BPC’s Mackler Testifies Before Senate ENR Committee on Carbon Dioxide Removal

Today, testifying before the full Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee during a 10 a.m. ET hearing, Sasha Mackler, energy project director at the Bipartisan Policy Center, will highlight the options available to the United States to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and advocate for passage of S. 2657, the American Energy Innovation Act.

Mackler will say, “the fact is that we do not yet possess the technological capacity to fully decarbonize our energy systems consistent with the demands of a modern economy.”

BPC emphasizes an “all of the above” approach to addressing climate change, and Mackler will tell the committee, “technologies that reduce or avoid further emissions, including low- and zero-carbon fuel and electric power alternatives, energy efficiency, and carbon capture, storage, and utilization systems for large point sources of emissions are obviously all part of the solution.”

This approach means the United States will need to employ both natural and technology-based carbon removal strategies along with emissions reduction strategies to achieve the climate goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Mackler will point out these natural solutions should include farm- and forest-based strategies that benefit from being ready for implementation today, are comparatively low-cost, and provide co-benefits to the local environment.

Ultimately, to achieve the goal of net-zero emissions, government will need to play a vital role in supporting and spurring innovation into new energy technologies and developing a market environment in which they can become commercially successful and sustainable.

Read Mackler’s Full Testimony