Washington, D.C. — Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper joined U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Senate colleagues to introduce the Carbon Dioxide Removal Research and Development (CDR R&D) Act. This bill directs agencies across the federal government to boost research on technologies and approaches to remove heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution from the atmosphere.
“To fight climate change and achieve net-zero, America must cut emissions and expand research into effective and affordable carbon removal technologies,” said Bennet. “This bill would strengthen support for carbon removal solutions across the federal government and help America lead the world in the fight against climate change.”
“To address the climate crisis from all angles we need to to remove carbon from our atmosphere,” said Hickenlooper. “This bill allows us to lessen the impacts of climate change now while we build our clean energy future.”
The CDR R&D Act would direct nine federal departments and agencies to fund and conduct research, development, and demonstration of carbon dioxide removal activities and techniques over ten years. Carbon removal research priorities include direct air capture, carbon uptake in forests and agriculture, ocean-based carbon removal, carbon mineralization, geologic sequestration, and carbon utilization.
Bennet is the chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry’s Subcommittee on Conservation, Climate, Forestry, and Natural Resources and has worked continuously to fight climate change, including by supporting ways to capture and remove carbon pollution from the atmosphere. In 2021, Bennet reintroduced the Carbon Capture Improvement Act with former Senator Rob Portman to make it easier for power plants and industrial facilities to finance the purchase and installation of carbon capture and storage equipment as well as direct air capture projects. This legislation was enacted into law in November 2021 as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
This legislation is supported by Carbon180, Clean Air Task Force, Environmental Defense Fund, LTC Action (Linden Trust for Conservation), and National Wildlife Federation.
The text of the bill is available HERE.