About this episode

Sebastian Manhart interviews Delia Meth-Cohn about the ISO Net Zero Standard and its implications for carbon removals.

In this episode of The CDR Policy Scoop, Sebastian Manhart sits down with Delia Meth-Cohn, Co-founder of Rethinking Removals, who has been part of the ISO Net Zero Aligned Organization Standard working group from its very first meeting, two years ago. The conversation opens on why Delia got involved, recruited by the British Standards Institute to make sure removals expertise was in the room from the start. She explains what makes ISO structurally different from SBTi: where SBTi is a voluntary framework for leading, self-selecting companies, ISO is built to be globally applicable, rooted in national standards bodies and the WTO framework, and designed to accommodate countries with different net zero end dates, from Europe’s 2050 to China’s 2060 and Saudi Arabia’s 2070. The discussion gets to the heart of what the standard actually does on removals: it makes the implicit removals target in net zero frameworks explicit. Companies setting a long-term reduction target must treat whatever remains as their “anticipated residual emissions”, and that figure becomes a removal target they are required to plan toward, with a validated first milestone within five years. Delia is clear that…

People in this episode

Host: Sebastian Manhart

Guest: Delia Meth-Cohn

Topics covered

• Net Zero Standard
• Carbon Removals
• ISO Standards
• SBTi Comparison
• Climate Policy

Keywords

• ISO
• Net Zero
• carbon removals
• SBTi
• climate policy
• emissions targets
• flexibility

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: British Standards Institute, ISO, SBTi

Places: Europe, China, Saudi Arabia

More episodes of The CDR Policy Scoop

• Inside the Fight to Save $600 Million for DAC - with Vikrum Aiyer · July 15, 2026 · 32 min
• Buffer Pools Aren't Enough: The Case for Contracted Durability - with Luke Pritchard · July 12, 2026 · 29 min
• Getting CDR Right in the EU ETS: What's at Stake - with Francesca Battersby and Louis Uzor · July 6, 2026 · 29 min
• Quarterly Catch Up: National CDR Targets, ETS Integration, and Who Pays for Removals · July 5, 2026 · 28 min
• ISO, SBTi, and the LCAW Verdict on Corporate Net Zero - with Kaya Axelsson · June 30, 2026 · 28 min
• Green-Hushing, Safe Harbors, and Who Actually Owns a Carbon Credit - with Dr Ruth Dagan · June 17, 2026 · 30 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The CDR Policy Scoop podcast page.