Cooperation with Tomorrow’s Air – FAQ

In July 2023, ETC joined Tomorrow’s Air in a partnership for sustainable events and climate education in European tourism. Tomorrow’s Air is committed to cleaning carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and permanently storing it, fostering a greener future for the travel industry. This partnership aims to increase awareness of climate-conscious travel among European travel professionals and support innovations in climate technology.

Learn more about the partnership here.

Through this partnership, ETC event delegates now have the opportunity to purchase a 25-euro carbon removal package every time they register for an event. For every delegate who chooses to purchase this package, ETC will match their payment with an additional 25 euro contribution. The total payment made by the delegate and matched by ETC will contribute towards the removal and storage of 52 kgs of carbon dioxide.

Tomorrow’s Air originated from within the Adventure Travel Trade Association, dedicated to educating and mobilizing a global travel collective to support climate conscious travel innovations. Tomorrow’s Air is the first and only platform to educate travellers on inspiring climate solutions and help travellers to reduce their emissions through investments in carbon removal technology and sustainable aviation fuel.

Earth’s atmosphere now contains so much CO2 that even if all emissions are halted tomorrow, Earth’s surface temperature would require thousands of years to cool and return to the levels of the pre-industrial era. (LINK)

To cool our planet we have to clean our atmosphere of excess carbon dioxide because it takes hundreds to thousands of years to remove it by natural processes alone. Scientists agree that carbon removal is necessary to avoid dangerous climate change.

Carbon dioxide removal is a process of taking excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it away long-term.  

Nature absorbs carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere through a process called carbon sequestration. Forests, grasslands, and marshes are a few of the ecosystems that are capable of storing carbon. Carbon dioxide removal techniques use technology to speed up the rate at which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and stored permanently. 

Learn more here.

At this point, humans have emitted too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and nature cannot absorb it all on its own. Scientists estimate that by the year 2050 we need to be removing at least 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. Through Tomorrow’s Air, travelers can help fund the scaleup of carbon removal technology.

There are many different ways carbon dioxide can be removed from the atmosphere both naturally and with the help of technology. Tomorrow’s Air supports three methods of carbon dioxide removal that have the potential to restore our climate and benefit the atmosphere in the long term. 

When ETC delegates make a contribution to Tomorrow’s Air, their order is split across these three carbon removal methods. 

1. Direct Air Capture is a method of sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere using a machine analogous to a vacuum. The CO2  that is removed is injected underground where it is stored permanently. 
2. Enhanced Rock Weathering is a process that speeds up the natural way rocks and soil absorb carbon dioxide. By adding special minerals to the soil, it helps capture more CO2 from the air and store it permanently. This process not only removes more CO2 but also acts as a natural fertilizer, improving soil health and supporting plant growth. 
3. Biochar is a type of charcoal made by heating organic materials, like wood or plants, without much oxygen. When added to soil, it locks away carbon that would normally go back into the atmosphere. This helps reduce CO2 levels while also improving soil health and plant growth.  

Learn more about these technologies in the CDR Primer and in this Technology Deep Dive video from Tomorrow’s Air. 

Tomorrow’s Air prioritizes carbon removal methods with permanent storage meaning the CO2  that is removed from the atmosphere can be safely stored for at least 500 years. 

In each of the methods mentioned above, the CO2 that is pulled out of the atmosphere goes through a chemical process that turns it into a solid form similar to stone or charcoal. This keeps the carbon locked away and prevents it from going back into the air. 

Conventional offsetting for emissions is not the same as carbon dioxide removal with permanent storage. Carbon removal means taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and storing for hundreds to thousands of years. Carbon removal stands in contrast to conventional carbon offsets, which typically aim to avoid emissions or protect carbon absorbing environments.

Conventional carbon offsetting project examples include making payments to support sustaining a forest for example or supporting renewable energy projects. While these can be valuable and beneficial they do not provide long term carbon dioxide storage and the problem now is at such a scale, that additional means of carbon removal and storage are necessary.

Some common concerns with conventional carbon offsets include:

• Leakage
  For example, providing funding through carbon offsets to protect a single forest may, in some cases, redirect the deforestation elsewhere. For example, if a logger would have cut down a forest that is now protected, they may cut down another unprotected forest instead. 

• Additionality
  If a project would have reduced emissions regardless of the offset, it doesn’t provide additional climate action. For example, if a carbon offset payment funds the protection of a forest that wasn’t at risk of being cut down, this is not helping combat climate change. 

• Permanence
  Most offsets only promise to reduce or store carbon dioxide for 100 years or less, but carbon dioxide can remain in the atmosphere for thousands of years. 

• Local community impact
  Some offset projects have been shown to harm local communities or make other environmental problems worse. 

• Greenwashing
  Some schemes make misleading claims or false promises. For example, some projects claim to reduce fossil fuel use or reduce pollution from cookstoves, but the results may not be as claimed. 

The innovative suppliers of carbon removal within Tomorrow’s Air portfolio were selected because they can clean the atmosphere of CO2 and store it permanently. 

A 2024 report, State of Carbon Dioxide Removal, led by the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, refers to forms of carbon removal included in the Tomorrow’s Air portfolio that involve capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it for long time periods as ‘novel’ CDR: Biochar, Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage, and Enhanced Rock Weathering. 

As the report observes, “Virtually all scenarios that limit warming to 1.5°C or 2°C require “novel” CDR, such as BECCS, biochar, DACCS, and enhanced rock weathering. However, only a tiny fraction (0.002 GtCO2 per year) of current CDR results from novel CDR methods. Closing the CDR gap requires rapid growth of novel CDR.”

Each 25 euro package is matched by ETC to build the clean air movement and order 52 kgs of CO2  to be removed and permanently stored: 30€ to carbon removal innovators, 17.5€ to education, 2.5€ to admin costs including transaction costs.