Carbon removal is stuck in low earth orbit. Here's how we get out.

Episode 64 is with Dr. Julio Friedmann, Chief Scientist at Carbon Direct

In this episode, Na’im speaks with Dr. Julio Friedmann about Carbon Direct’s recent publication “ 5 Pillars of Successful Project Deployment and Delivery” on what the carbon dioxide removal industry needs to de-risk projects in order to attract new buyers and to stand up infrastructure-scale carbon removal projects.In this episode, Na’im and Julio discuss:

* How CDR 1.0 built markets

* What buyers today really want

* Overview of Five Pillars Carbon Direct outlined

* Why project assurance matter

* The bottleneck project management talents

* Industry-led standard setting

* Basics of bankable offtake agreements

Relevant Links:

* CDR 2.0: Five Pillars of Successful Project Deployment and Delivery - Report

* 2026 State of the Voluntary Carbon Market - Report

* 2026 State of the Voluntary Carbon Market - Webinar

* Carbon Direct - Website

* Advance Carbon Removal Coalition - Website

* Quebec Surficial Mineralization Hub

About Dr. Julio Friedmann:  Julio is Chief scientist at Carbon Direct. He works directly with clients, the science team, and the leadership of Carbon Direct to solve major technical challenges around carbon management and CO2 removal, making clean power in products and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Dr. Friedmann is one of the most widely known and authoritative experts in the US on carbon dioxide removal, CO2 conversion, and hydrogen industrial decarbonization and carbon capture and sequestration. He recently served as principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy at the Department of Energy, where he was responsible for doe’s r and d program in advanced fossil energy systems, carbon capture and storage, CO2 utilization, and CO2 removal.

More recently, he was a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia. He has held positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, including Chief Energy Technologist.

About Carbon Direct: Carbon Direct is a trusted energy and climate solutions company that combines world-class scientific expertise, technical rigor, and market insights to help clients achieve their business goals. Carbon Direct 70 plus scientists work closely with their finance policy and market experts to design diligence and deliver decarbonization solutions across industries. From JP Morgan Chase to Microsoft. Carbon Direct helps leading companies with carbon dioxide removal, carbon measurement from clean power opportunities and low carbon energy solutions.

This episode was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Consecon Foundation.

This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.

Na’im Merchant is the co-founder and Executive Director of Carbon Removal Canada, a policy initiative focused on scaling carbon removal in Canada. He is on the advisory board of the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative and Terraset, and a former policy fellow with Elemental Impact. He previously ran carbon removal consulting practice Carbon Curve, and publishes The Carbon Curve newsletter and podcast. Every two weeks, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing the policies, technologies, and collective action needed to scale up carbon removal around the world.

Tank Chen is the Head of Content and Community at CDR.fyi, a public benefit corporation dedicated to accelerating carbon removal through transparency. He is also the co-founder of CDRjobs, a career platform for the carbon removal industry. Based in Taiwan, Tank is a carbon removal advocate focused on educating policymakers, corporate leaders, and the public on the importance of carbon removal, using data-driven insights to support communication and policy advocacy.

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