Yesterday the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the next phase of its Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Prize, a landmark, $35 million program that sets up the U.S. government to be a customer for carbon dioxide removal credits for the first time. When the Department of Energy announced the Prize last fall, it emphasized the opportunity to define how high-quality carbon credits can help advance environmental priorities – including ocean-based carbon dioxide removal. 

The Purchase Prize is a complement to critical, foundational research funding in the ocean-climate space the federal government is also supporting, as part of a robust climate agenda that is rooted in emissions reductions.

The next phase announced yesterday includes twenty-four companies as semi-finalists, four of which are focused on ocean-based methods. Two of those four are Carbon to Sea grantees. Each semi-finalist will receive $50,000 to prepare detailed proposals describing materials, methods, and processes for rigorous measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) of their carbon removal processes.

“The Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Prize sends a strong signal about the U.S. government’s interest in advancing high-quality and responsible ocean-based carbon dioxide removal,” said Diane Hoskins, Global Policy Director for Carbon to Sea. “It’s encouraging to see leadership from the Department of Energy for pursuing a technology-neutral approach to carbon dioxide removal.”

The two Carbon to Sea-funded semi-finalists pursuing ocean-based carbon dioxide removal are Ebb Carbon and CREW Carbon. Last year, Carbon to Sea announced a combined $1.3 million technology grant to explore coupling Ebb’s electrochemical ocean alkalinity enhancement process with CREW’s engineered enhanced weathering technology.

From the twenty-four semi-finalists, the DOE will ultimately winnow down to 10 finalists, each of which could receive $3 million contracts to deliver a minimum of 3,000 metric tons of rigorous and high-quality carbon removal. You can learn more about the Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Pilot Prize here.