Carbon Removal - just a trend or the future?

We are in a crisis. Today, December 8th, 2021, the global CO? level in the atmosphere is over 410 ppm (parts per million), which is +30% higher than it should be (Climate ). The annual rate of increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 60 years is about 100 times faster than previous natural increases, specifically during the last ice age over 15,000 years ago (Climate ). We are no longer in a situation where reducing our emissions through preventing pollution is enough. We must additionally start removing the excess CO? and clean the atmosphere back to healthier levels.?

This is why seed + speed Ventures, has decided to contribute to this battle and why they recently invested in Carbonfuture. Carbonfuture is a marketplace and platform for high-quality and impactful carbon removal credits. They have the mission to serve companies and organizations around the globe on their path to true net-zero. Carbonfuture helps companies and organizations worldwide on their path to true net-zero. As a fully digitized platform for high-quality and effective carbon sink credits, they actively help remove CO? out of the atmosphere (Wri ).?

Background

The idea that companies can shrink their carbon footprints by paying other organizations to reduce greenhouse emissions is around two decades old. Until now, the bulk of the spending on carbon reduction has gone to projects that reduce and even avoid emissions. For example, some companies work with conservation organizations to prevent deforestation. Others fund the development of renewable projects that displace fossil-fuel plants. This work remains essential, but recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have made it clear that the reduction in emissions alone is not enough (Ipcc ). We also need to remove billions of tons of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere if we’re to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

The emergence of these technologies suggests that the market for offsets will grow both in size and impact. At a time when the governments of the world’s two largest emitters, the United States and China, are failing to recognize the magnitude of the climate crisis, that’s a welcome piece of good news to help fill the gulf left by government inaction. The recently held CP 2026 in Glasgow has put a spotlight on the wealthy nations, which pledge hundreds of millions in climate adaptation funding (Voanews ).

Carbon credits vs. carbon removal/capture?

Before proceeding, it is important to highlight the difference between carbon mitigation credits/certificate versus carbon removal (aka. carbon capture; sequestration) credits/certificate (Southpole ). Shortly said, carbon mitigation credits help limit future emissions. However, it is not possible to rely solely on them. Carbon removal is the only way to bring our atmospheric levels back to regular and undo the damage already done. In fact, in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, published in late 2018, almost all the pathways analyzed by the authors relied to some extent on carbon removal approaches in order to achieve net negative emissions after 2050 (Iea ).

Carbon mitigation explained

Carbon credits are verified emission reductions, where one carbon credit represents 1 ton of CO? emissions prevented. These carbon credits are measurable, verifiable emission reductions from certified climate action projects (Southpole ). High-quality carbon credits adhere to a strict set of standards. This can be checked by ensuring the projects are registered with a third-party internationally-recognized verification standard, such as the Gold Standard, Verra's Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), Social Carbon and Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards (CCBS), or standards verified by the UNFCCC (Southpole ).

By financially supporting selected projects, with the goal to reduce, remove or avoid greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, caused by communities around the world, carbon credits can be acquired. For instance, safe water access in Ethiopia or solar cooking for refugee families in Chad. Each project works towards a different selection of sustainable development goals, but they all include SDG number 13: Climate Action. Due to the varied nature of each project, they will differ in price per carbon credit (Unfccc ).

Unfortunately, the emissions produced by individuals and businesses offset with carbon credits are still in the atmosphere and not removed, carbon credits prevent potential future emissions from happening and do not remove historic emissions (American.EDU ).

Carbon removal explained

In contrast, carbon dioxide removal is the act of taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and storing it permanently and sustainably. This is also referred to as a carbon sink. It is anything that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases, for example, plants, the ocean, and soil. Any other activity is considered a carbon source, activities that release more carbon into the atmosphere than it absorbs, for example, the burning of fossil fuels or volcanic eruptions.

Currently, Scientists are working hard to improve existing processes and find new carbon removal methods. Some of these known techniques include (Wri ):

• Blue carbon: The world’s ocean ecosystems, mangroves, salt marshes, seagrasses, and algae, are sequestering carbon dioxide through plant growth.
• Carbon farming: Agricultural methods aimed at sequestering atmospheric carbon into the soil, crop roots, wood, and leaves are summarized under carbon farming.
• Direct air capture and storage: Chemical processes are used to separate CO? from ambient air. The separated gas is injected into underground geological formations and prevented from escaping with geochemical trapping (turning the gas into stone).
• Enhanced weathering: Geoengineering approaches that use the dissolution of natural or artificially created minerals to remove CO?.?
• Planting trees: Trees naturally sequester carbon dioxide to convert into biomass.
• Ocean fertilization: Here purposeful introduction of nutrients to the upper ocean increases marine food production and removes carbon dioxide.

However, carbon removal comes at a cost. It is far cheaper to not emit (prevent) emissions than take them out again. An example to understand this is the following: Not burning a piece of wood is easier than burning it, catching the resulting CO?, and storing it permanently and sustainably.

More than just a trend?

Elon Musk recently volunteered $100 million of his own money as part of an XPrize competition to be doled out to carbon capture startups. Bill Gates has backed Carbon Engineering, a prominent startup that scrubs CO? directly from the atmosphere (Theverge ). And BP, Shell, and the Norwegian government have all launched significant projects to catch and bury carbon.

Carbon Capture market size

The Global Carbon Capture Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.97% from 2021-2027 to reach $9.99 billion by 2027 (PRnewswire ). This is considered an integral component of achieving decarbonization.?

But the industry has received relatively little funding from venture capitalists in recent years, despite startup investors' frothy backing of electric vehicles and related technology. VC-backed carbon capture startups took in $336.5 million last year (chart 1) to set a modest record and currently (Pitchbook ). Much of that investment was driven by non-traditional investors, oil companies, governments, and others who participated in nearly two-thirds of all deals (chart 2).?

Chart 1: Global VC investment in carbon capture startups (Pitchbook ).

Chart 2: Investments in carbon capture and storage worldwide from 2018 to 2020, by region (Statista ).

Notable innovations?

Carbon Engineering and Climeworks are among the most prominent companies to attempt direct air carbon capture at scale. The approach pulls in the air using massive fans, sends it through a liquid or solid filter to remove the CO?, and typically stores the gas permanently underground.

Direct air capture could effectively allow humanity to turn back the clock on past emissions, and it has gained traction with corporations and governments in recent years. Shopify recently became one of the largest corporate buyers of the technology in a deal with Carbon Engineering to capture and store 10,000 metric tons of CO? (Pitchbook ). Direct air carbon capture has various benefits, e.g. it can be applied to a wide variety of locations and it requires a smaller footprint, helping in achieving net-zero efficiency (Treehugger ). But currently, it is facing the limitation that such systems remain more expensive than natural solutions like planting trees (GreenBiz ).?

Two months ago, Carbonfuture completed its seed funding round receiving $2.8M to scale up carbon-removing missions. As Carbonfuture CEO Hannes Junginger put it: “The road to net-zero will not be an easy one and can only be managed through cross-sector collaboration. Together, we can set a standard for the entire evolving industry.” (Carbonfuture ).