On 14 April, AGU joined various other environmental groups to send a letter to Congress asking for strong funding for marine carbon dioxide removal technologies (mCDR) at NOAA. 

 

As work begins on the Fiscal Year 2027 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies bill, we urge you to include robust funding for research, development, and demonstration of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) technologies within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Advancing support for mCDR will ensure that the United States remains a leader in this emerging
technology market.

Globally, the CDR market is already a $3.4 billion industry that is expected to grow to $25 billion by 2029. The United States has been an early leader in CDR research, development, and deployment, claiming nearly half of the global market to date. Ocean-based or marine CDR (mCDR) is an emerging space within this rapidly expanding market, projected to be a nearly $2.5 billion industry in its own right
by 2032. Since the ocean covers 70% of the Earth’s surface and is the largest carbon reservoir on the planet, it provides substantial capacity for scaling effective CDR. The United States has established itself as a global leader in mCDR largely thanks to federal support, which has catalyzed significant momentum in the private sector to advance innovative approaches to capture ocean carbon while creating high-quality jobs, expanding resiliency, and unlocking new economic and environmental benefits for Americans in coastal regions. However, as an industry, mCDR is in its infancy, and many outstanding R&D questions remain. Further work is needed to understand and verify the safety, scalability, and durability of mCDR as an industry, along with its associated economic, environmental, and societal impacts. Increased federal funding is needed to support robust research, development, and deployment of safe and effective mCDR
technologies, the tools needed to answer these questions, and the governance frameworks needed to support them.

The organizations and companies listed appreciate the Senate Appropriations Committee’s commitment to supporting mCDR research. We write to encourage Congress to further advance the domestic mCDR industry by enabling a better understanding of the efficacy and impacts of these approaches. Accordingly, we respectfully request that the Committee include the following report language in the upcoming FY27 appropriations bill:

The Department of Commerce
Not less than $25,000,000 to support research, development, and demonstration of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) approaches and develop technology and models that will support national development of diverse mCDR approaches.

● The Committee provides not less than $25,000,000 to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for research, development, and demonstration, including field trials of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) approaches. The Administration is encouraged to collaborate with relevant agencies when carrying out this work. The Committee supports research to better understand mCDR efficacy, including measurability, durability, magnitude, and additionality; environmental and ecosystem responses to mCDR; social and economic impacts and co-benefits of mCDR; development of best practices for measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification; adoption of a code of conduct for federally-funded research; development of recommendations for which mCDR approaches may be safe and effective for larger-scale deployment; and transparent sharing of data from federally-funded research efforts. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is directed to collaborate with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Energy, and any other relevant agencies when carrying out this work.

 

These funding needs are well supported and justified by experts across industry, academia, and policy, including the National Academies of Science’s report, A Research Strategy for Ocean-based Carbon Dioxide Removal and Sequestration, Energy Futures Initiative’s Uncharted Waters report, and an open letter calling for the need to advance mCDR signed by over 400 scientists. Investments in these areas could pay dividends in driving the future of the carbon removal industry across America. 

 

Read the full letter and signatories here.