Carbon Containment Lab

Shielding our eyes from the sun in Western India, we look up to the operator on a platform atop a black metal column two stories high. From a woven sack, the man dumps wood chips into a funnel, feeding the column which radiates heat on an already warm day. At the bottom, hot, black charcoal piles on a rotating grate. At the far end of a maze of pipes, gas burns into a flare. “It takes several hours for the wood to pass through the whole system,” he states, showing us a handful of the wood he just poured. The operator is demonstrating his company’s gasifier, which is converting those wood chips into bioenergy, a critical–and at times controversial–energy source.” Learn more about gasification - which we're exploring as a potential solution for carbon containment that can also help finance needed wildfire risk mitigation - on our blog post authored by Puneet Chhabra, PhD, Justin Freiberg, and Holden Taylor. Read the full blog post here: https://lnkd.in/dKgJt6xt

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week for the #YaleCoolingConference! Our participants spanned the refrigerant ecosystem — from OEMs and reclaimers, to policymakers and end-users — and joined us from more than 50 countries both in-person and virtually. Decarbonizing the cooling sector is a team sport and we are so excited to keep building a Lifecycle Refrigerant Management (LRM) coalition that's ready to rise to this challenge. If you weren't able to join us live, check out the recording of our Plenary here: https://lnkd.in/d9cK_Ptb In the coming weeks we'll also publish a report with more detailed takeaways from this milestone event. Last but not least, we want to extend a huge thank you to those who made it all possible: Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY), REEF Refrigerant Emissions Elimination Forum, Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council, and Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies, and the Yale School of Management! Photos by: Daniel Havlat

Have you heard of Lifecycle Refrigerant Management (LRM) — the super-powerful climate solution that can mitigate warming equivalent to 90 billion metric tons of CO2? We are convening industry leaders, non-profit experts, and policymakers at Yale School of Management on February 20 to come up with strategies to realize LRM's full climate potential, with representation from pioneering organizations like Google, Trane, A-Gas, Stulz, Tradewater, Fexa, Ikea, Breakthrough Energy, Ingersoll Rand, REEF, SPLC, NRDC, RMI, and many others. We have a few in-person spots remaining for the Yale Cooling Conference — secure yours until midnight tonight! Can't make it in person? Choose the virtual participation option to follow the live stream: https://lu.ma/fjbapih7 Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY), REEF Refrigerant Emissions Elimination Forum, Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council, Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies

We're thrilled to share the speaker lineup for the Yale Cooling Conference Opening Plenary! Join industry leaders, Lifecycle Refrigerant Management experts, and policymakers at the Yale School of Management on February 20th as they share insights on driving action to reduce super-polluting refrigerant gases. Reserve your spot now: https://lu.ma/fjbapih7 Zoe Dawson, Scott Tew, Dean Takahashi, Anastasia O'Rourke, Scott Stone, Mike Armstrong, Kathy Loftus, Pooya Soltanian, P.Eng., PMP., David C. Meadows II. We're proud to put together this conference with the support of our partners: Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY), REEF Refrigerant Emissions Elimination Forum, Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council, Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies.

Curious about how to provide cooling without warming the planet? Join us for the Yale Cooling Conference on February 20, 2025. The CC Lab and our partners at the Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY), REEF Refrigerant Emissions Elimination Forum, Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council, and the Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies are convening a high-impact group of industry experts, advocacy organizations, policymakers, and academic researchers to work together on advancing the implementation of lifecycle refrigerant management (LRM) practices in sectors that are large end users of refrigerant gases. Refrigerants are hundreds to thousands of times more potent than CO2 on a ton-for-ton basis. In the U.S., the total amount of refrigerant in existing equipment is set to double through 2050, growing to 6.9 billion tons of CO2e – a volume greater than today's U.S. annual economy-wide CO2e emissions. The Yale Cooling Conference 2025 opening plenary will take place from 3-5pm on February 20, followed by a reception with light refreshments. This session is open to the public, with the option to join virtually. There is no registration fee to attend and the registration deadline is February 14. Register here and stay tuned for information about speakers and more: https://lu.ma/fjbapih7

We're hiring! For those interested (and for those who know those who might be interested), we just opened up the search process for an Associate here at the CC Lab - take a look, apply, or be in touch if you have any questions. https://lnkd.in/g8QHhnUj

Today, we are excited to share that, in collaboration with a team of project partners, we have been awarded a grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce to expand the scope of an aero-geophysical survey of a key region within the Columbia River Basalt Group. These efforts began in 2024, in collaboration with Yale University, and generated an exciting first-of-a-kind hydrogeological subsurface map for the region. This research is directly relevant to the Lab’s Carbon TrapRock Project, which is investigating the potential for the Columbia River Basalt Group to safely and securely mineralize carbon dioxide underground for millennia. The carbon dioxide will be sourced from existing industrial plants, direct air carbon capture, and low-value wood sources from overstocked forests across the Pacific Northwest. We are excited to get to work on this with our project partners: Hannon Clean Energy, SLB, Carbfix, Washington Geological Survey, and Geotech Ltd. This geophysical research is supported with funding from Washington’s Climate Commitment Act. The CCA supports Washington’s climate action efforts by putting cap-and-invest dollars to work reducing climate pollution, creating jobs, and improving public health. Information about the CCA is available at www.climate.wa.gov.

It's that time of the year; we're hiring the next cohort of summer interns at the CC Lab! Join us in New Haven, CT for a summer dedicated to developing and scaling innovative carbon removal solutions. As the devastating wildfires in LA remind us today, we need bold climate solutions more than ever. 🌍 Spread the word and encourage aspiring changemakers to apply! https://lnkd.in/dsCzPQVT

#CarbonContainerSpotlight At the start of the new year, we want to highlight and congratulate CREW Carbon. 👏 Last month, CREW signed a $32 million offtake agreement to remove 71,878 tons of carbon dioxide between 2025 and 2030 for Frontier members, showcasing the scaling potential of CREW’s. Joachim Katchinoff, Co-founder & CEO of CREW, described the impacts of the deal for CREW’s role in the carbon removal space to Yale Ventures: “Securing this offtake with Frontier buyers enables CREW to accelerate the integration of carbon removal into existing wastewater infrastructure at a significantly faster pace and scale. This agreement not only allows us to expand our existing CO₂ removal projects but also benefits the wastewater sector by enabling safer and efficient wastewater treatment. Frontier’s support validates our mission to deliver measurable, permanent, and scientifically robust carbon removal today.” We’re proud to have worked with Jo and the team in the early days of CREW on their innovative enhanced rock weathering technology. We look forward to seeing what else they have in store in 2025. Rock on! 🪨 🎸 You can read more about the offtake agreement here: https://lnkd.in/eTnfTh_q

Carbon Containment Lab in Turkey — worlds collide! 🌍 Last week, Anastasia O'Rourke spoke at the 24th Ozone Panel, hosted by Turkey's Ministry of Environment, Urbanization & Climate Change in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Her talk focused on financing mechanisms for effective Lifecycle Refrigerant Management. Translating her slides was a fun challenge for me, bridging climate communication across my two languages, Turkish and English! Çevre Şehircilik ve İklim Değişikliği Bakanlığı, UNIDO https://lnkd.in/dzXJWxQ7