Outlier Projects
is a purpose-driven organization backing efforts to understand areas that could have an outsized impact on the climate crisis.

We currently support passionate, skilled people doing focused, purposeful work in three major areas:

Photo by Ulf Riebesell/GEOMAR

Carbon
Removal

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has clearly stated that the world needs to remove and store hundreds of billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by 2100.

We have supported several carbon removal efforts, with the core of our work focused on founding and supporting the Carbon to Sea Initiative. This Initiative aims to strengthen the ocean's natural mechanisms for removing atmospheric CO2 using ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE), which could be one of the most scalable and permanent ways to achieve humanity’s carbon removal goals.

Our Carbon Removal Grantees

Carbon 180

Carbon Plan

University of Tasmania - Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

4 Corners Carbon Coalition

Carbon Removal Standards Initiative

Carbon to Sea

Thwaites Glacier by NASA/James Yungel

Glacier Stabilization

By 2100, sea levels will rise between 0.2 and 2 meters (0.5 and 6.0 feet). The most acute threat is the collapse of the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, which alone could raise global sea levels by more than 1 meter (3 feet).

Traditional measures like reducing emissions and transitioning from fossil fuels will not prevent the collapse of Thwaites Glacier or other critical glaciers over the coming decades. Glaciologists are now exploring how to intervene and slow the melting of these critical glaciers.

Our Glacial Stabilization Grantees

University of the Arctic

Arête Glacier Initiative

Atmospheric Cooling

Despite aggressive emissions reduction and scaled carbon removal, methods will be needed to combat the worst of near-term climate change, like frequent and extreme weather events. Stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) is one method that aims to mimic volcanic eruptions and can potentially reduce global temperatures quickly.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the World Climate Research Programme have recently called for more research on SAI, and we are backing multiple organizations that build capacity for scientists across the globe to understand this topic better.