Our Theory of Change
Biologic systems offer a cost-effective pathway for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. While biologic systems already move vast amounts of carbon each year, most of it rapidly returns to the atmosphere through decomposition, disturbance, and fire. We focus on improving both sides of this balance, enhancing the rate of atmospheric carbon capture and extending the duration of storage, to create durable, verifiable climate benefit.
Our Biologic Program aims to build trust and quality in biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) approaches by conducting foundational science and economic analyses, forming cross-stakeholder networks, involving local community and stakeholder voices, and developing solutions to industry-wide bottlenecks, including tools that empower decision-makers to make scientifically and economically informed decisions.
Why Focus on Biologic Carbon Storage?
Biologic approaches are among the most scalable carbon capture technologies on Earth, yet their climate value is limited by short residence times. Increasing the effectiveness of this natural cycle—either by boosting production or by protecting carbon from rapid return to the atmosphere—can unlock gigaton-scale removal potentials. Strengthening biologic pathways also creates opportunities to align land management, forestry, and waste management with climate goals.
In particular, we focus our efforts on enabling wildfire mitigation and fuel removal treatments in the US West and globally. There is massive near-term need to address the wildfire crisis, but costs associated with disposal of low value fuels is limiting the pace and scale of treatments. We focus on establishing high integrity carbon and product markets for this material to enable forest restoration at scale.
