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Climate

It’s a Big Week for Carbon Removal

On the Graphyte plant’s ribbon-cutting, greenwashing, and Taylor Swift’s emissions

It’s a Big Week for Carbon Removal
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: Winter storm warnings are in effect across parts of the American Southwest • Huge waves washed jellyfish onto the streets of Havana • It’s snowy and cold in Tokyo, where Taylor Swift is kicking off the second leg of her Eras Tour.

THE TOP FIVE

1. ‘World’s largest carbon removal plant’ will soon be up and running

One to watch for this week: A Bill Gates-backed startup called Graphyte plans to begin operations at its Arkansas carbon removal plant by Friday, E&E Newsreported. The facility, which has been dubbed the “world’s largest carbon removal plant,” relies on biomass matter like sawdust and farming waste that, if left to decompose, would release a lot of carbon. Graphyte wants to stop the decomposition process by drying the waste out, shaping it into bricks, and burying the bricks underground for years and years, thus keeping the carbon from ever reaching the atmosphere.

Biomass bricks that sequester carbon. Graphyte

Last year Graphyte's CEO claimed the company's process keeps the cost of carbon removal below $100 per ton, a key benchmark for scalability. Graphyte hopes to remove 15,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by the end of 2024 and continue scaling quickly from there.

2. Republicans play ‘Opposite Day’ during LNG hearings

Americans got a good preview yesterday of the Republican Party’s fossil fuel defense strategy, reported Heatmap’s Jeva Lange. In the first of two hearings this week concerning the White House’s pause on approving new permits for facilities to export liquified natural gas, Republicans on the House Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee raised traditionally liberal talking points to undermine the Biden administration’s order. “By their topsy-turvy logic,” Lange wrote, “the administration should not pause approving new export terminals because natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel, and thus our best bet for fighting climate change — an argument that is still under considerable debate in the scientific community, and coming from these folks is especially weird.” At one point an argument broke out over the meaning of the words “pause” versus “ban.” Ranking member Diana DeGette of Colorado perhaps encapsulated the hearing best in her opening round of questioning. “I can’t help sitting here thinking that the silly season has begun,” she told her colleagues.

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  • 3. UK watchdog bans ‘zero emissions’ from EV ads

    Carmakers in the United Kingdom can no longer use the words “zero emissions” in ads to describe their electric vehicles. The U.K.’s advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), says the claim is misleading for consumers because it ignores emissions from manufacturing and charging. If carmakers want to use the term, they must find a way to explain this nuance. The precedent-setting move is part of a bigger crackdown on greenwashing – the ASA has also banned misleading ads from oil groups and airlines, the Financial Timesreported. But it comes at a time when carmakers are striving to increase their EV sales to avoid hefty fines: As of this year, fully-electric cars must make up at least 22% of new cars sales in the U.K. If a company misses that target, it will be fined £15,000 for every non-compliant vehicle. So the question is how much the words “zero emissions” really matter for sales. BMW, for example, uses the term in Google ads. But a quick look at Google Trends shows “EVs” (in red) is a far more popular search term than “zero emissions” (in blue), at least in the U.K.:

    Google searches for “EVs” (red) compared to “zero emissions” (blue) in the U.K. over one yearGoogle Trends

    As EV options flood the market, a much more reliable way to boost sales than touting emissions reductions is by introducing cutting edge smart features, like lidar sensors, according to Bloomberg. Chinese manufacturers “are deploying lidars in order to provide features that can help differentiate their offerings from competitors.”

    4. EU power-sector emissions drop as renewables take over

    The European Union’s power sector is undergoing a “monumental shift” away from fossil fuels before our eyes, according to a new report from energy think-tank Ember. In 2023, wind power generation in the bloc surpassed that of gas plants for the first time. Compared to 2022, fossil fuel power generation fell by almost 20% overall, with electricity from coal plants plummeting by 26% and gas down 15%. Greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector fell by 19% as a result, more than the huge reduction seen during the pandemic. Ember added that the EU’s power-sector emissions are now almost half their 2007 peak levels. “Fossil fuels are playing a smaller role than ever as a system with wind and solar as its backbone comes into view,” said Sarah Brown, Ember’s Europe program director.

    Ember

    5. Taylor Swift threatens legal action against man tracking her private jet emissions

    Taylor Swift threatened to sue a 21-year-old college student that has been tracking her private jet activity and the resulting emissions, The Washington Post reported. Jack Sweeney uses publicly available FAA data to monitor celebrities’ flying habits and then posts about it on social media. Private jet use has been criticized by climate advocates – by one estimate, a private jet passenger emits 10 to 20 times as much carbon pollution as a commercial airline passenger. A 2022 analysis identified the globe-trotting Swift as the biggest offender among celebrities, but she insists her plane is often loaned out. Her attorneys say Sweeney’s posts have caused her to fear for her personal safety.

    THE KICKER

    More than 7,000 yogis have backed a petition calling for Lululemon to convert its supply chain to 100% renewable energy.

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    Spotlight

    New York’s Battery Backlash Catches Fire

    Did a battery plant disaster in California spark a PR crisis on the East Coast?

    battery
    Heatmap Illustration

    Battery fire fears are fomenting a storage backlash in New York City – and it risks turning into fresh PR hell for the industry.

    Aggrieved neighbors, anti-BESS activists, and Republican politicians are galvanizing more opposition to battery storage in pockets of the five boroughs where development is actually happening, capturing rapt attention from other residents as well as members of the media. In Staten Island, a petition against a NineDot Energy battery project has received more than 1,300 signatures in a little over two months. Two weeks ago, advocates – backed by representatives of local politicians including Rep. Nicole Mallitokis – swarmed a public meeting on the project, getting a local community board to vote unanimously against the project.

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    Bad News for Agrivoltaics in Ohio

    And more of the week’s top conflicts around renewable energy.

    Map of renewable energy conflicts.
    Heatmap Illustration

    1. Queen Anne’s County, Maryland – They really don’t want you to sign a solar lease out in the rural parts of this otherwise very pro-renewables state.

    • County officials this week issued a public notice encouraging all residents to consider the economic impacts of taking farmland out of use to build solar farms.
    • “The Queen Anne’s County Commissioners are concerned that large-scale conversion of farmland to solar energy facilities may impact the long-term viability of agriculture in the county and surrounding region,” read the notice, which told anyone approached by a solar company about their land to immediately consult an attorney and think about these “key considerations.”
    • “As more farmland is transitioned to solar use, the demand for these agricultural support services diminishes. If enough land is taken out of production, it could create serious challenges for those who wish to continue farming.”
    • It’s not immediately clear whether this was related to a specific project or an overall rise in renewables development that’s happening in the county. But there’s a clear trend going on. Officials said in an accompanying press release that officials in neighboring Caroline County sent a similar notice to property owners. And it seems Worcester County did something similar last month.

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    Policy Watch

    This Week in Trumpian Climate Chaos

    On the week’s top news around renewable energy policy.

    Musk and Trump in the Oval Office.
    Getty Images/Heatmap Illustration

    1. IRA funding freeze update – Money is starting to get out the door, finally: the EPA unfroze most of its climate grant funding it had paused after Trump entered office.

    2. Scalpel vs. sledgehammer – House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled Republicans in Congress may take a broader approach to repealing the Inflation Reduction Act than previously expected in tax talks.

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