In a policy brief published recently as part of a series by the World Resources Institute, Hannah Harasaki, Willy Carlsen and Danielle Riedl studied the regulations that apply to Direct Air Capture (DAC) in the US. They highlight that policymakers can improve the status quo by drafting regulations that can trigger DAC developers to improve health outcomes in a comprehensive manner, assisting mitigation efforts and enabling DAC to earn a reputation as a trustworthy technology. According to the authors, to achieve this goal, policymakers should:
i) incentivize the utilization of untapped renewable energy capacity that should be allocated to DAC deployment;
ii) carry out supplementary research activities geared towards the exploration of the extent to which DAC deployment impacts health and the environment;
iii) set conditions that need to be fulfilled to ensure that DAC is employed by taking into account safety considerations and rendering the steps taken during deployment publicly available;
iv) prepare and apply policies at the state level that not only meet but also exceed the standards envisaged at the federal level in order to ensure that communities impacted by DAC can take part in decision-making processes leading DAC to be ultimately deployed.
Read the full post here: Regulating Safety for Carbon Removal, Capture and Sequestration Projects in the US