The Carbon Curve

Episode 67 is with Dr. Joachim Katchinoff, Co-founder and CEO of CREW Carbon
In this episode, Na’im speaks with Dr. Joachim “Jo” Katchinoff, co-founder and CEO of CREW Carbon, about how wastewater treatment plants can become permanent carbon sinks. Jo explains how dosing calcium carbonate into wastewater bioreactors converts microbe-produced CO2 into stable bicarbonate, why closed treatment systems make measurement far easier than open-ocean approaches, how the same intervention helps utilities remove more nitrogen and phosphorus while deferring major capital upgrades, what it takes to scale in a slow-moving regulated sector, and more.
This conversation was recorded before some big news from CREW: the company just signed an offtake agreement with Microsoft for up to 23,602 durable carbon removal units — bringing CREW to more than $40 million in committed carbon removal contracts with buyers including JP Morgan, Google, Autodesk, and Stripe through Frontier. It’s a strong signal that the approach Jo describes in this episode is resonating with the market’s most demanding buyers.
Na’im and Jo discuss:
* Jo’s Journey From Environmental Consulting To Yale
* Commercializing Alkalinity-Based Carbon Removal
* How Wastewater Treatment Actually Works
* Wastewater Alkalinity Enhancement Explained
* MRV Advantages Of Closed Reactor Systems
* Co-Benefits For Wastewater Utilities
* Scaling In A Regulated, Risk-Averse Sector
* What Policymakers Need To Know
* CREW’s Series A And What’s Next
Relevant Links:
* CREW Carbon - Website
* Wastewater Alkalinity Enhancement - CREW’s Approach
* CREW Carbon Signs Offtake Agreement with Microsoft for Wastewater Carbon Removal
* Isometric’s Certified Protocol for Carbon Removal via Wastewater
* CREW Carbon and Isometric Announce the World’s First Wastewater Alkalinity Enhancement Carbon Removal Credits
About Jo Katchinoff:
Jo is the co-founder and CEO of CREW Carbon, a scientist with multiple patents and over a decade in environmental research and climate modeling. Jo leads CREW’s scientific strategy, partnerships, and commercialization of a novel platform that lets wastewater facilities remove and permanently store atmospheric carbon dioxide. Previously, Jo was a postdoctoral researcher and project manager at Yale, where his work on alkalinity-based carbon removal laid the scientific foundation for CREW’s platform. During his PhD at Yale’s Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, he published in journals like Nature and won the Hammer Prize for Outstanding Geologist. He was also a Marie Curie Fellow at Oxford, studying weathering and carbon dioxide removal. He holds a PhD and MPhil from Yale and a BS in Earth Science from William & Mary.
About CREW Carbon:
Founded in 2022 out of Yale University, CREW Carbon is a water technology company providing wastewater treatment facilities with a solution that improves performance, lowers cost, and permanently removes greenhouse gases. By dosing carbon-negative alkalinity like calcium carbonate directly into wastewater bioreactors, CREW captures biogenic CO2 as stable bicarbonate while improving biological treatment efficiency. CREW is now deployed at 10 wastewater treatment facilities across the US and Europe, has raised over $35 million in funding including a recent Series A, and holds more than $40 million in committed carbon removal contracts with buyers including Microsoft, JP Morgan, Google, Autodesk, and Stripe through Frontier. You can learn more at crewcarbon.com.
This episode was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Consecon Foundation.
This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.
Na’im Merchant is the co-founder and Executive Director of Carbon Removal Canada, a policy initiative focused on scaling carbon removal in Canada. He is on the advisory board of the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative and Terraset, and a former policy fellow with Elemental Impact. He previously ran carbon removal consulting practice Carbon Curve, and publishes The Carbon Curve newsletter and podcast. Every two weeks, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing the policies, technologies, and collective action needed to scale up carbon removal around the world.
Tank Chen is the Head of Content and Community at CDR.fyi, a public benefit corporation dedicated to accelerating carbon removal through transparency. He is also the co-founder of CDRjobs, a career platform for the carbon removal industry. Based in Taiwan, Tank is a carbon removal advocate focused on educating policymakers, corporate leaders, and the public on the importance of carbon removal, using data-driven insights to support communication and policy advocacy.
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via LinkedIn.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carboncurve.substack.com

Episode 66 is with Richard Barker, Partner at Counteract
In this episode, Na’im speaks with Richard Barker, a partner at Counteract, about why financing models vary widely by pathway, capex/opex profile, and deployment context. Richard highlights industrial integration opportunities, the need for team and financial readiness for long corporate timelines, how policy should set stable expectations akin to landfill tax, and more.
Na’im and Richard discuss:
* Richard’s Journey Into Climate Investing
* Counteract’s Investment Thesis
* Financing Models Evolving
* CDR Pathways With Industrial Fit
* Financing In Tight Markets
* Preparing Startups To Scale
* Lessons From Other Industries
* Policy Expectations And Demand
* Counteract Next Delivery Fund
Relevant Links:
* Counteract - Website
* Counteract’s Portfolio Companies
About Richard Barker:
Richard is a Partner at Counteract. His varied experience spans over 35 years and working in a number of countries. He studied engineering at Oxford University, before lecturing in Economics at UCC in Ireland. After spells in strategic consulting and as Head of Strategy at ANZ Investment Bank in Australia, Richard founded and grew a number of sustainable businesses - in chemical process technology, aluminium recycling and biomethane - before moving onto the investment side about 10 years ago. He has advised a number of investors on sustainable infrastructure investment before joining Counteract.
About Counteract:
Founded in 2021, Counteract was the world’s first early stage investor dedicated to carbon removals. They’re a team of experienced entrepreneurs who saw a huge opportunity in an overlooked part of climate. The team has looked at over 1,000 companies on its journey to investing in 27 companies to date - diverse by both geography and CDR pathway. This, together with Counteract’s own research capability, puts it at the centre of this nascent market with unparalleled knowledge and a strong reputation within the CDR ecosystem
This episode was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Consecon Foundation.
This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.
Na’im Merchant is the co-founder and Executive Director of Carbon Removal Canada, a policy initiative focused on scaling carbon removal in Canada. He is on the advisory board of the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative and Terraset, and a former policy fellow with Elemental Impact. He previously ran carbon removal consulting practice Carbon Curve, and publishes The Carbon Curve newsletter and podcast. Every two weeks, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing the policies, technologies, and collective action needed to scale up carbon removal around the world.
Tank Chen is the Head of Content and Community at CDR.fyi, a public benefit corporation dedicated to accelerating carbon removal through transparency. He is also the co-founder of CDRjobs, a career platform for the carbon removal industry. Based in Taiwan, Tank is a carbon removal advocate focused on educating policymakers, corporate leaders, and the public on the importance of carbon removal, using data-driven insights to support communication and policy advocacy.
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via LinkedIn.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carboncurve.substack.com

Episode 65 is with Luke Connell (CarbonRun), Trish Nixon (Amplify), and Brandon Vlaar (Mangrove Systems) recorded live during Toronto Climate Week
For this special Toronto Climate Week wrap-up, Na’im sits down in person with three of the sharpest minds in the Toronto climate scene, each bringing a different vantage point on where carbon removal really stands. Trish Nixon (Venture Partner at Amplify Capital) brings the finance and capital side, Brandon Vlaar (CEO of Mangrove Systems) brings measurement and verification, and Luke Connell (CEO of CarbonRun) brings the supplier and operator side. A year after many feared the bottom would fall out of climate, the conversation is candid about the headwinds: a venture market that cannot scale this sector alone, a punishing “missing middle” in project finance, and an affordability lens now applied to every climate policy. At the same time, the panel makes the case that the structural foundations for a durable market are further along than the vibes suggest. It is an honest look at the valley of death ahead, and the real opportunity waiting for the companies that make it to the other side.
In this episode, we discuss:
* Whether the sector feels better or worse than a year ago, and why we are “over the hype cycle”
* The “missing middle” in project finance, and why venture was the wrong tool to scale an infrastructure-heavy market
* Canada as a safe haven for carbon removal: real advantage or comforting story?
* CarbonRun’s first verified river alkalinity enhancement credits, and how audits expose optimistic models fast
* The role of MRV and VVBs in reducing friction from operational activity to revenue
* Consolidation ahead for a field of roughly 1,100 permanent-CDR companies, and why that can be healthy
* The affordability trap, the move from “desktop to deployment,” and what success looks like five years out
Guests
Trish Nixon, Venture Partner, Amplify Capital. Trish is a climate-finance leader with roots in project finance and impact investing. She co-led CoPower, a clean-energy fintech, through its acquisition by Vancity, then served as Managing Director of Climate Finance at VCIB. At Amplify Capital she invests in early-stage climate and health ventures, and she also advises companies in the space, including CarbonRun.
Brandon Vlaar, CEO & Co-Founder, Mangrove Systems. Brandon is a repeat founder who came up through Canadian fintech, co-founding Lending Loop, the country’s first peer-to-peer lending platform, before turning to climate. He launched Mangrove Systems in 2022, and today it builds digital MRV (dMRV) software trusted by some of the largest carbon projects in the world, spanning carbon removal, carbon capture, low-carbon fuels, and super-pollutants.
Luke Connell, CEO & Co-Founder, CarbonRun. Luke is an entrepreneur whose career has bridged social impact and commercialization before he found his way to carbon dioxide removal in 2020. He now leads CarbonRun, the Nova Scotia company pioneering river alkalinity enhancement: adding finely ground limestone to acidified rivers to restore them while permanently converting atmospheric CO₂ into stable ocean bicarbonate. Under Luke, CarbonRun recently issued its first verified credits.
Referenced in this episode
* CarbonRun
* Mangrove Systems
* Amplify Capital
* Carbon Removal Canada
* Toronto Climate Week
This episode was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Consecon Foundation.
This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.
Na’im Merchant is the co-founder and Executive Director of Carbon Removal Canada, a policy initiative focused on scaling carbon removal in Canada. He is on the advisory board of the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative and Terraset, and a former policy fellow with Elemental Impact. He previously ran carbon removal consulting practice Carbon Curve, and publishes The Carbon Curve newsletter and podcast. Every two weeks, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing the policies, technologies, and collective action needed to scale up carbon removal around the world.
Tank Chen is the Head of Content and Community at CDR.fyi, a public benefit corporation dedicated to accelerating carbon removal through transparency. He is also the co-founder of CDRjobs, a career platform for the carbon removal industry. Based in Taiwan, Tank is a carbon removal advocate focused on educating policymakers, corporate leaders, and the public on the importance of carbon removal, using data-driven insights to support communication and policy advocacy.
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via LinkedIn.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carboncurve.substack.com

Episode 64 is with Dr. Julio Friedmann, Chief Scientist at Carbon Direct
In this episode, Na’im speaks with Dr. Julio Friedmann about Carbon Direct’s recent publication “ 5 Pillars of Successful Project Deployment and Delivery” on what the carbon dioxide removal industry needs to de-risk projects in order to attract new buyers and to stand up infrastructure-scale carbon removal projects.In this episode, Na’im and Julio discuss:
* How CDR 1.0 built markets
* What buyers today really want
* Overview of Five Pillars Carbon Direct outlined
* Why project assurance matter
* The bottleneck project management talents
* Industry-led standard setting
* Basics of bankable offtake agreements
Relevant Links:
* CDR 2.0: Five Pillars of Successful Project Deployment and Delivery - Report
* 2026 State of the Voluntary Carbon Market - Report
* 2026 State of the Voluntary Carbon Market - Webinar
* Carbon Direct - Website
* Advance Carbon Removal Coalition - Website
* Quebec Surficial Mineralization Hub
About Dr. Julio Friedmann:  Julio is Chief scientist at Carbon Direct. He works directly with clients, the science team, and the leadership of Carbon Direct to solve major technical challenges around carbon management and CO2 removal, making clean power in products and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Dr. Friedmann is one of the most widely known and authoritative experts in the US on carbon dioxide removal, CO2 conversion, and hydrogen industrial decarbonization and carbon capture and sequestration. He recently served as principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy at the Department of Energy, where he was responsible for doe’s r and d program in advanced fossil energy systems, carbon capture and storage, CO2 utilization, and CO2 removal.
More recently, he was a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia. He has held positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, including Chief Energy Technologist.
About Carbon Direct: Carbon Direct is a trusted energy and climate solutions company that combines world-class scientific expertise, technical rigor, and market insights to help clients achieve their business goals. Carbon Direct 70 plus scientists work closely with their finance policy and market experts to design diligence and deliver decarbonization solutions across industries. From JP Morgan Chase to Microsoft. Carbon Direct helps leading companies with carbon dioxide removal, carbon measurement from clean power opportunities and low carbon energy solutions.
This episode was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Consecon Foundation.
This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.
Na’im Merchant is the co-founder and Executive Director of Carbon Removal Canada, a policy initiative focused on scaling carbon removal in Canada. He is on the advisory board of the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative and Terraset, and a former policy fellow with Elemental Impact. He previously ran carbon removal consulting practice Carbon Curve, and publishes The Carbon Curve newsletter and podcast. Every two weeks, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing the policies, technologies, and collective action needed to scale up carbon removal around the world.
Tank Chen is the Head of Content and Community at CDR.fyi, a public benefit corporation dedicated to accelerating carbon removal through transparency. He is also the co-founder of CDRjobs, a career platform for the carbon removal industry. Based in Taiwan, Tank is a carbon removal advocate focused on educating policymakers, corporate leaders, and the public on the importance of carbon removal, using data-driven insights to support communication and policy advocacy.
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via LinkedIn.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carboncurve.substack.com

Episode 63 is with Jack Andreasen Cavanaugh
Last week, Heatmap reported that Microsoft — the single largest buyer of durable carbon dioxide removal in the world, accounting for 80–90% of all purchases ever made — is pausing new CDR purchases. Jack Andreasen Cavanaugh, Director of the Carbon Management Program at Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy, published a piece over the weekend arguing this isn’t really a Microsoft story. The real story is that Microsoft was ever alone in the first place.
In this conversation, Jack makes the case that voluntary corporate buying was never going to get us to gigatonnes, and that policy has to do the heavy lifting — just like it did for solar and wind. We get into what the next 12 months actually look like for CDR companies, why enhanced oil recovery deserves a fresh look, the limits of 45Q, and the one policy Jack would write into law tomorrow if he could.
In this episode:
* Why Microsoft’s dominance was a structural vulnerability, not market health — and the “seven buyers in a trench coat” problem
* Governments have committed $45M to CDR purchases but spent essentially $0
* The case for enhanced oil recovery and why “greenwashing” arguments fall apart under scrutiny
* Where 45Q falls short and why most CDR pathways still get no support
* Why Big Tech lobbying for CDR policy may be worth more than their purchases
* Jack’s dream policy: a low-carbon-intensity product standard embedded in global trade
About the guest:
Jack Andreasen Cavanaugh is Director of the Carbon Management Program at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He previously led Carbon Management Policy at Breakthrough Energy.
Referenced in this episode:
* Jack’s piece: “The Private Sector Built the Market — Time for Us to Scale It”
* Heatmap’s reporting on Microsoft’s CDR pause
This episode was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Consecon Foundation.
This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.
Na’im Merchant is the co-founder and Executive Director of Carbon Removal Canada, a policy initiative focused on scaling carbon removal in Canada. He is on the advisory board of the Carbon Removal Standards Initiative and Terraset, and a former policy fellow with Elemental Impact. He previously ran carbon removal consulting practice Carbon Curve, and publishes The Carbon Curve newsletter and podcast. Every two weeks, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing the policies, technologies, and collective action needed to scale up carbon removal around the world.
Tank Chen is the Head of Content and Community at CDR.fyi, a public benefit corporation dedicated to accelerating carbon removal through transparency. He is also the co-founder of CDRjobs, a career platform for the carbon removal industry. Based in Taiwan, Tank is a carbon removal advocate focused on educating policymakers, corporate leaders, and the public on the importance of carbon removal, using data-driven insights to support communication and policy advocacy.
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app or subscribe via The Carbon Curve newsletter here. If you’d like to get in touch with Na’im, you can reach out via LinkedIn.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carboncurve.substack.com