By Ben Geman

A new nonprofit group called Climate Vault aims to offer reliable carbon offsets while providing fresh support for CO2 removal technologies and methods.

Driving the news: It’s the brainchild of the University of Chicago team led by economist Michael Greenstone, who served in the Obama White House.

Why it matters: Offsets enable companies and people to help reduce emissions, but ensuring their integrity is notoriously tricky.

  • Climate Vault aims to solve this problem by tapping into regulated cap-and-trade markets — in essence fusing voluntary efforts with the certainty of formal permit systems.
  • The group calls its approach an “antidote to the frequent credibility problems and opacity of voluntary offset programs.”
  • It then leverages this to support carbon removal methods that can complement fossil fuel emissions cuts to help reach ambitious climate goals.

How it works: Backers fund Climate Vault to buy emissions permits from cap-and-trade markets in North America, which operate in California, Quebec, and among northeast and mid-Atlantic states.

  • Climate Vault then takes those permits off the market to prevent industrial emitters from using them (that’s the “vault” part).
  • The group then can provide those permits to providers of carbon removal services, which could then sell them back into the market to finance the efforts.

Continue Reading at Axios…

Areas of Focus: Climate Change
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Climate Change
Climate change is an urgent global challenge. EPIC research is helping to assess its impacts, quantify its costs, and identify an efficient set of policies to reduce emissions and adapt...
Climate Economics
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Climate Economics
Climate change will affect every sector of the economy, both locally and globally. EPIC research is quantifying these effects to help guide policymakers, businesses, and individuals working to mitigate and...
Energy Markets
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Energy Markets
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Fossil Fuels
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Fossil Fuels
Under current policies, fossil fuels will play an important role in the energy system for the foreseeable future. EPIC research is exploring the costs and benefits of these fuels as...
Fossil Fuels
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Fossil Fuels
Under current policies, fossil fuels will play an important role in the energy system for the foreseeable future. EPIC research is exploring the costs and benefits of these fuels as...