The Digest’s 10 Top Advanced Bioeconomy Markets & Predictions for 2020

8. CO2 Removal industry

We’ve been thinking about Carbon Capture and Sequestration , and Carbon Capture and Use — usually, making sure that we get a hold of new emissions from fossil fuels before they hit the atmosphere and cause big problems,. But what about all the existing Sky Carbon? That’s where Carbon Removal comes in, and it’s going to be important and big, because we are far past the point where all we have to do is amend our wicked wicked present and prevent a wicked wicked future. Now, we have to fix the consequences of our wicked, wicked past — unless we want to see more wildfire seasons and droughts and floods like we’re already seeing.

Good news, ARPA-E is thinking about it, and a lot of others. Think 20 Gigatonnes per year in removed CO2, starting no later than 2050, and think $100+ a tonne in today’s dollars. In short, a $2 trillion per year industry. Let’s put that in context, that’s almost the size of the entire Global Bioeconomy, and not much smaller than France, in GDP. So think of all the wars that have been fought over the years to determine who gets to own France. That’s how big this will be.