Carbon180

What Carbon180 does

Carbon180 is a U.S.-based 501(c)-style nonprofit climate NGO founded in 2015 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., with 11–50 employees. Its mission is to fundamentally rethink carbon by scaling carbon dioxide removal (CDR) through federal policy advocacy, coalition-building, and field-building activities — explicitly nonpartisan and nonprofit, funded by donations and grants. The organization does not develop proprietary removal technology; instead it convenes policymakers, communities, entrepreneurs, and researchers across the full CDR stack, spanning Direct Air Capture (DAC), Biomass Carbon Removal and Storage (BiCRS), Enhanced Rock Weathering, Forest Carbon Removal, Marine CDR, and Soil Carbon Removal pathways.

Carbon180's core deliverables are policy advocacy, public education tools, and coalition programs rather than commercial products. Its flagship resources include the Carbon Removal Policy Tracker and Carbon Removal Funding Tracker (federal CDR spending and legislation), fact sheets, reports, a graphics library, two newsletters (The Carbon Copy weekly, The Deep End bimonthly), and pathway-specific explainers. Its programmatic portfolio covers DAC Hubs, Environmental Justice, Farm Bill, Federal Procurement, High-Accountability MRV, Entrepreneurs in Residence, Road to 2030 (30 megaton/yr by 2030 ambition), and the CORE Framework. The organization co-leads the CALDAC coalition in California's San Joaquin Valley and has contributed to material federal policy wins, including the $3.5B Regional DAC Hubs program (IIJA) and the IRA-driven transformation of the 45Q tax credit (DAC up to $180/ton for geologic storage).

Carbon180's revenue model is donation- and grant-based with no commercial pricing. GTM motions combine community-led coalition work (community veto power in CALDAC, EIR alumni network spawning CarbonPlan and Heirloom) with sales-led federal procurement advocacy. Key "customers" are federal agencies (DOE, USDA, EPA, DOI), CALDAC coalition partners (UC Berkeley CLEE, Lawrence Berkeley NL, CSU Fresno/Bakersfield, AECOM, Mosaic Materials, Valley Onward), CDR entrepreneurs and operators, environmental justice organizations, and farmers/forest landowners engaged via Farm Bill programs. The organization's competitive advantages rest on nine years of regulatory relationships, an authoritative content/data library, and a uniquely central role in the U.S. CDR ecosystem.

Name

Carbon180

Legal name

Carbon180

Website

https://carbon180.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Carbon180 is a U.S. nonprofit climate NGO (founded 2015, 11–50 staff) that scales carbon dioxide removal through federal policy advocacy, coalition-building, and field-building programs serving policymakers, CDR entrepreneurs, and frontline communities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Climate Policy Advocacy

NAICS

Environmental Consulting Services (541620), Environmental Consulting Services (54162)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Carbon Removal Project Development, Financing & Offtake (Developers, Aggregators, Buyers Clubs) (EUABAFAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Carbon Removal Measurement, Monitoring & Verification (Removal MRV & Durability) (EUABAFAK), Tokenization, Digital MRV-Linked Credits & On-Chain Carbon Infrastructure (Digital assets, provenance) (EUABAAAE), Data Assurance, Audit & Attestation (ISAE 3000/3410, SOC, Chain-of-Custody) (EUABACAJ), Regenerative Agriculture & Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) (EUABABAE)

Keywords

• Carbon removal policy
• Direct air capture
• Climate advocacy services
• Environmental justice
• Federal procurement advocacy

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: As a nonprofit organization, Carbon180 operates entirely on donations and grants. The organization states: 'We are proudly nonprofit and nonpartisan. We spend every dollar and every day working to grow the carbon removal field in a way that drives good policy, accelerates innovation, and serves community needs.' The organization is sustained by charitable giving, with climate-mitigation donations growing faster than overall U.S. giving in recent years.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Carbon180 is a nonprofit climate NGO that builds the carbon dioxide removal (CDR) field through federal policy advocacy, coalition-building, research publications, and entrepreneurial support. The organization tracks federal CDR funding and policy via online trackers, publishes resources across CDR pathways (DAC, BiCRS, Enhanced Rock Weathering, Forest, Marine, Soil), and runs advocacy initiatives covering DAC Hubs, Federal Procurement, Farm Bill, High-Accountability MRV, Environmental Justice, and the Road to 2030.

Product overview

Carbon180 is a climate NGO focused on reversing two centuries of carbon emissions through policy advocacy and field-building for carbon removal. The organization does not offer a commercial product or software platform but provides a portfolio of educational resources, policy tools, and advocacy programs. Core offerings include the Carbon Removal Policy Tracker and Funding Tracker (tools for monitoring federal CDR investments), Fact Sheets and Reports (publications explaining carbon removal pathways), the Graphics Library (visual explainers), and two newsletters (The Carbon Copy weekly and The Deep End bimonthly). The organization runs multiple initiatives including DAC Hubs, Environmental Justice, Farm Bill, Federal Procurement, High-Accountability MRV, Entrepreneurs in Residence fellowship, Road to 2030, and CORE Framework programs. Pathway-specific resources cover Direct Air Capture, Forest Carbon Removal, Enhanced Rock Weathering, Biomass Carbon Removal & Storage, and additional CDR approaches. Carbon180 was founded in 2015 and has prepared over 700 appropriations requests and engaged with Capitol Hill over 160 times in 2023.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Carbon Removal Policy Tracker

Quantifiable outcome

• Carbon180 helped secure $3.5 billion for four regional DAC hubs in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment (CLEE) at UC BerkeleycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2023Carbon180 is a member of the CALDAC coalition led by UC Berkeley's Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment. Carbon180's role is specifically focused on building community partnerships, creating educational resources, and co-leading the Community Benefits Plan for a potential community-led DAC hub in California's southern San Joaquin Valley.
• Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratorycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the CALDAC coalition. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory brings technical expertise to the feasibility study for a community-led DAC hub in the San Joaquin Valley.
• California State University, FresnocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the CALDAC coalition. CSU Fresno contributes local expertise and community connections in California's Central Valley region.
• California State University, BakersfieldminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the CALDAC coalition focused on a community-led DAC hub in California's southern San Joaquin Valley.
• Electric Power Research InstituteminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the CALDAC coalition contributing technical expertise on energy systems for DAC hub development.
• Data for ProgressminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the CALDAC coalition. Data for Progress provides polling and policy analysis to support the coalition's work.
• Capture6minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the CALDAC coalition. Capture6 is a CDR technology developer contributing technical expertise to the DAC hub application.
• AECOMminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the CALDAC coalition. AECOM provides engineering and infrastructure expertise for the DAC hub feasibility study.
• PSE Healthy EnergyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the CALDAC coalition providing energy and environmental health expertise.
• Project 2030minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the CALDAC coalition focused on accelerating climate action.
• Valley OnwardcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the CALDAC coalition representing local community interests in California's Central Valley.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• CarbonPlan: Nonprofit focused on analyzing and improving the quality of carbon removal and climate solutions. CarbonPlan was a 2020 Carbon180 EIR fellowship alumni; both organizations publish open data and analysis to improve CDR accountability, and Carbon180 continues to shape the policy environment CarbonPlan's research feeds into.

Emerging players

• Carbonfuture: Carbon removal credit marketplace and registry operator for durable CDR. Carbonfuture operates the kind of high-accountability MRV infrastructure that Carbon180's High-Accountability MRV initiative is pushing federal policy to adopt, making it a downstream market analog rather than a direct competitor.
• Puro.earth: Carbon removal marketplace focused on biochar, geological storage, and other engineered removal pathways. Puro.earth is a market-side counterpart to Carbon180's policy-side work; both push for rigorous MRV and durable removal, but Puro.earth operates the trading infrastructure Carbon180's procurement advocacy aims to grow.

Broad incumbents

• The Nature Conservancy: Global conservation nonprofit with major work on nature-based climate solutions, forest carbon, and federal policy. TNC overlaps directly with Carbon180's forest carbon removal and Farm Bill initiatives and brings far greater land and operational footprint to the field-building conversation.
• Clean Air Task Force: Climate-focused nonprofit that combines technical analysis, advocacy, and coalition work to advance federal climate policy. Like Carbon180, CATF shapes agency and congressional action on emerging climate technologies but operates across a broader portfolio (power, hydrogen, methane) rather than specializing in CDR.
• Environmental Defense Fund: Large environmental NGO combining science, economics, policy, and advocacy. EDF works on federal climate policy and MRV/markets adjacent to CDR; overlaps with Carbon180 on 45Q advocacy and federal procurement framing, but at much greater scale and across a much broader environmental portfolio.
• Natural Resources Defense Council: Major environmental advocacy NGO with deep federal lobbying and policy chops. NRDC overlaps with Carbon180 on climate legislation, MRV standards, and community/environmental justice, but addresses a much wider environmental agenda (energy, water, oceans, public health).
• RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute): Independent clean energy think-and-do tank working on climate technology deployment and federal program design. RMI's work on clean energy markets and commercialization is structurally similar to Carbon180's DAC Hubs / federal procurement advocacy, though RMI's portfolio spans many more technologies and regions.
• World Resources Institute: Global research organization producing data-driven analysis on climate, forests, water, and energy. WRI's forest carbon, land-use, and policy work overlaps with Carbon180's Farm Bill and forest carbon removal pathways, and WRI operates the Greenhouse Gas Protocol that underpins many of the MRV standards Carbon180 promotes.

Others

• Bipartisan Policy Center: Washington think tank producing cross-aisle policy analysis on energy and climate. BPC works adjacent to Carbon180 in convening federal policymakers on CDR and federal procurement design but covers a much broader policy portfolio and does not run field-building programs.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/carbon_180

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Carbon180