I have worked with 18 innovative startups hailing from 11 different countries on the Carbon Removal ClimAccelerator, led by Trinity College Dublin in partnership with EIT Climate-KIC and supported by Munich Re and ERGO. Future framing is essential when you are a start-up. Hence carbon candy. This is my selection for the third quarter (it is random).
The topics
The topics are carbon imbalance, fake climate solutions, Graphyte, blunting climate mitigation, Apple Carbon, geo-engineering, fungi, Amazon and Meta, the net zero’s carbon removal conundrum, sorbents, carbon sponge, underground storage, junk carbon offsets, Holocene, debt finance, the voluntary carbon market, a new type of wood and biochar.
Matching durable carbon removals supply and demand by 2030
The potential imbalance in near-term supply and demand as well as insufficient long-term capacity to meet climatic need for a 1.5º pathway carry implications for the public sector, those setting standards, potential durable removals buyers, investors, and project developers.
Oil companies sold the public on a fake climate solution — and swindled taxpayers out of billions
https://www.vox.com/climate/363076/climate-change-solution-shell-exxon-mobil-carbon-capture
Major oil companies had not only misled the public on climate change for decades, but also were continuing to misinform them about the industry’s preferred climate “solutions”— particularly biofuels and carbon capture.
New cash for Gates-backed carbon removal startup
https://www.axios.com/2024/07/30/gates-graphyte-carbon-removal-startup
Boldface names in climate VC are staking Graphyte, a young startup that says it unlocked a comparatively cheap carbon removal method using biomass.
Carbon removal experts: Technology could blunt climate mitigation
https://www.eenews.net/articles/carbon-removal-experts-technology-could-blunt-climate-mitigation/
Researchers who study pulling carbon from the sky say it could discourage efforts to prevent the gas from being released in the first place.
Applied Carbon: $21.5 Million Closed To Deploy Biochar Technology, Increasing Soil Health And Sequestering Carbon
Applied Carbon (previously known as Climate Robotics), a company designing automated biochar production machines that convert in-field agricultural crop waste into biochar,
Inside Silicon Valley’s Grand Ambitions To Control Our Planet’s Thermostat
https://www.noemamag.com/inside-silicon-valleys-grand-ambitions-to-control-our-planets-thermostat/
Firms are flocking to invest in geoengineering projects. Could they turn a profit by preventing peril? Read https://www.ronimmink.com/synthetic-as-way-to-save-or-destroy-our-planet/
Can Dirt Clean the Climate?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/10/climate/climate-change-fungus-carbon-australia.html
An Australian start-up is hoping fungi can pull carbon dioxide from the air and stash it underground. It’s one of several ventures trying to deploy the superpowers of soil to slow global warming.
Amazon and Meta’s bid to rewrite the rules on net zero
https://www.ft.com/content/2d6fc319-2165-42fb-8de1-0edf1d765be3
Critics say a proposed change could allow large energy users to hide their true emissions
Net Zero’s Carbon Removal Conundrum
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/investing/commodities/2024/08/18/net-zeros-carbon-removal-conundrum/
How much carbon do we need to remove from the atmosphere, and at what cost to achieve our climate goals? And what’s possible given the current state of carbon removal technology?
ASU researchers develop new tech to help mitigate carbon emissions
Korah and Green’s DAC technology is designed to be cost-effective, scalable and environmentally friendly by using sorbents from inorganic salts similar to baking soda. By utilizing readily available and stable materials such as potassium bicarbonate and activated carbon, they are able to reuse their sorbents over a long period of time.
Sponge for CO2: New wood-based material captures, releases carbon on demand
https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/biomaterial-and-absorb-carbon-emissions
Compromised of an “abundant and nonfood-based biomass” known as lignin, it absorbs the chemical compound from concentrated sources or the air.
Study finds limits to storing CO2 underground to combat climate change
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/255614/study-finds-limits-storing-co2-underground/
The study found that it might be possible by 2050 to store up to 16 gigatonnes of CO2 underground each year. However, reaching this target would require a huge increase in storage capacity and scaling over the coming decades, which is not anticipated given the current pace of investment, development and deployment.
Companies’ Addiction to Junk Carbon Offsets Is Killing the Planet
Huge companies like Shell and Chevron are buying up the shakiest available products, defeating their purpose for fighting climate change.
Google Signs 100,000 Ton Carbon Removal Deal with DAC Technology Startup Holocene
€ 100 per ton.
Carbon removal receives debt financing boost
https://www.sustainableviews.com/carbon-removal-receives-debt-financing-boost-4beac7be/
A deal to finance scaling up of carbon removal, involving Standard Chartered and British Airways, has created a repeatable solution for increasing funding to the sector.
Why the voluntary carbon market is key to scaling carbon dioxide removal and delivering net-zero
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/09/voluntary-carbon-market-carbon-dioxide-removal-net-zero/
The voluntary carbon market (VCM) is one of the few transitional finance options that addresses the urgent need for large-scale CO2 removal.
Scientists Have Discovered an Entirely New Type of Wood – and It Could Supercharge the Fight Against Climate Change
Research on Tulip Trees has identified a novel wood structure with significant carbon capture potential, suggesting their use in carbon sequestration plantations due to their rapid growth and unique wood properties.
Scientists investigating use of charcoal-like substance as ‘carbon-eating’ building material
The project aims to develop a framework to help encourage the use of biochar in the UK building industry and beyond. This could help to transform the traditional sector by providing new pathways for sustainable construction practices and materials.