Summary/Abstract
The objective of this analysis is to review the historical baseline estimates of federal RD&D investment related to carbon removal and assess how they compare with the recommended future funding levels from the 2018 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda report.
The analysis employed two approaches: (1) a top-down analysis to identify federal agency appropriations accounts and major program elements within those accounts that could support RD&D activities related to carbon removal; and (2) a bottom-up analysis to search a database of historical federal spending to identify specific RD&D projects funded in prior years that may have directly or indirectly supported carbon removal scientific and technical objectives. The historical analysis provides further insight into the federal programs that could form the nucleus of a future carbon removal RD&D program, as well as establishing a baseline level of historical RD&D investments related to carbon removal.