over $600 per ton.

Geologic storage involves compressing CO2 and injecting it into deep underground rock formations, where it remains locked away for tens of thousands of years. The United States has substantial storage capacity, and the techniques build on decades of experience from the oil and gas sector. When properly sited and monitored, geologic storage is considered low-risk and highly durable.

6. How are you encouraging stakeholder to measure carbon removal?

   • How are you encouraging verification?

Building credibility in carbon removal hinges on the ability to measure it reliably. The Carbon180 team has led the development of high-accountability measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) principles that underpin trust in carbon removal outcomes. We've also conducted foundational research into nascent carbon removal pathways, including ocean-based and biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS), to expand the field's understanding and potential.

Different removal pathways present different measurement challenges. Verifying that CO2 remains safely stored underground for decades is a distinct problem from tracking changes in soil carbon on agricultural land, where natural variability complicates the picture. Across all approaches, Carbon180 pushes for independent verification rather than relying solely on developers to assess their own projects. In a Carbon180 view, the field can only build trust if there's a shared system of oversight.

7. How do groups like the New Carbon Economy Consortium allow you to further your progress? 

   
   
   
   

The Carbon180 Executive Director, Erin Burns, serves in a leadership role within the consortium, and co-founder Giana Amador was among the authors of the NCEC's foundational 2018 report, "Building a New Carbon Economy: An Innovation Plan." That early collaboration helped shape the research agenda for the field, identifying promising pathways across engineered solutions like direct air capture, biological approaches like improved forestry and agricultural practices, and hybrid strategies like bioenergy with carbon capture.Coalitions like NCEC allow us to extend Carbon180 to reach beyond what any single organization could accomplish alone. The consortium convenes researchers across institutions to identify knowledge gaps and develop pathways toward deployment. NCEC's vision of an economy that stores more carbon than it emits aligns closely with the Carbon180 mission to scale carbon removal in ways that benefit communities and create economic opportunity.

8. How do you work with local communities?

Community engagement is foundational to how Carbon180 thinks about carbon removal. They operate regranting programs that provide direct funding to local environmental justice organizations, giving them the resources and technical support to build their own understanding of carbon removal and determine whether it aligns with their priorities. The approach does not ask communities to become advocates for carbon removal, but instead gives them the tools to make informed decisions regarding carbon removal frameworks that work best for them.

A good example is the Carbon180 Making Waves Coastal Community Regranting Initiative, launched to ensure marine carbon removal prioritizes community voices, traditional knowledge systems, and environmental justice from the start. In Alaska, the Community Leaders and mCDR (CLaM) Project brings together commercial fishermen, Indigenous organizations like the Native Village of Eyak and Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak, and marine scientists from across the Gulf of Alaska. In Hawai'i, ʻĀina Momona is conducting statewide engagement rooted in Native Hawaiian stewardship practices, while in Puerto Rico, ISER Caribe is piloting mangrove restoration integrated with community education on blue carbon. What is learned from these partnerships directly informs Carbon180 policy advocacy.