CO2RE Panel: Exploring risk & uncertainty for actors in the new Greenhouse Gas Removal sector

This CO₂RE panel explored the mechanisms of risk and uncertainty diversification for actors operating in the nascent Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR) sector. It explored the feasibility of different interventions and pondered their capacity to encourage diverse actors to participate in the negative emissions market as its transitions, whilst ensuring that the onus of risk is not placed on tax payers.

The panel was, as such, motivated by a central question: how does the market deal with the variety of GGR approaches, each with different degrees of permanence (the length of time removed carbon is stored out of the atmosphere) and reversal risk (the risk that the stored carbon is released)?

Speakers drew upon distinct perspectives from civil society, the insurance sector, and GGR project development to debate three possible approaches proposed in the recent Bellona paper, along the following lines:

- Separate the markets for different GGRs – Adam Whitmore, Bellona UK
- Use exchange rates – Natalia Dorfman, co-founder Kita
- Have an obligation to deliver permanence (and replace reversals) – Chris Manson-Whitton, Progressive Energy