Scaling CDR in the Global Hub
for Finance, Policy, and Innovation

• ​Starting in 2029, C2X’s first plant in Louisiana will produce approximately 1 million tonnes of durable CDRS and 0.5 million tonnes of green methanol annually. What role will large-scale solutions like this play in accelerating decarbonization?
• What makes gasification-based technology ​one of the most scalable and commercially viable pathways for durable removals?
• How can projects like this set new benchmarks for scientific credibility, community collaboration, and responsible development?
• With strong financial backing and a leadership team focused on de-risking project delivery, how can C2X help build market confidence in large-scale removals?

Brian Davis - CEO, C2X

Nili Gilbert - Vice Chairwoman, Carbon Direct

Carbon Unbound is partnering with Terraset, AirMiners and CDR.fyi to unlock philanthropic capital and catalyse permanent carbon removal. 

‍

With the top 10 buyers dominating purchases and a growing removals gap, our goal is to change the narrative around CDR purchasing, spotlight some exceptional CDR providers, and leverage the summit to make a quantifiable, tons-removed difference while ensuring transparency and enhancing trust.

‍

Leveraging Terraset's tax-deductible vehicle for carbon removal, we ask you, the audience, to drive real impact by allocating dollars to a portfolio of incredible CDR companies, which is then used to purchase CDRs.

Adam Fraser - CEO, Terraset

Tito Jankowski - Co-Founder & CEO, AirMiners

• The new administration's federal policies are expected to significantly impact carbon removal strategies. What are new uncertainties and opportunities the global CDR space is facing as a result of the administration change? 
• Will bipartisan support for CDR increase at the federal level? Can tax credits provide greater policy support such as with the 45Q which was revamped under the first Trump administration? 
• What are the developments and latest trends in Government procurement of carbon removal services? 
• Carbon removal lacks a pre-existing market, and it is in dire need of DEMAND. How can private sector players adapt and thrive under shifting federal policies? 
• What barriers or challenges does the USA exiting the Paris agreement present for the global CDR industry & companies? What is the path forward that will enable us to achieve our collective goals regardless of the U.S.'s involvement in the Paris Agreement?

Chris Neidl - Co-Founder - Open AirCollective

Giana Amador - Executive Director, Carbon Removal Alliance

Lucia Simonelli - Director of Programs, Carbon Removal Standards Initiative

Mariam Al-Shamma - Associate Director, Bipartisan Policy Center

Tim Bushman - Policy Director, Carbon Removal Canada

• The largest reforestation carbon removal offtakes in the U.S. are now held to increasingly rigorous verification standards. What does this mean for the future of the market?
• How is Isometric’s new reforestation protocol — including tech-first quantification, dynamic baselines, and advanced leakage and lifecycle assessment — setting a new precedent for transparency and accuracy?
• What challenges of traditional reforestation verification are being solved through faster, cheaper, and more robust measurement technologies?
• How does Microsoft’s landmark purchase of over 1.4 million tonnes of reforestation-based CDR from Living Carbon align with its Criteria for High-Quality Carbon Dioxide Removal — and what signals does this send to the broader market?
• What role will verification innovation play in scaling trust and demand for nature-based carbon removal solutions globally?

Stacy Kauk - Chief Science Officer, Isometric

Maddie Hall - CEO & Co-Founder, Living Carbon

Rev up your engines! Investors will be positioned in the breakout room, ready to meet start-ups. Start-ups sit, have 4 minutes to pitch before a bell rings, and move to the next investor’s table.

• Forestry projects dominate the VCM market, the number of available credits is increasing and DEMAND is growing. Methods and geographic concentrations for ‘Improved Forest Management’ (IFM) and ‘Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation’ (ARR) differ greatly. What are the key differences and advantages of IFM and ARR?
• Questions about lack of additionality and permanence have damaged these NBS credits in the past, but it’s been shedding its bad reputation. How has carbon accounting and MRV advanced and evolved, and what further innovations are in the works? How is permanence being addressed?
• What are the most significant risks and opportunities in securing buyers and scaling different forestry projects?  
• What’s the current and potential pipeline of forest-based CDR credits? Are these projects underfunded or undersupplied?

Utkarsh (Uti) Agarwal - Americas Carbon Originator, BP | Low Carbon Trading

Jennifer Jenkins - Chief Science Officer, Rubicon Carbon

Shannon Smith - Chief Commercial Officer, Chestnut Carbon

Join Nikki Batchelor and the Grand Prize Winner of the $100 million XPRIZE Carbon Removal, the largest incentive prize in history. Mati’s Founder & CEO will discuss their winning carbon removal solution, business strategy, technology roadmap, and what made them stand out in winning this four-year competition.

Nikki Batchelor - Executive Director, XPRIZE Carbon Removal

Shantanu Agarwal - Founder & CEO, Mati

The key to sustained growth in the CDR market lies in attracting more buyers, scaling DEMAND, and encouraging existing purchasers to increase their investments. This session will provide an update on the number of durable tonnes sold in the first quarter of Q1 2025 and also present a high-level approach of highlights and trends since our previous Carbon Unbound West Coast summit in late October 2024.

Alexander Rink - CEO, CDR.fyi

• What can be done at the state and municipal levels to demonstrate the economic and ecosystem benefits of CDR and spur action? Who are the stakeholders that need to be involved?
• States can pave the way for this sector and New York and Massachusetts are among those leading on CDR. Are they influencing neighbouring states and is collaboration on the table?
• What lessons learned at the U.S. state and local levels could be applied to other subnational jurisdictions? What are the translatable learnings and next areas of opportunity? 
• What insights can we draw from existing global CDR regulations and policies that are actually leading to measurable DEMAND creation?

Rick Saines - Managing Director, Pollination Law

Jennifer Wilcox - Presidential Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering & Energy Policy, University of Pennsylvania

Sean Mulderrig - Program Manager, Industrial & Agriculture, NYSERDA

Tracy Johns - Carbon Removal Lead, Meta

Organizations invite attendees to participate in intimate discussions about critical challenges related to CDR development and increasing DEMAND.

‍

1. Investing in Nature-Based Carbon Projects: Let's Talk Risk

Arnaud Bret - CEO, Reforest'Action

‍

2. How to Transform the World’s Largest Infrastructure into a Climate Champion

Tonje Norheim - Vice President Business Development, Carbon Crusher

‍

3. Building Confidence in Enhanced Weathering Credits

Ella Hughes - Partnerships Manager, Isometric

‍

4. Biochar - Hurdles and Opportunities for Project Developers

Steffi Muhanji – Senior Program Manager Carbon Removal, Microsoft

‍

5. Co-Creating Carbon Removal: Partnerships for Systemic Impact

Hehewutei (Cody) Amakali - Vice President, Impact & Community Engagement, Reactivate

‍

6. Advancing CDR with State and Local Policy

Toby Bryce - Managing Director, Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture

‍

7. The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Scaling CDR and New Materials

Matthew Kapelewski - Director of Technology Evaluation, Orbital Materials

‍

8. Federal Policy for Carbon Management: Opportunities, Challenges & What’s Next

Savita Bowman - Senior Program Manager, Carbon Management, ClearPath

‍

9. Cuckoo for Kilotonnes: Lessons from the XPRIZE Field Trials

‍Mike Leitch -Technical Lead Carbon Removal, XPRIZE

• What has been the CDR demand and supply status in 2024 and are we seeing growth in 2025?
• Have the existing principles, standards and reporting frameworks been motivating corporations to include (more) removals in their target setting? How has this impacted offset programs such as CORSIA?
• Will state-led initiatives and international trading schemes remain resilient under the new administration?
• How does Article 6 of the Paris Agreement relate to CDR in the VCM? Which players does it impact the most? 
• Suppliers are trying to maximize the economic upside of carbon credit sales between the VCM and compliance markets. How do they navigate this?

Lisa DeMarco - Senior Partner & CEO, Resilient LLP

Angela Hepworth - Commercial Director Carbon Markets, Elimini

Alexia Kelly - Managing Director of the Carbon Policy & Markets Initiative (CPMI), High Tide Foundation

Antti Vihavainen - Vice Chairman, Puro.earth

Lawson Henderson - Technical Advisor Land Use & Forests Sub-Committee, Gold Standard

Mandy Rambharos - CEO, Verra

This keynote explores the vital link between carbon removal strategies and farmers' and ranchers' economic success. By aligning sustainability goals with profitability, we can drive greater adoption of regenerative practices that enhance soil health, sequester carbon, and improve long-term productivity. Learn how financial incentives, innovative market mechanisms, and policy support can empower agricultural producers to become leaders in carbon removal while strengthening their bottom line.

Lars Dyrud - CEO & Executive Board Member, EarthOptics

• How are justice and equity included in business plans? What is this important and what are the benefits of doing so? 
• How have suppliers interfaced with communities in their work?  What have both their experiences been like? And what have been the most important learnings and surprises?
• How can CDR projects play into the Just and Sustainable Transition, and what requirements can be put in place to make sure co-benefits are baked into projects to maximise impact for communities?
• Federal mandates have driven much of the current demand for integrating equity and justice. What does this mean if federal support is reduced? 

Ugbaad Kosar - Director of Environmental Justice, Carbon180

Hehewutei (Cody) Amakali - Vice President, Impact & Community Engagement, Reactivate

Lawson Henderson - Technical Advisor Land Use & Forests Sub-Committee, Gold Standard

Luke Connell - Co-Founder & CEO, CarbonRun

• What impact have we seen across climate tech investment since Trump's presidential win? How do we expect this to affect the ability for innovators to secure capital? 
• Several CDR startups have moved from strategy to execution. When prioritising budgets, how do investors choose between new investments and supporting their portfolio companies with follow-on funding?
• Can we ‘flip the script’ on carbon removal from costly to money-making? 
• How are current DEMAND and supply metrics influencing investment sentiment?
• Policy support, data transparency, and innovative business models are key to reducing investment risk.  Is one more important, or are they highly integrated?

Ben Rubin - Executive Director, Carbon Business Council

Akifumi (Chris) Takigawa - Director, Global Brain Corporation

Carl Berglund - Co-Founder & CCO, Nordbex

Micah Kotch - Partner, Blackhorn Ventures

Sarabeth Brockley - Partner, Wild Assets

Sophie Purdom - Managing Partner, Planeteer Capital

10-minute case setting, 30-minute breakout discussion, and 20-minute feedback sharing with the audience.

The lack of DEMAND will remain the key challenge in scaling CDR. This interactive session will outline different pathways for scaling demand and highlight the barriers we need to overcome. Drawing on firsthand accounts, scientific data, and expert insights, we will gather insights from buyers, suppliers, investors, policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders and explore how different stakeholders can learn from each other's experiences to increase this much-needed demand.

Please join one of the themes below with these expert facilitators, so you can optimise your engagement, learning and networking opportunities.

Ensure to add your ‘case’ questions to the themes of interest in our event app.

Themes & Facilitators:

1. Nature-based & Engineered Solutions Demand

Facilitators: 

Alexander Rink - CEO, CDR.fyi
Tracy Johns - Carbon Removal Lead, Meta

2. International Policy
Facilitator: 

Daniel Pike - Principal, RMI

Rick Saines - Managing Director, Pollination Law 

3. Monitoring, Reporting, Verification (MRV) & Standards

Facilitators: 

Peter Minor - CEO & Co-Founder, Absolute Climate

4. CDR Project Developers & Suppliers

Facilitator: 

Randy Spock - Carbon Credits & Removals Lead, Google

Adina Mangubat - Accelerator Director, AirMiners

Tito Jankowski - Co-Founder & CEO, AirMiners

• How does your company's solution fit into the carbon credit market?
• What co-benefits, incentives, or other mechanisms are important to you?
• Biochar, carbon farming and agriculture practices are gaining ground. Is there a shortage of supply or demand or rather high-integrity credits?
• What are current limitations for the agriculture CDR carbon credit market to gain traction and scale?
• Tech innovations cultivate growth in agricultural carbon markets. What is the role of hardware development to scaling carbon credits?

Chloë Payne - Principal, Ponderosa VC

Darren Bondar - President & CEO, HEMPALTA

Samuel Fournier - CEO, ChrysaLabs

Laurie Fitzmaurice - President, Elimini

Organizations invite attendees to participate in intimate discussions about critical challenges related to CDR development and increasing DEMAND.

‍

1. Investing in Nature-Based Carbon Projects: Let's Talk Risk

Arnaud Bret - CEO, Reforest'Action

‍

2. How to Transform the World’s Largest Infrastructure into a Climate Champion

Tonje Norheim - Vice President Business Development, Carbon Crusher

‍

3. SBTi and CDR: the path forward

Lukas May - Chief Commercial Officer, Isometric

‍

‍4. Biochar - Hurdles and Opportunities for Project Developers

Steffi Muhanji – Senior Program Manager Carbon Removal, Microsoft

‍

5. Co-Creating Carbon Removal: Partnerships for Systemic Impact

Hehewutei (Cody) Amakali - Vice President, Impact & Community Engagement, Reactivate

‍

6. Advancing CDR with State and Local Policy

Toby Bryce - Managing Director, Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture

‍

7. The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Scaling CDR and New Materials

Matthew Kapelewski - Director of Technology Evaluation, Orbital Materials

‍

8. Federal Policy for Carbon Management: Opportunities, Challenges & What’s Next

Savita Bowman - Senior Program Manager, Carbon Management, ClearPath

‍

9. Cuckoo for Kilotonnes: Lessons from the XPRIZE Field Trials

‍Mike Leitch -Technical Lead Carbon Removal, XPRIZE

• Which of these sectors: industry, agriculture, buildings and transport have made the most progress and what innovative solutions specific to each sector are the most promising?   
• DEMAND for industrial products labelled as ‘green’ needs to increase dramatically. What is driving change quickest and why? 
• Voluntary efforts of large corporations have assisted in a push to get cleaner plants built. How can businesses, as well as coalitions accelerate policy incentives and regulatory frameworks?
• Several major HtA industries, particularly in Japan and Europe where there is a compliance market, signal the need for high-quality CDR. Is there enough signal to drive the potential supply needed and in a timely manner? 
• Will customers be the ones to bear the additional, near-term decarbonization costs, and in which of the HtA sectors will this be most evident?

Kristoffer Labuc - Founder & CEO, ReCarber

Andy Shafer - Chief Customer, Marketing & Brand Officer, Gevo

Hara Wang - Co-Founder, Cascade Climate

Liam Candy -  Head of Carbon Mitigation Projects, Anglo American

Ko Yamada - Director ANA Future Frontier Fund, All Nippon Air

Wendy Lam - CEO, Capsol Technologies

Spotlighting start-up CDR pioneers that utilize carbon to produce materials and products while permanently storing CO2. They showcase their unique solutions in carbon utilization to our panel of experts.

Andrew Chang - Managing Director, Activate

Helena Wasserman - Co-Founder, Investors for Climate

Brendan Hermalyn - CEO, Thalo Labs

Sravanth Gadikota - Co-Founder & CEO, Carbon to Stone

Harrison Meyer - Co-Founder & COO, Oxylus Energy

• How can companies use offtake agreements to secure long-term supply, lock-in favorable pricing, and build a resilient carbon removal strategy that aligns with net-zero commitments?
• The intersection of insurance, legal, and financial frameworks in the carbon removal industry is dynamic and evolving. How do these frameworks interact, and what’s needed to enable large-scale investment in high-quality removals?
• Buyers need the confidence to act, and structuring effective offtake agreements is key. How can companies navigate risk—balancing price certainty, supply security, and contractual flexibility—to make informed, strategic purchasing decisions?‍
• DEMAND for high-quality credits in the VCM is more pressing than ever. How do legal, contractual and insurance schemes adhere to higher standards while ensuring these legal frameworks complement each other?

Rachel Walsh - Environmental Commodities Strategist, BMO Capital Markets

Michelle You - Co-Founder & CEO, Supercritical

Peter Mayer - Partner, Stairs Dillenbeck Finley Mayer

Zachary Kane - Senior Vice President of Growth, Oka, The Carbon Insurance Company

• Various funding sources and mechanisms are essential for project developers and investors alike. What are the building blocks of carbon removal project finance for Direct Air Capture? 
• Governments have pioneered CDR policies and financially incentivized the expansion of novel solutions, such as DAC. Will the new US Administration remain the leader in public procurement, or will its involvement change?
• What other hard-tech industries can DAC learn from, and can they cooperate with these sectors to accelerate scaling?
• If DAC had all the money and DEMAND in the world, what would the non-monetary challenges be with DAC?

Brynn Esterly - Head of Carbon Removal Solutions, Climate Vault

Andrew Fishbein - Lead Government Affairs North America, Climeworks

Ryan Covington - Partner, Philip Lee LLP

Vida Gabriel - Founder & CEO/COO, TerraFixing

• The growing interest and investment in freshwater and ocean-based methods (mCDR), combined with uncertainties, stress the need for government assistance. What support has been provided so far?
• Several ocean and freshwater CDR methods exploring carbon sinking capabilities have created DEMAND. What are the most promising ‘abiotic’ solutions, and what is their potential? What is the status and potential for ‘biological’ mCDR, such as kelp, seaweed and algae?
• Data transparency is key in trust building and creating growth of mCDR solutions and quantification uncertainty has been challenging. How has MRV evolved in mCDR over the last year
• There is excitement around Ocean and Inland water CDR, what are the opportunities that make it attractive? What are factors that are or can hinder its scaling?

Romany Webb - Deputy Director at Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia University

Daniel Babin, Lead Scientist, Sinkco Labs

David LaGreca - Managing Director Carbon Markets, EcoEngineers

Greg Humphries - Head of Business Operations, Vycarb

• Although the CDR market grew in 2024, we still desperately need to scale DEMAND. Can incentives such as the Global Fortune 1000 CDR Challenge make a sizable dent? 
• Policies and government support are vital for boosting CDR, but these have changed in the US and across borders. How has this impacted private engagement?
• Everybody, besides corporations, can join the market and use different purchasing options - such as marketplaces (Terraset with accompanying  tax benefits), coalitions, bilateral deals, buyer clubs, etc. What are buyers using, and which options will grow? 
• In the US, 2% of the GDP comes from charitable giving, but little goes to CDR. How can we influence the support of the philanthropic sector? 
• Education, market knowledge, and understanding one's carbon footprint are some factors that hinder new -small and big- players. How do you share knowledge and advise the ultimate decision-makers?

Tito Jankowski - Co-Founder & CEO, AirMiners

Julia Strong - Executive Director, Symbiosis Coalition

Kyle McEneaney - Director, The Schmidt Family Foundation

Megan Hunold, Head of Partnerships, ClimeFi

Natalie Khtikian - Co-Founder & CCO, CO280

Randy Spock - Carbon Credits & Removals Lead, Google

Carbon Unbound East Coast is proud to host OpenAir’s global student competition finals. The event will illuminate the next generation of CDR pioneers developing cutting-edge solutions. The five finalists will present their groundbreaking solutions to the delegation.

The five finalist teams are:

• EPFL Carbon: scalable & efficient Direct Air Capture system w/ a hybrid adsorbents & graphene membranes approach. Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPLF), Switzerland
• WatAir: Open-Source Moisture-Swing DAC System with Microalgae CO2 Sequestration. University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
• Carbon Capture Direct. Efficient DACC device, promising low cost & onsite CO₂ to users. Ivey Business School at Western University, Ontario, Canada
• Electrocean: Harnesses the power of Keystone species to capture CO₂ in marine wetlands via in-situ electrochemical methods. Stanford University, University of California and Purdue University, USA
• Terrapump: Utilizes a solubility pump & liquid-gas kinetics to improve durable sequestration of CO2 in oceans. University of Michigan, USA