CDR Currents - Tuesday 26 March

Welcome back to CDR Currents, your guide navigating the dynamic currents of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) trends. Here to provide you with the most recent developments in the CDR environment.

Big Waves in CDR: This week, CDR methods enhanced weathering and biochar saw promising increases in commitment, reinforcement, and support to help the technology grow and expand, namely:?

• The Enhanced Weathering Alliance launched, marking a pivotal step towards scaling up innovative weathering technologies, with a key focus on integrating them into European climate policies.
• Octavia Carbon and Carbonfuture announced a partnership to develop a digital MRV system for DAC.
• The European Biochar Industry Consortium published a report reinforcing the role of enduring carbon storage capabilities of biochar.

Here are the highlights shaping the CDR market this week:

Policy + Market

• Enhanced Weathering Alliance Launches To Ensure Enhanced Weathering Is Part Of EU Carbon Removal Pathways. [21.03.24]. An alliance of major enhanced weathering and CDR players was launched to accelerate and scale enhanced rock weathering. The group called for policymakers to consider and support emerging CDR approaches including enhanced weathering.
• U.S. Department of Energy Announces Intent to Launch Voluntary Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchasing Challenge. [14.03.24]. The US DOE will launch a Voluntary Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchasing Challenge to catalyze investment into CDR. It aims to foster further private spending on removal credits by connecting top suppliers and buyers.

Projects

• Inherit to deliver high-quality carbon removal in an offtake agreement with Drax. [21.03.24]. Inherit Carbon Solutions is to supply Drax with 1,000 tonnes of CDR through BECCS.
• Catalyzing Europe’s net zero infrastructure: Novocarbo raises €25 million in funding. [14.03.24]. Novocarbo raised €25m from SWEN Capital Partners to grow its network of Carbon Removal Parks throughout Europe.
• Removr To Apply Digital Tools To Optimize The Scaling Of Its DAC Technology. [19.03.24]. Removr partnered with Billington Process Technology AS (BPT) to gain access to BPT’s digital products in order to enhance Removr’s DAC technology and project development.
• Planboo Secures Over $1.1 Million in Funding to Scale Carbon Removal with Biochar MRV Technology. [22.03.24]. Planboo, a biochar CDR company, has raised over $1.1m USD, from investors including Katapult, Silverstrand Capital, Rockstart, Imaginal Seeds, and 8+ Ventures.
• Spiritus Announces Its First Large Scale DAC Facility With Up To 2 MT Capacity. [19.03.24]. Spiritus aims to build one of the largest DAC plants, called Orchard One. This hopes to grow to capture 2 megatonnes of CO2 annually.
• Airhive Closes A Pre-Seed Round With Coca-Cola On Board. [20.03.24]. Airhive, a UK-based DAC developer, has raised a pre-seed round co-led by AP Ventures and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners. The round will support a second commercial pilot project for Airhive.
• Mission Zero raises ￡21.8M Series A to scale versatile direct air capture technology worldwide. [18.03.24]. Mission Zero has raised a Series A round of ￡21.8m with aims to scale their DAC technology.
• Stratos, Occidental’s First DAC Plant Is 70% Complete. [20.03.24]. 1PointFive and Blackrock’s Stratos DAC project is now 70% complete.
• Carbonx partners with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Exomad Green on CDR purchase. [13.03.24]. In partnership with Carbonx, BCG have purchased 3,000 tonnes of biochar CDR from Exomad Green.
• Cotierra Raises $1M To Decarbonize Coffee Farming. [14.03.24]. Cotierra has raised a pre-seed round of $1m from investors including Partners in Clime, Carbon Removal Partners, Carbon Drawdown Initiative, Climate Founders, and others. This aims to aid development of its biochar technology and MRV system in Colombia.

Methodology?

• Carbonfuture and Octavia Carbon Join Forces to Deploy the First Digital Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification System for Direct Air Capture Carbon Removal. [21.03.24]. Carbonfuture and Octavia Carbon have partnered to introduce the first digital MRV system for DAC. This uses real-time data tracking from Octavia Carbon’s Project Hummingbird DAC+Storage facility with Carbonfuture’s MRV+ system.
• ICROA accreditation is another step forward for high-quality carbon credits. [21.03.24]. ICROA has given conditional endorsement to Isometric, a CDR standard and registry, as an accredited carbon crediting program.

Tides of Interest

• New EBI Report Proves Biochar Can Store Carbon For Millennia. [19.03.24]. Biochar Permanence Report Unlocking the Potential of Biochar: A Closer Look at Its Permanence. [14.03.24]. A report has been released by the European Biochar Industry Consortium that explores the permanence of biochar. The report proposes that when considering industrially produced, high-quality biochar, this is mostly composed of “inertinite” and this substance has very high permanence.

Stay tuned for more updates on the Currents in CDR. If you’re looking to learn more about CDR and how it fits into your carbon investment strategy, reach out to our team.