DOE issued a notice of intent (NOI) to launch a Voluntary Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchasing Challenge. The Challenge will call on external organizations to join DOE in purchasing high-quality carbon dioxide removal credits, following the Department’s recent commitment to procure $35M through the Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Pilot Prize. The Challenge’s innovative public-private partnership structure aims to catalyze carbon dioxide removal credit purchases and improve transparency of the carbon dioxide removal credit supply. This effort supports the Biden-Harris Administration’s climate goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, as well as the goals of DOE’s Carbon Negative Shot, which aims to reduce the cost of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to less than $100 per net metric ton of carbon dioxide-equivalent by 2032, together with robust monitoring, reporting, and verification and secure storage. The Challenge comes during a decisive decade where removals projects must move rapidly to full commercial scale to meet climate goals in coming decades.

The Challenge aims to foster further private spending on removal credits by connecting top suppliers and buyers, as well as creating a leaderboard of carbon removal purchases. This leaderboard will enhance market transparency, giving organizations interested in carbon removal credit purchases greater confidence to move forward. To encourage as many entities as possible to join the Challenge, DOE does not envision a floor to participate, and will encourage purchasers to disclose all removal credit purchases, not just those matching DOE Purchase Pilot Prize winners. For suppliers, the Challenge will provide an additional opportunity for DOE to evaluate their credits.

Who Can Provide Comments

DOE encourages all interested parties, including public, private, and civil society organizations and carbon dioxide removal credit buyers and suppliers to provide input, questions, and feedback on the Challenge.

Questions for Consideration

The terms of the Challenge, detailed in the NOI, are not finalized, and DOE is seeking public input on how to structure the Challenge, as well as on interest in joining the Challenge when it formally launches later this year. Please send questions and feedback to VoluntaryCDRChallenge@hq.doe.gov, considering questions such as:

• How should DOE structure the Challenge to get as many participants as possible, given funding constraints?
• How is your organization thinking about purchasing carbon dioxide removal credits in terms of the environmental, social, financial, or regulatory considerations?
• What is stopping your organization from purchasing carbon dioxide removal today?
• What resources would enable your organization to procure carbon dioxide removal with ease and confidence?
• What can your organization do to join us in catalyzing more purchases (e.g. philanthropies, non-government organizations, civil society organizations)?

Written comments are requested by May 15, 2024.