Kickstarting a $1 trillion market for carbon removal

Catalyst with Shayle Kann

Stripe, a fintech startup worth $100 billion, is trying to kick-start a $1 trillion market for carbon removal. The company is being extremely transparent about its processes, which means we get a window into the exciting, messy, often very experimental world of removing gigatons of CO2 emissions from the atmosphere.

Traditionally, carbon removal has involved planting lots of trees. There have also been a select few companies toiling away at expensive-but-promising direct-air capture.

But it turns out there are many ways to remove CO2. The earth already has a massive carbon cycle — plants, rocks, oceans and soil are already part of it. So there are many candidates for tapping electrochemistry and synthetic biology to accelerate natural processes.

It’s still a small market — and one that needs to grow massively over the coming decades. So how do we build it?

Shayle addresses that question with Nan Ransohoff, Stripe’s head of climate. Shayle and Nan break down lessons from Stripe’s first two carbon-removal portfolios.

They discuss whether carbon removal will become a commodity market. They also cover learning curves, the sources of demand and the parallels between carbon removal and vaccine development.

And Shayle asks: What does a winner look like? Will a single technology dominate?

Catalyst is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.

Catalyst is supported by Atmos Financial. Atmos offers FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts that only invest in climate-positive assets like renewables, green construction and regenerative agriculture. Modern banking for climate-conscious people. Get an account in minutes at joinatmos.com.