A Guide for Newcomers to the CDR Industry
Yes, there is an acronym in the title. My first piece of advice for navigating the Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) industry — prepare yourself to encounter many, many acronyms. Learn to love them.
This guide is a starting point for anyone interested in exploring the potential of a career in the CDR industry or related climate mitigation industries. Actually, let’s use the latest acronym and call it the Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR) industry, so we don’t leave out other greenhouse gases like methane, nitrous oxide, etc.
There are many other great resources for learning the fundamentals about GGR science, methods, standards, economics, etc. I provide a few fundamental links for learning resources at the bottom, but this guide is not really meant for that. This guide is intended to give an overview of what organizations are part of the GGR industry — and resources to find jobs at those organizations. It also provides links to resources that will plug you into the real-time pulse of the industry through active communities, media, and newsletters.
The resources in this guide can, of course, also be used by anyone currently in the industry who may not already be signed up to every newsletter and job board. Side note: even when not looking for a new role, watching the job boards can provide excellent information about the direction of organizations in the industry.
This guide is not comprehensive. Nevertheless, it can provide plenty (too much?) of information to get started. Given the industry is always rapidly evolving, I expect this guide will never be 100% comprehensive, but it can be updated as needed. So, if you have any suggestions or additions for this guide, please email me at rickberg.climate@gmail.com.
The GGR Industry Directory
This spreadsheet lists many of the current GGR organizations and can give you a good sense of the industry layout. Notably, it does not include most GGR-related research & academic organizations, government agencies, marketplaces, standards organizations, auditors, biochar companies, or forestry companies. Maybe we’ll add those in the future. If anyone has lists of those, please send them in!
Link to Google Sheet: The GGR Industry Directory
Note: I’ve added rough descriptions for many of the organizations based on a (sometimes superficial) reading of what they do, which may or may not be perfectly accurate or up to date — DYOR.
Another known absence here—about 70 more DAC companies (there are A LOT of DAC companies, largely due to the 45Q tax credit in the US). For a more comprehensive list of those, see the MegaDAC Database.
For another view of the industry landscape, Puro regularly releases a nicely organized “map” graphic, which you can find here.
Job Boards
Besides these resources below, LinkedIn is highly recommended for finding job postings, where you can easily set up a keyword search with notifications to your email.
Groups and Communities
Consider joining or following these GGR communities to keep track of (and participate) in the ongoing community conversations.
AirMiners (join their Slack community)
OpenAir Collective (join their Discord)
Podcasts
Good listening for your drive to work or on that 30-minute midweek run.
Webinar Series
Like a podcast, but everyone has to wear nice shirts, and sometimes there’s a slide deck.
Newsletters
Besides these newsletters listed below, many of the organizations listed in the Industry Directory will have newsletters you can subscribe to if you’re particularly interested in what they are doing.
Deeper GGR Learning Resources
These are excellent starting points to learn about the science, economics, and policy behind the GGR industry. If you get through these, you’ll have a solid understanding of GGR and won’t need a guide anymore to point you to material.
Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda (National Academies)
Grant Faber’s huge compilation of Climate Tech Bookmarks (pages 21 and 42 may be most relevant to check out first)
Thank You
Thank you to the following people who have improved this guide with their suggestions and additions:
Thanks for using "GGR", Rick! The vast majority of people have never really heard of the idea of actually cleaning up climate pollution. So as long as we are educating people about a whole new concept, we might as well help them understand that there are multiple gases that can be removed. Also, using "GGR" more clearly differentiates carbon removal from CCS, which is important. Lastly, "Greenhouse Gas" is a term people have been hearing for decades so it is perceived by some as being less wonky than "carbon dioxide".