Carbon Dioxide Removal Initiative

In virtually all realistic scenarios, reductions in global greenhouse-gas emissions over the next several decades will not be nearly sufficient to limit global warming to safe levels.  Consequently, emission-reduction efforts must be supplemented by activities to remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and store it safely and permanently.  The scale of this required removal is substantial—as much as 25% of today’s global emissions annually by 2050, and double that level by 2100. All available techniques, both technological and natural, are needed.  This includes direct air capture; technologies that enhance the carbon absorption of earth systems such as oceans, plants and minerals; and natural techniques such as reforestation and changes in agricultural practices.  Because carbon dioxide removal is a classic “public good,” this will not happen at the needed scale without substantial government support.

Linden Trust’s objective is for the U.S. government to put in place a sufficiently robust set of policies and programs to ensure that carbon dioxide removal (CDR) has a reasonable chance of closing the gap between actual and desired net emission levels in the U.S. by the middle of this century.  These policies and programs must include RD&D spending, economic incentives, and regulatory measures.  Our initiative was launched in 2017 and began with community education, policy analysis and program design.  In recent years we have been deeply involved in policymaker education across the range of needed CDR policies, including those enacted in the Energy Act of 2020, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

Geothermal Power Initiative

Decarbonizing the electric power sector is at the core of any strategy to decarbonize the U.S. economy. Wind and solar power are low in cost and will therefore play a large role, but they also face critical challenges to achieving the needed scale, due to their intermittency, increasing social pushback, political opposition, and dependence on rare materials for batteries. Next-generation geothermal power, made possible by new drilling techniques, is potentially superior on all of these dimensions, although currently higher in cost. Uniquely among non-CO2-emitting power sources, it provides firm and dispatchable power (so deals directly with the intermittency of other non-CO2-emitting power sources); its small physical footprint should minimize NIMBY resistance; it presents the possibility of broad support across the political spectrum; and it does not rely on rare materials. Policies are needed to prove out the technologies, bring down the cost, and realize the scale potential of geothermal. All the other major low-carbon energy technologies, including wind, solar, nuclear, hydrogen, and carbon capture, have received substantial policy support, yet geothermal has received virtually none. This presents a compelling opportunity for a coalition-building and advocacy effort to gain comparable support.  Linden Trust started such an effort in 2023.

Carbon Pricing Initiative

From 2014 to 2021 we conducted a carbon pricing initiative, which sought the adoption of an economy-wide, market-based approach to address the challenge of climate change and advance a clean-energy economy.  Central to that objective was supporting policies that can boost the economy, job creation and innovation while cutting pollution.   Goals for the program were to (1) develop policy proposals based on the best research and analysis and (2) nurture a national conversation about economically sound approaches.