The scope and scale of the climate solution is beyond any one group, government or company. Every year 50 gigatons of CO^2 is dumped into the atmosphere. The warming effect means trillions of dollars of economic damage and potentially millions of lives displaced or lost. Our economic system and livelihoods are intertwined with this problem and are thus linked to any solutions we seek. The time, scope and scale of the problem puts into the “wicked problems” category. As such we need as many talented people and organizations honestly looking at all possible solutions and approaches which may offer solutions.
Problem: scale/scope
Nature is not enough. We need many solutions all working together to help solve climate change.
Economic Solutions: Carbon Markets
Most new technologies are too expensive and in-efficient when they emerge from the labs. Wright’s law provides a predictive model for how new technology gets cheaper at scale.
The solutions to the climate crisis and the actors involved mean economics are at play. Carbon markets are considered one of the most efficient and effective ways to implement solutions to climate change. Research indicates that carbon credits and international markets allowing for their trade could save USD $250 billion on the path to reducing carbon emissions while at the same time accelerating technical innovations and related economic growth activity.
Technology solutions & economic understanding to predict the future
Technology and investments into technology require understanding the nature of technology.
Like science, technology is an evolving ever changing process. The good news is that the future of technology is kind of predictable. Yes, you read that right. Applied science in the form of technology across sectors has been shown to follow very predictable patterns over time. This insight is profound. It means that investing in technical climate change solutions can be planned. Short term subsidies and investments into basic research, applied research and commercial scale can be made that ultimately lead to cheaper solutions that are economically self-sustaining. Solar and Wind energy technological and economic development arcs are great examples of this.
At CFL we are applying these insights into new climate solutions like Direct Air Capture technology and investment.
Technology for decarbonizing the world
Direct Air Capture technology pulls Carbon Dioxide right out of the air.
Technology and investments into technology require understanding the nature of technology. Like science, technology is an evolving ever changing process. The good news is that the future of technology is kind of predictable. Yes, you read that right. Applied science in the form of technology across sectors has been shown to follow very predictable patterns over time. This insight is profound. It means that investing in technical climate change solutions can be planned. Short term subsidies and investments into basic research, applied research and commercial scale can be made that ultimately lead to cheaper solutions that are economically self-sustaining. Solar and Wind energy technological and economic development arcs are great examples of this.
At CFL we are applying these insights into new climate solutions like Direct Air Capture technology and investment.
Geologic carbon sequestration
Locking carbon underground is a multi-billion dollar services market opportunity that could mitigate climate change many times over.
After capturing carbon we have to do something with it. Sequestration means burying the carbon dioxide in liquid form deep underground into stable aquifers. Our funding firm Occidental Petroleum has over 40 years of experience safely harvesting hundreds of millions of tons of naturally occuring underground CO^2 and then burying it for EOR (Enhanced oil recovery). Occidental is now applying the knowledge and skills of handling and sequestering Carbon Dioxide to helping solve climate change by burying carbon captured directly from the air. Fun fact, the planet has enough stable underground storage to restore the climate to 300 ppm CO^2, atmospheric carbon levels last seen in 1850.