Building a New Carbon Economy: An Innovation Plan

The New Carbon Economy Consortium brings together fourteen academic institutions, national laboratories, and NGOs under this unified vision. Success, however, is not inevitable; significant knowledge gaps and challenges remain. Public and private capital currently offers little support for technological and land management innovation and nearly nonexistent incentives to bring these technologies and practices to scale. Overcoming these barriers and changing the status quo will require a monumental shift in the way we pursue the innovation agenda around carbon. To realize this shift, we must start building the foundation for a new carbon economy today. This innovation plan outlines the contours of that foundation, by recommending promising research focus areas for three solution pathways and critical research infrastructure needed to bring the new carbon economy to fruition. This document marks the first collective endeavor of the New Carbon Economy Consortium and will serve as a foundation as we seek additional resources and partners.