S3 #2 | Analogies for scale: what other technologies can teach us about carbon removal

Season 3 continues and the team remains focused on scaling up. The question today: has it been done before? The task ahead is huge and can sometimes feel insurmountable. In order to deliver what scientists say is needed, the carbon removal industry must go from the young seedling emerging market we know today to a great complex ecosystem - and time is against us. Has this level of growth ever been seen before?

In today’s episode, Tom and Emily go hunting for reassuring precedents and inspirational analogies. Every global industry that we now take for granted was once a young seedling too. How do those industries compare to CDR? What can we learn from their development? And will looking at their histories help us feel more prepared for the future?

In this episode, we listen back to brief clips from Sophie Purdom, co-founder of CTVC, and Dr Steve Smith, executive director of CO2RE. We first heard from them in season 1 episode 1 and season 2 episode 2 respectively.

To learn more about The Carbon Removal Show, including further reading and all our sources, head to thecarbonremovalshow.com.

And thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show.

Resources and further reading

Analogies and ecoraps for more carbon removal - https://medium.com/nori-carbon-removal/analogies-and-ecoraps-for-more-carbon-removal-3f4e8d92d1b4

Explaining the Exponential Growth of Renewable Energy - https://www.wri.org/insights/growth-renewable-energy-sector-explained 

Developments in wind power - https://post.parliament.uk/research-briefings/post-pn-0602/ 

The Hole: How Ronnie and Maggie Saved the World - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2JzOlRff08&t=1s

Back from the brink: how the world rapidly sealed a deal to save the ozone layer - https://rapidtransition.org/stories/back-from-the-brink-how-the-world-rapidly-sealed-a-deal-to-save-the-ozone-layer/ 

Learning from Success: Lessons in Science and Diplomacy from the Montreal Protocol - https://www.sciencediplomacy.org/article/2020/learning-success-lessons-in-science-and-diplomacy-montreal-protocol 

Should carbon removal be treated as waste management? Lessons from the cultural history of waste - https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsfs.2020.0010#d1e755 

Is the UK’s waste infrastructure ready for a circular economy - https://rrfw.org.uk/2018/01/08/is-the-uks-waste-infrastructure-ready-for-a-circular-economy/ 

Shifting the Direct Air Capture Paradigm - https://www.bcg.com/publications/2023/solving-direct-air-carbon-capture-challenge

How have COVID-19 vaccines been developed so fast - https://www.immunology.org/public-information/vaccine-resources/covid-19/covid-19-vaccine-infographics/speed-of-development 

A Guide to Global COVID-19 Vaccine Efforts - https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/guide-global-covid-19-vaccine-efforts

How COVID‐19 vaccine supply chains emerged in the midst of a pandemic - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8447169/

How did we develop a COVID-19 vaccine so quickly? - https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/how-did-we-develop-a-covid-19-vaccine-so-quickly 

Smart phones:

https://blog.textedly.com/smartphone-history-when-were-smartphones-invented

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2011/07/11/overview-of-smartphone-adoption/

https://www.pcmag.com/archive/smartphone-adoption-rate-fastest-in-tech-history-301990

https://www.govtech.com/products/how-smartphones-revolutionized-society-in-less-than-a-decade.html

https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/how-many-people-have-smartphones

https://www.bankmycell.com/blog/how-many-phones-are-in-the-world

Streaming continues to overtake TV - https://digitalcontentnext.org/blog/2023/05/16/streaming-continues-to-overtake-tv/

The rise of social media - https://ourworldindata.org/rise-of-social-media