Zachary Byrum is an Associate in WRI's U.S. Climate Program on the Carbon Removal and Industrial Innovation team, where he provides policy and technology analyses. His carbon removal work focuses on technological pathways (e.g. direct air capture, mineralization) and his industrial decarbonization work focuses primarily on hydrogen, petrochemicals, and petroleum refining. He also joins other WRI staff as a facilitating member of the Industrial Innovation Initiative (I3).

Prior to WRI, Zach was a research assistant in the Carbon Management Research Initiative at the Center on Global Energy Policy. In the preceding years, he served as White House Intern in the National Economic Council under the Obama Administration and then an Assistant Analyst at the Congressional Budget Office.

Zach holds a Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Goucher College.

Zach enjoys running competitively, reading about the Heroic Age of Polar Exploration, and watching cold sunrises while sipping tea and listening to WETA D.C. Classical Radio. He is from Stafford, Virginia and lives in Washington, D.C.