Ep. 60 – “Consider the Sinks, Not Just the Sources” Featuring the Salk Institute Harnessing Plants Initiative

This week's session was truly remarkable. We had the honor of hosting the Salk Institute Harnessing Plants Initiative team comprised of some of the brightest minds working to mitigate climate change with perhaps the most genius idea since Jonas Salk's polio vaccine: harnessing the natural power of plants to rebalance our carbon cycle.

The Harnessing Plants Initiative team includes:

Wolfgang Busch, Ph.D.: Professor, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, Hess Chair in Plant Science and Harnessing Plants Initiative Co-Director

Joanne Chory, Ph.D.: Processor and Director, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Howard H. and Maryam R. Newman Chair in Plant Biology and Harnessing Plants Initiative Co-Director

Dave Lawrence, Ph.D.: Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Harnessing Plants Initiative, Chairman of Lawrence Energy Group LLC and Trustee on the Army War College Foundation Board following an extensive career of almost 30 years with Shell

Joe Noel, Ph.D.: Professor and Director, Jack H. Skirball Center for Chemical Biology and Proteomics, Arthur and Julie Woodrow Chair

Tony Stiegler, Senior Director, Policy & Regulatory Affairs for the Harnessing Plants Initiative, former Partner at Colley Law Firm with an accomplished career dating to 1986 representing emerging technology companies, Fortune 500 companies and individuals

The HPI team took us through a presentation that can be found linked here. If you are as interested as we are and want to stay updated with their work, you may sign up for updates here. We can't thank the HPI team enough for their time and expertise!

Our expert TPH crew provided today's opening act: Mike Bradley gave a market update on the one-year anniversary for negative prices for NYM WTI crude oil, Matt Portillo discussed recent Canadian legislation proposing a tax credit system for CCS development as well as a bill in the US to enhance the 45Q tax credit, and Craig Webster joined to cover Equinor and Shell's recent energy transition plans. We also had some really exciting news in Houston today - Bobby Tudor joined to discuss Exxon Mobil's proposal to build the largest CCUS project in the world in Houston's very own ship channel, an effort supported by the Greater Houston Partnership to position Houston as a leader in the energy transition. Finally, Colin Fenton shared a few slides on crude oil and CO2 emissions to prepare us for the discussion.

We hope you find this session as inspiring and thought-provoking as we do. Imagine the possibilities if human ingenuity helped Nature be just two percent more efficient!

Thanks again to the HPI team and thanks to you all!