There is scientific consensus that carbon dioxide removal (CDR) will be necessary to meet the Paris Agreement's goal of keeping the rise in global temperature to within 2°C. Among the most promising and scalable approaches to CDR are ocean-based pathways. These methods capitalize on natural physical and biogeochemical processes — but the ocean is vast, dynamic, and ecologically complex, presenting significant challenges to quantifying the amount of carbon removed through CDR interventions. Indeed, a key bottleneck to scaling ocean-based CDR is the absence of robust Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems — a gap in capacity that limits investment and hampers growth of an ocean-based carbon removal industry. In this talk, we’ll introduce [C]Worthy, a new non-profit research organization dedicated to developing scientifically credible approaches to MRV for ocean-based CDR. Critically, while direct observations provide valuable insights, they are insufficient to assess the effectiveness of ocean-based CDR interventions — advanced oceanographic and biogeochemical modeling tools are a requirement. We’ll explore how [C]Worthy is accelerating the development of a standardized, open-source modeling system for quantifying ocean-based CDR, aiming to enable this industry to scale on the basis of credible science and contribute effectively to climate change mitigation.

About the Speakers:

Matt Long, Ph.D., is a co-founder at [C]Worthy and the CEO. He was formerly a Scientist in the Oceanography Section of the Climate & Global Dynamics Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. He worked on the development of the Community Earth System Model and researches ocean biogeochemistry, carbon cycle, marine ecosystems, climate variability and change, and led the group developing the MARBL biogeochemical model.

Alicia Karspeck, Ph.D., is a co-founder at [C]Worthy and the CTO. She was formerly the Director of Earth Information Program at SilverLining—with a focus on accelerating the accessibility of Earth system data and models. She spent over 10 years at NCAR leading the global ocean and coupled data assimilation efforts for the CESM model and has held technical leadership roles at multiple private risk analytics firms.