Land and Carbon Inc. executives Dave and Bob Lawrence came to campus to speak about getting things done. Dave, the founder and chairman of Land and Carbon Inc. is a former Shell executive. Bob, Vice President and General Counsel of Land and Carbon Inc. has over 4 decades of experience in the field and has worked in a variety of initiatives.
The discussion, sponsored by “Grounded, Not Divided”, and co-sponsored by BridgeUWYO, was hosted by Presidential Fellow and Economics Professor Matt Burgess. His initiative, “Grounded, Not Divided”, is a podcast and dialogue series focussed on real people doing things in the real world.
The panel first covered the Lawrences’ careers and history and then shifted into a discussion on the modern state of carbon. Dave Lawrence said, “I always wanted to make a difference with whatever I did. I would always have to answer what I wanted to do in the next 5 years and it was always making a difference.”
After finishing his PhD, Dave interviewed at the University of Wyoming before deciding to go into the industrial side of carbon. He accomplished things in the industry previously thought impossible in the field.
Retiring from Shell in 2013, Dave has been looking at ways to handle CO2 emissions. It was suggested to him at a past talk that he look into using plants to sequester carbon into the soil. After working at the Salk Institute, he researched solutions to get carbon into the soil and out of the atmosphere. He said, “I am a scientist in business, I have always had a passion for what I do, and I am always hoping to learn new things.”
Bob Lawrence then spoke about his journey. The carbon world, he said, is a world where there are always new things to learn as it is evolving. Unlike his brother, Bob started off just trying to make his way through college and ended up an English major. He was always impassioned by environmental issues, and this would drive his life change into a path of carbon impacts. He applied for law school and then found himself in an environmental law program which jump-started his career.
He worked at the US EPA in Denver as a lawyer for the Region 8 Superfund Program. He then shifted to private practice before working in big law and finally settling on Land and Carbon with his brother. “I like solutions, bringing people together, coming up with something that works and solving problems,” Bob said.
Looking at the company Land and Carbon in terms of carbon capture, Burgess asked the brothers for the science and policy outlooks on this industry. Dave began, “If you drive across the state of Wyoming, and you just look at the land you come across, you see a lot of degraded and barren land. If you look at degraded land, you ask if it’s being used for its best purpose. There is a beauty in ugly land that can be remarkable. Degraded land is one of the best places to capture CO2 in soil.”
This land is low-cost, accessible, and not often used. Capturing CO2 with it gives the land purpose. “You can store carbon, you can grow things, and restore biodiversity,” Dave said. The mission is to take gigatons of carbon out of the atmosphere. The carbon credits and offsets can be sold primarily to the voluntary carbon market.
Bob was asked, “In terms of policy, how do these different [carbon] markets compare?” He led off by saying, “Fortunately for us, how the federal government looks at nature-based solutions in carbon capture does not affect our business that much.” The change in the presidential administration will likely increase the need for carbon offsets in the market due to potentially more emissions under a less regulated system. With the voluntary carbon market being global, ultimately, Land and Carbon will not be negatively affected and companies will still have a desire to reach a net 0 carbon emission status. They have to also consider investors, but as Dave said, “Overall, the market is gonna grow.”
Burgess spoke on the differences in rhetoric on climate change and asked what is driving these differences. Dave led by saying the world needs more energy and less CO2. He also said that climate change improvement does not need to be a polarizing idea. Most people rally around improving the environment and needing more energy.
When addressing regulatory control and changes in administrations, Bob first noted that the improvements in the field of capture and environmental improvement have been phenomenal as decades have progressed. These problems could not have been addressed without policy. Dave added that natural gas’s low costs could not be the way they are without the shale revolution. In addition to programs and awareness, cost matters.
Bob finished by saying that polarization is not as significant as many people think. The common interest in supporting the environment shows that. Natural gas, as Dave predicted, will be displaced to other parts of the world and the emissions reductions will need to come from how rapidly we shift to renewable energy.
Burgess’ final question was, “What is something we aren’t thinking about that we should be?”
Bob answered from the policy perspective, “I don’t think we’re paying enough attention to constraints that exist either within our outside regulatory programs that inhibit the existence, growth, or large scaling of carbon sequestration.”
Dave then answered from the academic perspective on how society can better expose themselves to the world of carbon capture, “We have the great advantage in this country of some of the world’s foremost thinkers. We have to increase the collaboration between the people having these great ideas and industry, and the people who can implement those ideas.”
The Lawrence brothers ensured that their company would continue to use plants on degraded land to help in the capture of carbon. This CO2 emission reduction fuels their passion to contribute to the environment.
