We need an Advanced Market Commitment to tackle methane, fast!
Superpollutants are responsible for 50% of global warming, and yet they’ve only received 2% of climate capital thus far.
Tackling methane, the largest super pollutant in volume, could reduce global warming by 0.5ºC by 2050, providing one of the highest returns on climate investment available today. To put this into perspective, the entire energy transition can deliver approximately 0.1ºC in cooling by 2050.
While the science has been clear for some time, regulators and market participants have largely not prioritized super pollutants.
With 5-11 years remaining to invest in the infrastructure needed to keep global warming below 2º Celsius and significant political and economic headwinds, the time for leadership could not be greater.
The world needs an Advanced Market Commitment (AMC) program to tackle methane—fast!
An AMC is a capital commitment by a coalition of buyers to create early demand for products and services needed to unlock a market. It’s a signal to market participants (scientists, businesses and investors) that if they build the products and services we need, there will be a buyer at the other end, and when there is enough supply, demand will follow.
The following are two groundbreaking AMCs
1) Frontier Climate: a commitment to unlock technology-enabled CDR (carbon dioxide removal) led by Stripe, Google, Shopify, Meta and McKinsey & Company, and,
2) Symbiosis Coalition: a commitment to restore nature, led by Google, McKinsey & Company, Meta, Microsoft and Salesforce.
As you can tell, AMCs typically have a specific focus to solve a very difficult market problem.
One of the greatest challenges we face currently related to methane emissions is landfills, where even the most advanced flaring or capture technologies prevent at best 50% of its release. Governments don’t have the resources (financial, human or technological) to address the matter, and the vast majority of waste sites in the global south are not even sanitary—waste is simply dumped into the environment.
By creating alternative infrastructure, such as composting and anaerobic digestion facilities for biowaste treatment, we can address landfill emissions entirely while also creating the nutrients needed to restore topsoil, replace chemical fertilizers and store additional carbon. The impact is easily measured, immediate, sustainable and inclusive, delivering significant co-benefits for society.
If you agree with the need for an Advanced Market Commitment to tackle methane emissions, I invite you to share this message along with anyone you believe could be interested.
If you would like to connect with me or my team at Carrot, ping me privately here.