Achieving Net Zero with Carbon Removal: The Role of Nature-Based and Engineered Solutions

BSR Members Only

Date and Time

June 17, 2025
11:00 am-12:00 pm EDT

Location

Webinar

As global efforts to decarbonize accelerate, carbon dioxide removal has emerged as a critical tool to address residual emissions and meet net-zero targets. The IPCC has made it clear: carbon removal is not a substitute for emission reductions, but a necessary complement to reach climate goals. For companies, integrating carbon removal into their net-zero strategies is increasingly essential.

Carbon removal is a nascent but fast-growing market, presenting both opportunities and complexities for companies. To meet climate goals at scale, both nature-based and technological solutions will be needed, each offering unique benefits in terms of speed, cost, permanence, and scalability. Yet with a fragmented supplier landscape and evolving standards and certification schemes, it can be challenging for businesses to navigate the space and identify credible, high-quality solutions.

Join us for the first session in a three-part webinar series designed to demystify carbon removal and make it actionable for companies. In this kickoff session, we’ll explore how carbon removal fits into business climate strategies, break down the landscape of nature-based and technology-based solutions, and uncover key factors powering this rapidly evolving market. The second session will dive into the policy, standards, and regulatory frameworks shaping the space, and the third and final session will focus on how companies can adopt a portfolio approach and build a science-based carbon removal strategy.

BSR members interested in participating can reach out to hello@bsr.org for an invitation.

Agenda

1. Setting the Scene: Why Carbon Removal is Essential to Net Zero
2. Overview: Exploring the Carbon Removal Landscape from Nature-Based to Engineered Solutions
3. From Nascent to Necessary: Navigating the Carbon Removal Market
4. Interactive Q&A

Scheduled Speakers

• Lara Birkes, Managing Director, Climate and Nature, BSR
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Lara Birkes
Managing Director, Climate and Nature, BSR
San Francisco
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Lara is responsible for leading BSR's Climate and Nature team globally and driving the organization’s work with Member companies' impact consulting, grants, and collaborative initiatives.  
Lara is a sustainability and policy professional with over fifteen years of experience managing partnerships, sustainability initiatives and policy engagement with companies, international organizations, governments, and NGOs.  
Prior to BSR, Lara was Global Head of Sustainability at Sonder, joining in 2020 to establish the corporate responsibility function, implementing policies to engrain responsible business practices across the company pre to post IPO. 
She also serves on the Advisory Board of EQX Biome, a start-up working to mobilize financial markets to protect the world’s remaining biodiversity hotspots. In 2024 Lara started hosting a web series & podcast called Nature IS to raise awareness of the critical need for protection, conservation, and regeneration of biodiversity.  
Lara holds a B.S. degree in International Business & Management from the University of Montana, a M.A. degree in International Trade Policy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California and is a World Economic Forum Global Leadership Fellow.  
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Recent Insights From Lara Birkes
• Climate and Nature Integration 101: In Conversation with Helen Crowley / April 24, 2025 / Blog
• Integrating Climate and Nature: A Dual Approach to Business Resilience / December 5, 2024 / Blog
Full Bio
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