JPMorgan bets on CO2 removal

Brian DiMarino is driving JPMorgan’s massive investment in carbon removal. In today’s newsletter, he explains the bank’s strategy to remediate the atmosphere while reducing its carbon footprint. You can read and share this story on Bloomberg.com. For unlimited access to climate and energy news, please subscribe.

By Michelle Ma

JPMorgan Chase & Co. made waves in May when it announced it would purchase $200 million of carbon dioxide removal. Though it’s a relatively small investment for a bank JPMorgan’s size, it’s one of the largest corporate buys of carbon removal and could be a huge boon to the nascent industry to pull carbon out of the air.

Brian DiMarino, managing director and head of operational sustainability at JPMorgan, was the driving force behind the precedent-setting move in the financial services industry. The flow of money could help the industry scale up in the coming decades, which it will likely need to do if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Tech giants like Microsoft, Stripe and Spotify have led the way to date, but DiMarino is staking out JPMorgan’s claim as a financial leader.

“We’re trying to lead in this space, and that’s intentional,” DiMarino said. But, he added, “over time, if we do our job right over time, we shouldn’t have to buy any more carbon removal.” 

Bloomberg Green spoke with DiMarino about his work and the carbon removal pathways he’s most excited about. The following conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. 

Carbon removal is a largely untested industry far from mass commercialization. Why is investing in this field a priority for JPMorgan? 

This should be a priority for everyone. We are in the midst of a climate crisis. We’re very focused on absolute emission reductions, but carbon offsets and carbon removal are a super important part of the puzzle because we have to manage what’s being emitted and already in the atmosphere today. These technologies are the way we’re able to do that, so we have to invest in them, help them scale and show that they’re valuable. One of the ways we do that is by putting the name of JPMorgan behind it and being willing to bet on this space.

As a buyer, how do you go about vetting carbon removal technology? Who do you lean on for technical and scientific guidance? 

We have a really great partnership with [carbon management firm] Carbon Direct, so they’re one of the primary groups that we go to to look into this stuff. We do our own diligence, we do research, we read whatever third-party papers we can get. We try to understand the tech, then bring these things to Carbon Direct. We say, “Hey, listen, we feel good about this. Tell us what your thoughts are.” We’ll take their input. Sometimes we’ll even go to some other third parties like independent researchers. 

What are the biggest obstacles to the carbon removal industry scaling? 

One is demand. We regularly talk about a supply-constrained market, and that’s because these technologies are still trying to scale. But if the demand isn’t there today, investors don’t show up to finance these companies, and the companies never get to commercial scale. So we need demand and supply to tick up together, and I don’t think that we’re seeing as much demand as we need to see yet. 

Capital is super important as well. Obviously if it doesn’t show up, you’re not going to scale these companies. The economy is shifting, and we’re seeing capital dry up a little. We don’t really have time for that from a climate perspective. 

The other thing is infrastructure and human capital. This is an industrial-scale revolution we’re going through. This is not someone sitting on a computer typing code. This is steel and pipelines. It’s pumping bio-oil and sequestered carbon underground. You want to electrify the world. Where are all the electricians? You want to build offshore wind? Where are all the deep sea marine divers? 

Read the full interview here.

After two decades fighting the US, Taliban leaders now find themselves sparring with neighbors as the realities of global warming hit home. Today they are disputing with Iran over depleted water resources — a situation that could further destabilize an already volatile region.

Fifty years ago Iran signed an agreement for Afghanistan to supply a certain amount of water from the Helmand, a waterway that’s become a less reliable resource due to climate change. 

Iran argues the Taliban reduced the water supply since it returned to power and isn’t keeping Afghanistan’s side of the bargain. A skirmish erupted on the border in May, leaving two Iranian guards and one Taliban member dead. The disagreement has now become so heated that the Taliban has sent thousands of troops and hundreds of suicide bombers to the border, according to a person familiar with the matter, who says the group is prepared for war.

By Brian K. Sullivan

Severe thunderstorms, winds, hail and flooding rain are likely across the eastern US on Monday. There is a chance a tornado could pop up as well.

The worst of the storms is expected to develop in southern Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, the US Storm Prediction Center said. In addition to ground traffic, the storms could cause delays and cancellations late Monday afternoon into the early evening as well for airlines.

“This is a really potent storm system coming through especially for this time of year,’’ said Brian Hurley, a senior branch forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center.

Across the eastern US, 49.4 million people face an enhanced risk of dangerous storms and flooding Monday, with an additional 38 million facing a slight risk, including New York City and Pittsburgh. The worst threat will likely be high winds, Hurley said.

The West Virginia Emergency Management Division is warning residents to prepare for the storms and cautioning people should charge cell phones and have a way of receiving weather alerts, according to a social media post.

In other weather news:

Southern Europe: Extreme heat is returning to southern Europe this week, with the potential for record temperatures in parts of Spain, while further north a destructive storm is lashing the Nordic region.

Central Europe: Slovenia is beginning to assess the human and economic toll from flooding that’s inundated parts of the country as the Alpine nation of 2.1 million took the brunt of record rainfall in central Europe. 

China: Heavy rains lashing China’s northeast are ravaging crops in some areas of the country’s grain basket, threatening to increase imports at a time of rising food insecurity across the globe.

Tropics: Tropical Storm Khanun now looks to be veering away from Kyushu, the most south western of Japan’s main islands, and headed for Korea.

There’s a new type of dad in town: climate dads. They’re a little bit nerdy, a little bit obsessive and 100% focused on saving the planet.

In 2023, obsessively telling your family which time of day the app says is best for running the washing machine based on the kilowatt-hours generated by the rooftop solar panels is the new reminder to turn down the thermostat. The recent cohort of climate dads are part of a generation that approaches fatherhood differently.

Not even the World Scout Jamboree is safe from climate change. The gathering, which drew 43,000 youths from 158 countries, kicked off this week in South Korea. But extreme heat has taken a toll on attendees.

Morgan Stanley nears its ESG goal. The Wall Street firm said it’s more than two-thirds of the way towards achieving its target to finance $1 trillion of sustainable investments by the end of the decade. 

Offshore wind gets big. Really big. The Atlantic’s largest offshore turbines are set to rise off Martha’s Vineyard. They’ll be equivalent to the Washington Monument with the Statue of Liberty stacked on top.

Taking on climate change means giving serious thought to how we talk about and imagine it. The most recent episode of Zero kicks off a series of conversations with climate storytellers. Novelist Kim Stanley Robinson joins Akshat Rathi to talk about how he crafts a good story out of a desperate situation, what he thinks the limits of climate storytelling are, and how his thinking has changed since publishing Ministry for the Future, a landmark “cli-fi” work. Listen to the full episode and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Google to get new episodes.

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