Jennifer Granholm | https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=230988912410897&set=a.230988869077568
The U.S. Department of Energy launched four programs that will promote the carbon dioxide removal industry in the United States.
Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm addresses reporters in the James S. Brady Briefing Room of the White House.
| Cameron Smith/official White House photo
The programs will be funded with $3.7 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a news release said. The Department of Energy has invested more than $250 million in 62 research and development projects since January 2021.
“No matter how fast we decarbonize the nation’s economy, we must tackle the legacy pollution already in our atmosphere to avoid the worst effects of climate change,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in the release. “President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides the transformative investments needed to scale up the commercial use of technologies that can remove or capture CO2, which will bring jobs to our regions across the country and deliver a healthier environment for all Americans.”
The programs will be Direct Air Capture Commercial and Pre-Commercial Prize, with “awards totaling $115 million to promote diverse approaches to direct air capture,” and the Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs program, with “$3.5 billion to develop four domestic regional direct air capture hubs,” the release reported.
Carbon Utilization Procurement Grants will provide grants totaling up to $100 million “to states, local governments and public utilities to support the commercialization of technologies that reduce carbon emissions while also procuring and using commercial or industrial products developed from captured carbon emissions.” The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Technology Commercialization Fund has $15 million to accelerate commercialization of carbon dioxide removal technologies, according to the release.
