• As frameworks such as the CRCF, SBTi Net-Zero Standard 2.0, and emerging compliance markets continue to evolve, what evidence will buyers, regulators, and investors expect before they commit to carbon removal?
• Who should bear the cost of monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV): project developers, buyers, governments, or independent third parties?
• Can today's MRV systems, registries, and verification processes support a carbon removal market at gigatonne scale, or do they need to evolve?
• Will the market align around trusted MRV standards, or will competing frameworks create new barriers to investment, procurement, and compliance demand?

Enjoy a refreshment break while continuing discussions and making new connections.

• Beyond corporate buyers, what roles should governments, foundations, family offices, and public institutions play in creating durable demand for carbon removal?
• Which market mechanisms, from advance market commitments and public procurement to compliance markets and carbon pricing have the greatest potential to accelerate deployment?
• What gives investors the confidence to deploy capital at scale: policy certainty, long-term demand, stronger offtake markets, or something else?
• As the carbon removal market matures, how should public, philanthropic, and private capital work together to build a self-sustaining industry?

Three startups from the remove program share lessons learned and insights about what it takes to build a CDR company in the current environment. A look behind the scenes, beyond the polished presentations into the reality of day-to-day operations and challenges. Founders share their insights and views on what they have learned the hard way and what CDR needs more of, from their perspective.

Attendees are invited to engage in focused, in-depth discussions on the pressing challenges facing carbon dioxide removal development and the rising demand for solutions. The session concludes with participants collaboratively sharing insights and innovative ideas, fostering actionable dialogue that can shape the future of the CDR ecosystem.

Carbon removal projects often need to spend meaningful money before reaching the milestones that make buyers and capital providers comfortable: first verified delivery, contracted demand or credible operating history. But this is not only a funding gap. Projects are also building the evidence, documentation, relationships and operating track record that make future finance possible.

In this campfire, developers, buyers and capital providers will compare where projects actually get stuck, what proof changes the risk conversation, and which forms of capital fit which stage. Who should fund the expensive journey to first credit, and what would make that bridge more repeatable?

Hitting global targets for carbon removal will require a functioning ETS in North America. But the US Congress is, well, a bit broken when it comes to climate action. However, States and Provinces have quite a bit of power! California, Washington, and Quebec all have existing ETS's and they have just agreed to link their carbon markets into a common platform. Mike Robinson, Director of PacCLEAN.org will lay out a clear strategy for developing and growing this platform into a North American ETS covering $12T - $15T in GDP -- without having to wait for Congress!

As Executive Director and Founder of the Indonesian Biochar Association (ABII) and CEO of Sawa EcoSolutions, I've spent the past several years working directly with Indonesian government ministries, regulators, and policymakers to help shape the country's emerging approach to biochar, carbon markets, and CDR more broadly. This session will draw on that experience to explore how CDR developers can constructively engage government stakeholders in emerging markets – building trust, navigating regulatory uncertainty, and translating technical MRV concepts into policy-relevant language. The discussion will be practical and peer-driven, aimed at surfacing transferable lessons for attendees working in other jurisdictions with nascent or evolving CDR regulatory frameworks.

Discussion points I'd plan to raise at the table:

• How to identify and win over the right government counterparts early, before formal policy exists
• Balancing the pace of commercial CDR development against the pace of regulatory maturity
• Positioning industry associations (e.g. ABII) as a bridge between developers and regulators
• Translating MRV, additionality, and permanence concepts into language that resonates with policymakers
• Managing political transitions and institutional turnover without losing regulatory momentum
• Practical examples from Indonesia's biochar and carbon market journey that other markets could adapt