Carbon Capture Coalition Statement on DOE Announcement of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Purchase Pilot Prize

The following statement may be attributed to Jessie Stolark, Executive Director for the Carbon Capture Coalition:   

“Today, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced the Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Purchase Pilot Prize that will award $35 million for companies to directly sell CDR credits to the United States government. For the first time ever, this new initiative will enable the federal procurement of CDR credits. Removing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere is critical to offset emissions in those sectors with challenging-to-abate emissions and post-2050, reducing the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere. The CDR Purchase Pilot Prize will provide the cash award in the form of offtake agreements from the federal government across four removal pathways—direct air capture with storage, biomass with carbon removal and storage, enhanced weathering and mineralization, as well as planned or managed carbon sinks.” 

“This program provides unique, first-of-kind support from the government to purchase CDR credits, a policy supported by the Carbon Capture Coalition and included in the Coalition’s 2023 Federal Policy Blueprint. While offtake agreements from the private sector have been a growing source of market incentives for CDR technologies and pathways, the new program will provide additional demand signals for project developers across DAC and other removal pathways to establish standards and monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) protocols while allowing supply chains to scale.” 

“Combined with the recent DAC Hubs announcement   as well as other programs at DOE that have bipartisan support from Congress, including expanded research, development and deployment funding for direct air capture (DAC) technologies, the DAC Hubs, and DAC Prizes to support DAC technology development, the future for DAC deployment looks bright.”  

“The buildout of the DAC industry will support domestic manufacturing, provide family sustaining, high-wage jobs and contribute to meeting net-zero emissions. The Coalition looks forward to continuing to work with lawmakers, the administration, and stakeholders to continue to help scale this industry to meet midcentury climate goals” 

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The Carbon Capture Coalition is a nonpartisan collaboration of more than 100 companies, unions, conservation and environmental policy organizations, building federal policy support to enable economywide, commercial scale deployment of carbon management technologies. This includes carbon capture, removal, transport, reuse, and storage from industrial facilities, power plants, and ambient air. Members of the Coalition work together to advocate for the full portfolio of policies required to commercialize a domestic carbon management sector and inform policymakers as well as stakeholders on the essential role this suite of technologies must play in achieving these shared objectives.