Summary/Abstract
This report presents an innovation plan for a new carbon economy, including a detailed exploration of relevant engineered and biological carbon removal pathways. The report identifies the existing technical gaps, pinpointing high-priority areas for research over the short, medium, and long terms. First, it describes efforts that can start today to provide the information that is critical to enable early successes within a few years. Second, it proposes work that requires more time to develop but that can provide large, meaningful outcomes in less than a decade. Finally, it outlines additional foundational elements that will take at least a generation to bring to fruition and ultimately serve as an enduring knowledge substrate.
While the bulk of this document focuses on laying out a technical research plan, the report recognizes a need for major scholarship in legal, socioeconomic, and policy fields to complement and augment the technical tracts. This is particularly noteworthy where communities of practice are key to acceptance (e.g., by farmers in agronomy practices), where societal acceptance is a key component of success (e.g., carbon capture and storage), and where economic and policy incentives can catalyze deployment at scale.