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Danan Margason is the Chief Product Officer of Carbon Direct, a company that focuses on science-backed solutions for end-to-end carbon management.
They wanted to drive real, tangible impact in climate change, so they gathered climate scientists, a fund of money, and a carbon management platform for tracking & reducing the CO2 (or equivalent) emissions. Their customers are businesses, the Microsoft’s, Blackrock’s, and Shopify’s of the world who have the self-accountability and drive to reach “carbon neutral”, given their big footprint.
Back to Danan….before Carbon Direct he was the Director of Product at booking.com, an SVP at marketing analytics startup, Tune, and in past lives was an attorney and a professional rower! An interesting human & a cool cat. So what the hell is carbon management?
We dive deep into…what exactly is carbon capture, specifically nature vs engineering-based types? How does Carbon Direct make money, while removing carbon? Most carbon offsets are bunk. How? How is Carbon Direct trying to legitimize the carbon credit market? And probably most interesting of all, how do you measure the weight & impact of something that is invisible, odorless, & unapparent (CO2)?
This episode is particularly valuable for…anyone who’s been scratching their head on what exactly are carbon credits, whether they’re BS, and what true carbon capture projects are being done?
As well for any leader or executive who is thinking about their company’s impact from an environmental POV, and wants to do something about it! Carbon Direct might be your answer 😊
Cheers! 🙏🏼 If you like what you hear today, subscribe on Spotify or your favorite podcast app. It gives us the best kind of feedback, and in turn motivates us to keep making new episodes 😇
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Listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Show Notes
- [0:40] Can you talk about the new product initiatives?
- [4:03] Does this go back to the measurement conversation? Where Carbon Direct ingests how a company operates, and Carbon Direct spits out a measurement or goal.
- [5:08] What are contrails?
- [6:21] What about everyone else besides the bigger companies? Is their appetite for what Carbon Direct offers?
- [8:44] Who’s your sweet spot customer today?
- [10:11] How Carbon Direct gives companies access to Science teams
- [11:24] How does the services and software play together? Where is this going next.
- [13:52] And this would be through the Saas dashboard that companies are buying into?
- [15:15] How are you all making money today?
- [17:14] You all have found a way to make money through carbon management. Why is that important?
- [20:17] What is the scaling plan for Carbon Direct? How do you go from removing 500M tons of carbon, to 40B tons of carbon
- [22:52] Are you all just in the US? Or are you in other countries.
- [23:25] In the future are you all going to be just B2b? Or B2c as well.
- [24:18] It sounds like the B2B route is the best way forward (for scale)?
- [25:07] What if someone else wants to get into the Earth-saving business? Where should they head? Pitfalls? Some tips & tricks to get there a little quicker.
- [28:17] We need government involvement. What do you see is the biggest thing we could see or need from governments today?
- [30:52] With everything you’ve seen, what might be the next step change in climate action or sustainability?
- [33:24] Rapid mayhem questions!
- [37:23] Climate change is so big, people often feel helpless in helping. What is the equivalent of what a listener can DO?
- [38:50] Where can we find you, Danan?
Links from Episode
- Connect with Danan Margason: Twitter | LinkedIn | Bio | Email
- Follow Carbon Direct: Website | Blog | Twitter | YouTube
- Careers at the Carbon Direct: Careers
- What is carbon removal
- Shopify
- What does Fortune 100 / Fortune 500 mean
- The Carbon Direct Platform
- Carbon Direct’s measure your carbon footprint
- What is the Inflation Reduction Act
- Fed and state policies impacting ESG reporting could be issued in 2023
- What is biochar
- What are sustainable aviation fuels (SAF)
- Delta Airlines
- What is low carbon concrete
- Patagonia
- Yvon Chouinard
- What is an activist investor
- What is a carbon tax
- What are alternative fuels
- Joe Manchin
- Where can they store carbon
- What is Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV)
- What is ocean alkalinity
- What is direct air capture (DAC)
- 50% of all CO2 has been released, in the past 25 years
- There’s about 1.6T tons of CO2 in the atmosphere already
- Some major products that can be upcycled from CO2 are polymers, carbonizing drinks, and concrete
- Carbon rocks (mineralization) are a thing! And it cost ~$150-200 per ton
Which point from our chat with Danan do you think will change the way we tackle carbon emissions? Comment below 👇