The scope and use cases for the State CDR Atlas
The State CDR Atlas covers all 50 US states and 8 distinct CDR Approach Categories. At a high level, the Atlas provides two ratings of high, medium, or low to all 8 CDR Approach Categories for each of the 50 states. The Opportunity Rating highlights the existing opportunity a state might have to do CDR based on natural resources, existing infrastructure, workforce, and other pre-existing qualities of a state. The Enabling Rating highlights whether the current policy and regulatory landscape of a state is ready to facilitate safe, supported CDR deployment.
The Atlas also includes ratings for 16 different Metric Categories (e.g., farm coverage, coastal access, clean energy availability, etc.), which are the metrics used to inform high level Opportunity and Enabling Ratings for each state. It also includes a detailed methodology deck and a workbook of over 80 individual metrics and accompanying data and metadata so users can explore state opportunities at a more granular level.
Other Considerations
This tool cannot and should not be used to do the following:
- To formally site projects. Siting decisions should be informed by much more granular data than the Atlas provides and substantive, two-way engagement with host communities, which could not be represented in this tool.
- To argue that an entire state will be supportive of a certain type of CDR. This tool showcases existing qualities of a state that may enable CDR deployment, not how stakeholders in that state feel about it. Serious work is needed to ensure local stakeholders desire CDR prior to deployment.
- To disqualify a type of CDR from consideration in a state. The Atlas shows which CDR approaches might have the highest potential in a state. It does not attempt to disqualify any approach from consideration. CDR is a new, rapidly evolving field. A state should not rule out a type of CDR just because this Atlas does not currently highlight it for their state. Additionally, a CDR approach may receive a low Opportunity Rating because a critical feedstock (e.g., agricultural land) is constrained, limiting the potential scale of the approach, but it still may be possible to deploy CDR at smaller scales in those geographies.
- To pit states against one another. The scale of CDR necessary to avoid climate tipping points is enormous and each state in the US has an opportunity to participate in scaling the CDR industry and reaping benefits along the way. States should learn from one another and take advantage of their unique resources to create enabling policy environments for CDR.
Disclaimer
The tool is provided with the understanding that RMI is not herein engaged in rendering professional advice or services, and no content is intended to serve as investment, legal, tax, accounting, or other regulated advice. You shall remain solely responsible for your use of the tool and acknowledge that any reliance upon the tool shall be entirely at your sole option and risk. If you download data from this tool, please note that the download might miss important updates to the tool and data. Although RMI is actively maintaining and updating the tool, all content is being provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind as to the ownership, accuracy, or adequacy of the content. Please reach out to Kyle Clark-Sutton (kclarksutton@rmi.org) and Isabel Wood (iwood@rmi.org) for more information, or if you have suggestions for data to include or additional feedback.
Acknowledgments
This tool was developed with support from Breakthrough Energy and the Grantham Foundation. We would also like to express gratitude to the many CDR companies and peer organizations that provided helpful feedback during the development of the Atlas. For a full list of contributors and reviewers, see slide 2 in the Atlas Methodology.