BPC’s Direct Air Capture Advisory Council Releases Report Outlining Necessary Federal Support for Scaling-Up DAC This Decade
Washington, DC – The Bipartisan Policy Center’s Direct Air Capture (DAC) Advisory Council today released the third, and final, report of their “Case for DAC” series, outlining the environmental, commercial, and federal policy cases for scaling-up DAC as a climate solution.
The Case for Federal Support to Advance Direct Air Capture is a call to action for the federal government to take a commanding role in helping the private sector scale up DAC capacity through the rapid expansion of research and demonstration funding, expanding and enhancing the toolkit of financing options, and supporting enabling infrastructure and robust accounting frameworks for a carbon managed economy.
“The science is clear that we’ll need significant amounts of carbon removal in order to achieve net-zero by 2050,” said John Delaney, DAC Advisory Council member and former U.S. Representative from Maryland. “Direct Air Capture is an amazing innovation and this report makes the case for why we need federal investment now to scale up this technology to meet the climate challenge. DAC has the potential to attract widespread, bipartisan support by creating jobs and attracting investment in exactly the areas of the country that most need it, all while helping fight climate change.”
The DAC Advisory Council was convened in 2019 to bring together leaders from academia, the private sector, labor, and the NGO community to share a common vision for carbon removal and the optimization of technology for a cleaner and more sustainable future. The Council notes that while emissions reductions should remain a priority for achieving net-zero-by-2050 targets, DAC should be viewed as a critical complement within a diverse portfolio of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and mitigation strategies. DAC with secure geological storage of captured carbon dioxide (CO2) can deliver large-scale CDR in a manner that is reliable, permanent, and safe, and can be used alongside emissions mitigation to accelerate progress toward net-zero emissions.
“This is an important moment for deployment of DAC technologies,” said Marty Durbin, DAC Advisory Council member and president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute. “The private sector is looking to scale up this critical climate technology and is looking for opportunities to engage positively with the federal government. Today’s Council report lays out the comprehensive policy agenda needed to bring this technology to scale.”
With the release of today’s report, the Council aims to engage with members of Congress and the administration to ensure the DAC technologies are leveraged within any climate-related legislation that passes this year.
“Direct Air Capture has tremendous potential to contribute toward our net-zero goals,” said Sasha Mackler, director of BPC’s Energy Project. “This report outlines a strategic federal policy agenda that is necessary for scaling-up DAC technologies and carbon management infrastructure this decade.”