CDR 2.0: Five Pillars of Successful Project Deployment and Delivery
Why do CDR projects backed by forward commitments sometimes still fail to deliver credits? And what can savvy buyers and suppliers do to mitigate risk and ensure performance?
What's Inside
- Why CDR 1.0 stalled: How compressed front-end loading, misaligned contracting, and the absence of binding offtakes leave projects stranded before a final investment decision
- CDR 2.0: Five pillars—technical readiness, project assurance, standardization, bankable contracting, and transactional ease—that move buyers from the purchase of promises to the procurement of performance
- An action agenda: How to fund project assurance, structure risk-matched capital tranches, and secure the take-or-pay agreements that underwrite project finance
Julio Friedmann, PhD
Julio Friedmann, PhD
Dr. Friedmann is one of the most widely known and authoritative experts in the US on carbon removal (CO₂ drawdown from the air and oceans), CO₂ conversion and use (carbon-to-value), hydrogen, industrial decarbonization, green manufacturing, and carbon capture and sequestration.He served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy at the Department of Energy during the Obama Administration, where he was responsible for DOE's R&D program in advanced fossil energy systems, carbon capture, and storage (CCS), CO₂ utilization, and advanced power generation. More recently, he was a Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia. He has held positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, including Chief Energy Technologist.
Greenman Award (Lifetime achievement in CCS), International Energy Agency: IEA
Jonathan Goldberg
Jonathan Goldberg
Jon Goldberg is an energy and power expert focused on how markets, infrastructure, and technologies scale in the real world. Drawing on more than 20 years of upstream, downstream, and power markets experience, he combines climate science rigor with practical insights to advance large-scale decarbonization and clean, firm power.
Founded in 2020, Relae's team of scientists and finance, policy, and market experts, has served 150+ clients globally across carbon dioxide removal, carbon measurement, clean, firm power opportunities, and low-carbon energy solutions. Jon is also the founder of Carbon Direct Capital, a NY-based asset management firm investing in clean energy, decarbonization solutions and related technologies with a science-focused approach.
Prior to Relae, Jon founded and served as Chief Investment Officer of BBL Commodities, a commodity hedge fund. Earlier, he was a partner at Glencore, where he led the firm's US derivatives business ahead of its IPO. He began his career at Goldman Sachs (J. Aron), investing across global macro markets with an emphasis on commodities.
Jon currently sits on the boards of Columbia University's Center for Global Energy Policy and Village Health Works. He is also an advisor to Lawrence Livermore National Lab on negative emissions and the co-chair of SB COP's Nature-Based Solutions Working Group. Jon is a regular lecturer and contributor on energy, power, and climate issues. He graduated from Yale College with a degree in economics.
Board Member, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University
