Lobbying related to carbon removal has more than doubled since 2021, with over two dozen organizations seeking to influence federal policymakers last year regarding technologies that can pull climate pollution from the sky and seas.
Energy giants such as Exxon Mobil, Occidental Petroleum and Constellation Energy were among the groups that disclosed lobbying Congress and federal agencies about carbon removal in 2023.
The energy influence offensive came as the Biden administration unleashed the first segment of $3.5 billion intended to deploy direct air capture, a type of carbon removal technology.
The rise in lobbying targeting the emerging sector indicates that the idea of using industrial facilities to siphon greenhouse gases from the atmosphere to lower global temperatures is gaining acceptance among corporations, investors and activists.
There has been a steady uptick in carbon removal advocacy over the last few years. The number of companies and groups that lobbied federal policymakers on carbon removal or technologies like direct air capture increased from at least 11 to no less than 28, according to an E&E News review of disclosure filings.
Environmentalists welcomed the growing interest in carbon removal, which climate scientists say will be necessary to avoid exceeding dangerous global warming thresholds. Yet they remain skeptical of energy companies’ advocacy of direct air capture, the most heavily subsidized technology that can filter carbon from the atmosphere.
“In general, we like to see more people who care about carbon removal,” said Erin Burns, the executive director of the environmental group Carbon180, which has lobbied for years in support of carbon removal.
“But we’re not here to argue for direct air capture deployment,” she added, explaining that her group promotes carbon removal installations with the most benefits for communities and the climate. “We need carbon removal and we’re not going to pick a particular technology or pathway.”
The expanded lobbying on carbon removal by corporations and environmental groups came as the Biden administration last August began awarding hundreds of millions of dollars to help fund the construction of direct air capture hubs and announced a competition offering millions more for other approaches that can filter CO2 from the atmosphere.
Carbon removal is also attracting attention on the international stage. The most recent climate commitments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have all emphasized the importance of direct air capture.
But those countries haven’t made significant investments in the technology, which uses electricity, fans, carbon-absorbing materials, heat and piping to collect CO2 from the air and then pump it underground.
Exxon, Occidental and Constellation all disclosed lobbying about direct air capture in their 2023 filings.
Exxon hasn’t announced any major direct air capture projects. But CEO Darren Woods described the technology in 2022 as the “holy grail” for addressing climate change. Some academics have accused Exxon of rhetorically embracing direct air capture as a way to reduce support for transitioning the global economy off of its reliance on fossil fuels.
Exxon didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Occidental and Constellation have both made investments in direct air capture development. Occidental last year broke ground in West Texas on what would be the world’s largest DAC facility and is leading the development of an Energy Department-backed DAC hub on the other side of the state. Constellation is part of a Siemens Energy-led consortium studying the potential for a DAC hub in Illinois.
Occidental declined to comment.
Constellation supports direct air capture because the technology has the potential to “help address the climate crisis … especially when powered by a clean energy resource, such as nuclear energy,” said Paul Adams, a spokesperson for the utility. He noted that Constellation, with a generation mix made up primarily of nuclear power, is “the nation’s largest producer of carbon-free energy.”
A lobbyist who represents a direct air capture company argued that the challenges of climate change are so great that any support for carbon removal is a positive development.
“It is at such a severe tipping point right now that literally anything and everything we can do to reduce historic emissions and reduce emissions moving forward is a key piece” of solving the climate puzzle, said the lobbyist, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak on behalf of their client.
“If a traditional fossil fuel entity wants to put in place measures or components to their operations that reduce historical emissions or that will reduce their emissions moving forward, they should be rewarded for that.”
The most important move for the carbon removal industry going forward, the lobbyist argued, is to broaden tax incentives to support more types of carbon removal technologies.
That’s a change favored by companies like Charm Industrial, which removes CO2 from the air by turning carbon-rich agricultural waste into bio oil and injecting it into depleted oil reservoirs. Charm disclosed lobbying Congress and DOE on “tax reform provisions related to carbon capture.”
While legislative action to broaden the so-called 45Q tax incentive is unlikely between now and the November elections, the lobbyist said the looming expiration of the Trump-era tax cuts next year could provide an opening for carbon removal advocates.
“There is robust appetite from both sides of the Hill and both sides of the aisle for carbon removal technologies,” the lobbyist said. “I think where the parties differ is just on what types of technologies are the most viable, what types create the most robust economic impact for districts and states and where we should be allocating federal funds to the [carbon dioxide removal] universe.”
