Cargo Chat: Carbon Direct’s Friedmann on using data to achieve decarbonization

New York-based climate data company Carbon Direct is taking an innovative approach to tackling decarbonization. Founded in 2019, the New York-based company has developed a science-based approach to measuring data to assist clients with decarbonization targets. The data company also provides expertise in policy, commercial markets and technology. With more than 70 clients, including major air cargo carriers like Alaska Airlines, and over 30 scientists on staff, the company provides measurable data to clients and assists with solutions to carbon management and finding government incentives to achieve those targets. Carbon Direct is part of the First Movers Coalition , an organization Lufthansa recently joined, to work with other enterprises to further IATA ’s net-zero targets. [caption id="attachment_57135623" align="alignright" width="297"] Julio Friedmann, chief scientist at Carbon Direct (Photo/Carbon Direct)[/caption] Air Cargo Next sat down with chief scientist, Julio Friedmann , who also calls himself the “chief carbon wrangler,” to talk about sustainability in aviation and how Carbon Direct is working to ensure those goals are met. What follows is an edited version of the conversation. Air Cargo Next: Carbon Direct collects data and works with companies to report this data and show them how to reduce emissions and work on these decarbonization goals. What else does Carbon Direct do? Julio Friedmann : There’s several things that Carbon Direct does. Let me start by saying there’s a part which is an important part, but one which I am not involved in. There is a separate company, Carbon Direct Capital , that is an investment company, and they invest in equity for companies that deliver solutions to the market. The first thing we do is help companies measure what’s going on. They need to understand what their carbon footprint is and where it comes from. Surprisingly, few companies do that. Even in the case of Fortune 500 companies that are very sophisticated in this, we have found that they do not always think about it in a way that is scientifically accurate. So, in some cases, we have helped groups improve their measurement. Second, we focus on solutions. What can you actually do to reduce emissions? What can you actually do to remove the emissions you cannot reduce? Everybody has residual emissions. So, they need to start thinking about CO2 removals as well as CO2 reductions. That could be fuel switching, moving to a sustainable fuel like sustainable aviation fuel or green ammonia or green methanol or biofuels; it could be hydrogen — those are clean fuels, electrifying some aspect of their businesses. It could be doing carbon capture on a large asset like a cement plant. We are technically very sophisticated. And so, we help these people sort through what they can do. And then we also provide high quality CO2 removal credits. We are not an exchange. We are not a market. We are not a broker. … We do not do those things. ACN : How attainable are global goals to become net-zero by 2050 ? Is it realistic? JF: Yes, these goals are attainable. They are also straightforward. That doesn’t make them easy. That doesn’t make them cheap. But, yes, they are attainable and straightforward. There’s no mystery about what to do and how to do it or if we can do it. The aviation sector is the hardest of all sectors to decarbonize. This has been known for a long time. Yeah, there are some efficiencies that we will continue to get through engine and aircraft design and logistical management. But most people believe those gains will be small. So, the primary ways to decarbonize planes are sustainable aviation fuels and CO2 removal. That’s the menu. For CO2 removal, most airlines have already learned that the cheap, easy stuff doesn’t deliver. EasyJet and Delta have backed off of their conventional offsetting plans specifically, because they don't think that’s helping their customers or helping the climate. Instead, companies are more interested in different kinds of CO2 removal. For example, United Airlines is interested in carbon capture from the air in what is called direct air capture. [Companies] also are starting to get serious about sustainable aviation fuels . They realize that all these fuels are not created equal in terms of their carbon intensity or their price. They have all realized that today’s sustainable aviation fuel mostly made from used vegetable oils cannot scale easily and is not good enough in terms of the carbon intensity. So, all these companies are looking to grow supplies to reach their goals and to reach their climate goals. ACN: What are the biggest challenges and the biggest indicators that this is working? Are moving in a positive direction? JF: Importantly, technology is not a barrier. We have the technologies that we need. They can get cheaper, they can get better, but we have the kit. We know how to make some better jet fuels of all kinds. We know how to turn air into fuel. We know how to do all this stuff. So, there are two big barriers, and they are linked. One of them is a chicken-and-egg problem: Airlines are worried about making long-term offtake for fuels [and] because the technologies will evolve, they don’t want to be locked into a high price. The business will change a lot. So, it’s hard to put together a long-term offtake agreement. Without a long-term offtake agreement, it’s hard to finance a lot of these plans. Again, the government incentives help. It reduces the risk, but it’s hard to close that gap. People are not going to do the Field of Dreams model where they just build it and hope that the staff is right. So, because of the price differential in the market, they are taking a big risk to do that. We are seeing a lot of deals getting closer together. We’re starting to see closer alignment between, say, a large energy company, a large fuel manufacturer and a large airline. We’re starting to see those pieces come together, but they haven’t quite closed yet. And nobody wants to be the first. So that chicken-and-egg problem is very real.

Cargo Chat: Carbon Direct’s Friedmann on using data to achieve decarbonization

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