All Access

Climate Deals

Standard

Climate Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

Climate Deals Alerts

Alert

mustard

BFD Expert Voices - Climate Deals

BFD Expert Voices

topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

jobs

transportation

business

stock-market-news

retail-news

crypto

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

pittsburgh

atlanta

san-diego

charlotte

boulder

washington-dc

kansas-city

dallas

denver

detroit

des-moines

austin

boston

chicago

cleveland

columbus

houston

indianapolis

miami

nashville

new-orleans

nw-arkansas

philadelphia

phoenix

portland

richmond

salt-lake-city

san-antonio

san-francisco

seattle

tampa-bay

twin-cities

raleigh

huntsville

colorado-springs

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

Stanford researchers and faculty showed projects using earthworms, kelp forests, or fungus communities to remove greenhouse gases during an event Tuesday on the campus.

Why it matters: The 18 projects were on display at Stanford's first showcase for its sustainability-focused accelerator that was created two years ago as part of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.

Catch up quick: The school was established in 2022 — the first new Stanford school created in 75 years — with a $1.1 billion gift from VC pioneer John Doerr and his wife, as well as funding from other philanthropists.

Former DOE ARPA-E director Arun Majumdar is the inaugural dean of the school.

Zoom in: At the event, researchers shared lab projects that are designed to be able to remove large amounts of greenhouse gases at a low cost.

Stanford faculty member Jane Willenbring's "Global Worming" project aims to harness earthworms to capture CO2 while providing an organic waste solution. Willenbring told Axios on the sidelines that the bait industry could offer a model for scaling earthworm carbon removal.

Steven Chu, the former Department of Energy secretary turned Stanford professor, spoke about his team's work on developing an electrochemical way to unlock direct air capture using redox chemistry. Chu said the method could potentially capture CO2 one day for $50 per ton.

Another project, developed by Stanford associate professor Kristen Davis and her team, is studying how kelp can sequester carbon, starting with a project to analyze the carbon flows at a kelp farm in Santa Barbara.

In addition to the projects that can directly remove greenhouse gases, a handful of other projects are developing monitoring systems and software to measure and verify removals.

Zoom out: Majumdar told Axios in an interview that the point of the showcase was to build a community — including investors, nonprofits, government and companies — that could help appropriate projects scale.

"We need to think about scale from the beginning because if things don't scale, it may not matter," said Majumdar, who was also an adviser to former Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

When it comes to the new era of the Trump administration's energy policies, Majumdar said: "It's a bit noisy, frankly, right now. We're trying to find what the signal is, and we're watching carefully."

At the same time, Majumdar called the nine priorities detailed by new Secretary of Energy Chris Wright "great ones. I really appreciate them."

The bottom line: Stanford has a young school focused on sustainability and funded by a climate OG that's churning out cutting-edge greenhouse gas removal ideas.

Stanford accelerator showcases climate projects

The ideas are designed to be able to remove large amounts of greenhouse gases at a low cost.

Dean of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Arun Majumdar, gives a keynote for the first Stanford Sustainability Accelerator Showcase

Arun Majumdar speaking at the first Stanford Sustainability Accelerator Showcase. Photo: Courtesy of Patrick Beaudouin

Stanford researchers and faculty showed projects using earthworms, kelp forests, or fungus communities to remove greenhouse gases during an event Tuesday on the campus.Why it matters: The <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="18 projects" data-vars-click-url="https://web.cvent.com/event/5edb4e06-e172-4b0a-975b-a364465187f4/websitePage:5845ecc1-9b4a-4c28-a4a8-f720d38381b9" data-vars-content-id="7be4bc06-630f-4af6-8d69-10b9a9782dc8" data-vars-headline="Stanford accelerator showcases climate projects" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://web.cvent.com/event/5edb4e06-e172-4b0a-975b-a364465187f4/websitePage:5845ecc1-9b4a-4c28-a4a8-f720d38381b9" target="_blank">18 projects</a> were on display at Stanford&#x27;s first showcase for its sustainability-focused accelerator that was created two years ago as part of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.

Stanford accelerator showcases climate projects

What to read next