Grant Faber
Successfully mitigating and reversing climate change will require substantial innovations and advances in policy, technology, markets, behavior, and design.
I specialize in the nexus between technology, policy, and markets with a particular emphasis on life cycle assessment (LCA), techno-economic assessment (TEA), and monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV).
My career is dedicated to improving the economic, environmental, and social performance of climate technologies to accelerate commercialization and maximize climate impact.
To read my ongoing insights and analysis, please feel free to explore Carbon-Based Commentary.
Professional Experience
- Standards Lead, Absolute Climate
- Head of Carbon Compliance, Offstream
- DAC Hubs Program Manager, Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, U.S. Department of Energy
- Founder and President, Carbon-Based Consulting LLC
- Senior Techno-Economic Analyst, Twelve
- Technical Operations/Economic Modeling Analyst, Heirloom
- Techno-Economic Assessment Researcher, Global CO2 Initiative
- Project Lead and Content Curator, AssessCCUS
- Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Assessment Mentor, AirMiners Launchpad and AirMiners Investor Academy
- Consultant, Expert Reviewer, and Cost Evaluation Guidelines Reviewer, XPRIZE Carbon Removal
- Merit reviewer, Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations and Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy
- Reviewer for Carbon Management Imperative, Activate
- Financial Planning & Analysis, DigitalGlobe
Education
- Master of Science, University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability
- Focus on life cycle assessment and sustainable systems
- Bachelor of Business Administration, University of Michigan Ross School of Business
- Focus on finance and environmental science
Technologies Previously Assessed
- Direct air capture (DAC)
- Active DAC with amine sorbents
- Active DAC with hydroxide solvents and novel chemical desorption pathway
- Active DAC with hydroxide solvents and mine tailing carbonation
- Passive DAC with oxides
- Electrochemical DAC
- Production of amine-grafted silica gel DAC sorbents
- Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS)
- Electrochemical CO2 reduction to CO
- Chemical and fuel synthesis via Fischer–Tropsch
- Point-source CO2 capture for buildings
- Bioelectrochemical methanogenesis
- Biological conversion of CO2 into acetic acid
- Biological conversion of RNG into methanol
- Natural fibers for fiber-reinforced composites
- Carbonated engineered cementitious composite (ECC)
- Carbonated precast concrete
- Carbonated aggregates
- Algal biodiesel
- CO2 conversion into bacterial nanocellulose
- Sabatier process producing low-carbon methane
- Biogenic CO via Boudouard reaction
- Other carbon dioxide removal (CDR)
- Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) via mine tailing carbonation
- Steel slag carbonation
- Microbial soil carbon mineralization
- Direct ocean capture (DOC)
- Algal CDR
- Material and chemical synthesis methods and other climate technologies
- Ionomer and electrochemical catalyst synthesis
- Synthesis and use of hedgehog particle catalysts for photochemical CO2 reduction
- Membrane electrode assembly (MEA) fabrication
- Electrochemical stack assembly
- Novel water electrolysis design
- Bio-adipic acid and vanillin
- Protein production from agricultural by-products
Publications
- A list of every carbon dioxide removal (CDR) company in the world. Faber (2025)
- A primer on additionality and carbon removal. Faber (2025)
- 3 ways to protect carbon removal in its decisive moment. Faber (2025)
- Direct Air Capture: Definition and Company Analysis. Faber (2025)
- Carbon security and the geopolitics of carbon removal. Faber & Godek (2025)
- Solving the near-term CO2 Storage gap. Faber (2024)
- Carbon removal, co-products, and system boundaries. Faber (2024)
- A list of every direct air capture (DAC) company in the world. Faber (2024)
- 10 reasons we need carbon removal. Faber (2023)
- 4 questions investors should ask CDR startups. Faber (2023)
- Megaproject Lessons for Carbon Removal Deployment. Faber (2023)
- Navigating clean energy procurement for carbon removal companies. Faber (2023)
- 7 reasons carbon removal startups shouldn’t partner with fossil fuel companies. Faber (2023)
- Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification: Issue Brief. Bryce, Faber, Rubin, & Corpora (2023)
- Why we’re in a business we wish didn’t need to exist. Faber, Merchant, & McQueen (2023)
- Rapidly reducing the costs of carbon removal. Faber (2022)
- PEM CO2 electrolyzers from an industrial perspective. Kowalski, Faber, & Cave (2023). Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry
- Adapting Technology Learning Curves for Prospective Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Assessments of Emerging Carbon Capture and Utilization Pathways. Faber et al. (2022). Frontiers in Climate
- Identifying and Mitigating Greenwashing of Carbon Utilization Products. Faber & Sick (2022)
- Techno-Economic Assessment & Life Cycle Assessment Guidelines for CO2 Utilization (Version 2.0). Langhorst et al. (2022)
- Estimating the environmental benefits of plant-based nudging. McCarty & Faber (2022). International Journal of Environmental Studies
- AssessCCUS: An Integrated Approach for Aggregating Resources to Enable Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Assessment of Carbon Management Technologies. Faber, Mangin, Olfe-Kraütlein, & Schaidle (2022) Frontiers in Climate
- Life Cycle and Techno-Economic Assessment Templates for Emerging Carbon Management Technologies. Faber, Mangin, & Sick (2021). Frontiers in Sustainability
- A framework to estimate emissions from virtual conferences. Faber (2021). International Journal of Environmental Studies
- Techno-Economic Assessment & Life Cycle Assessment Guidelines for CO2 Utilization (Version 1.1). Zimmermann et al. (2020)
- The need for and path to harmonized life cycle assessment and techno-economic assessment for carbon dioxide capture and utilization. Sick et al. (2019). Energy Technology
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