Vancouver Process

Introductions
2026-06-15 | Virtual, WA
Perspectives
Discussion regarding government needs and perspectives got underway on June 22nd. This will be a long-running conversation. Summaries will be posted both here and in the resources section of this website.

TO: Vancouver Process Focal PointsCC: Vancouver Expert Advisory Group RE: Identifying government needs, interests, priorities, barriers with regard to CDRACTIONS REQUIRED: Please reply to just the sender or to everyone (your choice) with information regarding your government’s perspectives on CDR (note that this is an ongoing conversation; please don’t feel the need to draft a lengthy reply). Dear Colleagues, Last week’s email described the communication protocols we’ll be using as our work gets underway. This email describes the philosophical orientation of what we’ll be discussing, and the first pieces of information we’ll need to gather. Orientation. The journey we’re beginning—the Vancouver Process—flows from CDRANet’s work on the Vancouver Declaration and Policy Framework on Carbon Dioxide Removal, whose central premise is that the world needs to work together on developing the future of CDR. In the Vancouver Process, we are incorporating the complementary premise that scaling CDR will require governments to play a much more active role than now. We are asking not only how CDR markets can grow and develop, but how governments can develop the institutional capacity to coordinate, govern, finance, and operationalize carbon management systems over decades. Even among the world’s most advanced CDR actors, there is no model for this.Information gathering. Our first task will be to try to better understand your government’s perspective on the climate challenges ahead, particularly your needs, interests, priorities and barriers (or shortcomings) with regard to CDR. Then, from this understanding, we can begin to identify our common ground, map capabilities and gaps, and develop the tools and processes to help each other succeed.With these preliminaries in mind, please begin sharing whatever you’d like—there are many data points we need to fill in. You can reply to the group or directly to me and then I’ll summarize and synthesize replies weekly for the group. Some of the questions you might want to start with (not necessarily all in a single email) include: What role—if any—does CDR have in addressing the climate challenges facing your government?Does your government view CDR as a public or private responsibility (or both)? For example, is it something the marketplace is expected to do on its own, or is it a civic responsibility the public should take on (like building roads or collecting trash)?What (if anything) is preventing your government from adopting more CDR actions today? Public opposition? Low priority? Lack of practical solutions? Permitting difficulty? Lack of funding?What support, cooperation, information, or capabilities would be most valuable as you try to improve your CDR capacity?What we actually discuss over time will evolve—these ideas are just a starting point. Please start the conversation on whatever note makes the most sense to you. And to point of order, please speak directly to each other, not me; the Vancouver Secretariat’s role (for now, my role) is to help organize, facilitate and mediate this information exchange, not be a gatekeeper. Also, if you would like to make a presentation to the group, or if you would like to see presentations on specific subjects, please let me know and we can start putting together a list of available programming. Members of the expert advisory group are also warmly invited to contribute. As a reminder, we are keeping our discussion transcripts private—not necessarily Chatham House rules, but please avoid sharing details publicly to avoid prejudicing official government positions. We will provide “safe” summaries of this conversation to the public via the Vancouver Process website. If you choose to reply just to me and not to the group, please let me know in your reply if the information you are providing is private and not for sharing (and/or if it can be shared in a de-identified way). And then finally, as always, please reach out any time if you would like to discuss anything off the record, or if you need more information, have any questions, or need tickets to World Cup matches here in Seattle (okay—maybe not this last one). All the best, Glenn Glenn HampsonInterim Director, Vancouver SecretariatProgram Director, CDRANet
