The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) hosted its second annual Carbon Management Day webinar on December 1 (12.01). With more than 1,000 attendees, the webinar brought leading innovators, advocates, and stakeholders together to recognize the progress and advancements made in the carbon management industry to date and the work that still needs to be done.
Thank you to everyone who joined the Carbon Management Day celebration, and in case you missed it, a recap is included below. A recording and the presentation for the webinar is available on FECM’s website.
ROBUST FEDERAL POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR CARBON MANAGEMENT
Brad Crabtree, Assistant Secretary, FECM, kicked off the Carbon Management Day webinar by welcoming attendees and noting the significant role carbon management will have in helping the nation achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
He explained that recently passed U.S. legislation, including the $62 billion made available in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, along with the critical updates to the 45Q tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act, represent the most significant U.S. climate legislation to date.
“Thanks to provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed last year, and the Inflation Reduction Act signed in August, we have transformed our potential and capacity for climate action,” said Mr. Crabtree. “And, equally important, we have transformed our capacity to support domestic energy security, industrial production and manufacturing; retain and create high wage jobs; and provide economic and environmental benefits to communities across our nation—all while we decarbonize our economy.”
Watch Mr. Crabtree’s segment: Beginning–10:54
CARBON MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW
Dr. Jennifer Wilcox, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, FECM, took a closer look into FECM’s accomplishments since the first-ever Carbon Management Day webinar last year. She also highlighted the amount of carbon management-related funding FECM has made available since January 2021—approximately $3.3 billion in total funding opportunities and $346 million in project selections—and made an announcement regarding two new requests for information that were released on December 1.
“We have two new requests for information, or RFIs, that were released today. One RFI is the implementation of Future Growth Grants under the Carbon Dioxide Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation, or CIFIA, program. Another is the development of field laboratories at carbon storage facilities through the Carbon Storage Technology Operations and Research, or CarbonSTORE, initiative,” said Dr. Wilcox. “Please take a look, and we encourage you to share feedback if these RFIs fall within your areas of expertise.”
Additional topics Dr. Wilcox covered included the release of FECM’s Strategic Vision; the Carbon Negative Shot initiative; new FECM resources, such as the Solicitations and Business Opportunities webpage and Carbon Matchmaker Tool; and FECM’s recently updated Jobs and Internships webpage.
Watch Dr. Wilcox’s segment: 10:54–14:23
DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Dr. Holly Buck and Matt Antes, Management and Program Analysts in the Office of Carbon Management, addressed FECM’s efforts related to domestic and international stakeholder engagement on the carbon management front.
DOMESTIC STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Dr. Buck began by detailing FECM’s implementation of Societal Considerations and Impact Plans into funding opportunity announcements, a piloted Community Carbon Interactive Workshop Series, along with a new Domestic Engagement Framework released on December 1.
She explained that within this new framework, FECM developed a vision for successful engagement with guiding principles, such as two-way engagement and community-based knowledge.
“As well as thinking about how companies can engage, we are thinking more broadly about our own role here in FECM. We developed an engagement framework to guide activities in this space and encourage a broader community of practice,” said Dr. Buck. “It’s a high-level framework that sets our vision for stakeholder, community, and tribal engagement, what our strategic focus areas are, and our guiding principles. These principles are simple yet powerful.”
Watch Dr. Buck’s segment: 14:23–22:00
INTERNATIONAL STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Mr. Antes continued the conversation and explained that scaling up carbon management technologies and approaches is a global challenge that requires global action.
He shared a sample of FECM’s recent international collaboration efforts, which include the Africa Center of Excellence for Carbon Management Technology and Innovation; Collaboration Agreement: Decarbonizing Cement with Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage; and Carbon Dioxide Removal Launchpad—which was announced two weeks ago at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP27, by the Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm and partner countries.
“The Carbon Dioxide Removal Launchpad is a coalition spearheaded by FECM and six countries, and counting, who have each committed to build a demonstration-scale carbon dioxide removal project by 2025, share learnings from these demonstrations, and invest cumulatively at least $100 million in carbon dioxide removal projects,” explained Mr. Antes. “This launchpad effort exemplifies the importance of collaborating internationally and for getting those first few carbon removal projects built.”
Watch Mr. Antes’ segment: 22:00–29:27
FIRESIDE CHAT WITH FECM PROJECT AWARDEES
Mark Ackiewicz, Director for the Office of Carbon Management Technologies, led a fireside chat alongside Dr. Raghubir Gupta President and Co-founder, Susteon and John Northington, Director, National Carbon Capture Center.
They engaged in a dialogue regarding their respective companies and industry research and development efforts, and they provided advice for those interested in breaking into the carbon management sector.
Watch the fireside chat segment: 29:27–56:12
Q&A CLOSING REMARKS
Following an in-depth question and answer (Q&A) session, Mr. Crabtree thanked everyone who joined and concluded FECM’s second annual Carbon Management Day webinar.
“I hope this session has highlighted what we feel is an extraordinary opportunity that we now have before us because of this robust framework of federal funding and incentives for carbon management, both technology and infrastructure,” said Mr. Crabtree. “I look forward to our third annual Carbon Management Day in 2023, and hope a year from now, we will be able to look back and point to even greater examples of progress we are making.”
Watch the Q&A segment: 56:12 –1:23:40 and the closing remarks segment: 1:23:40–Close
We hope you enjoyed the recap of the Carbon Management Day webinar hosted on 12.01. For more information on FECM’s carbon management efforts, and to keep up to date with future events, visit our website and sign up for news alerts.