From reducing carbon emissions to developing fuel from carbon, these climate tech startups are making inroads in the fight against climate change.
Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time. From a number of heavy downpours and hotter-than-ever heat waves to droughts, things escalated to an unprecedented pace. Temperatures are expected to rise by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius over the next two decades, leading to more natural disasters and extreme weather. Scientists to believe human activity, such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, is largely responsible for the rapid changes in the Earth’s climate.
Fortunately, a growing number of startups are using technology to fight climate change. So if you’re looking for ways to help the environment and fight climate change, read on for inspiration.
Carbon Engineering
In April 2022, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that we must immediately reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere to prevent global warming. CO2 is the main greenhouse gas emitted by human activities due to the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Greenhouse gases trap heat in our atmosphere, causing global warming.
Canadian clean energy start-up Carbon Engineering’s Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology offers a potential solution to this problem. As the name suggests, DAC technology captures CO2 directly from the atmosphere to mitigate climate change. The collected CO2 is then either stored underground or converted into near-carbon-neutral synthetic fuel. The latter can be achieved by applying the company’s AIR TO FUELS technology, where captured CO2 can then react with extracted hydrogen with clean electricity and be turned into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. The startup has already demonstrated the feasibility of its technology at its pilot plant in Squamish, British Columbia.
Sinai Technologies
Since 2017, American cleantech startup Sinai Technologies helps companies monitor and reduce their carbon emissions, assess and analyze carbon risk. The startup decarbonization software mitigates climate change by tracking different departments within a company and then generating recommendations to achieve its net zero goals. Sinai’s mission is to provide emissions-intensive organizations with the technology they need to develop powerful deep decarbonization strategies.
So far, the startup has customized strategies for organizations over 20 business sectors in 60 countries. In 2021, he helped clients track nearly 35 million tons of carbon emissions and assess over US$5 billion in potential capital expenditures for carbon mitigation projects. In September 2022, the startup closed US$22 million Series A funding circle to develop more precise collaborative software and continue its international expansion.
CarbFix
Icelandic start-up CarbFix has developed a technology capable of turning atmospheric carbon dioxide into stone through natural processes in less than two years. Founded as a project in 2006, the startup was formalized by four founding partners – Reykjavík Energy, the University of Iceland, the CNRS of Toulouse and the Earth Institute of Columbia University – in 2007 to find a way to limit greenhouse gas emissions in Iceland.
CarbFix is on a mission to become a key player in the fight against climate change by reaching one billion tonnes of permanently stored atmospheric CO2 by 2030. It has also in partnership with the Swiss startup Climeworks to build the world’s largest direct air capture and CO2 storage plant, Orca. The Orca facility, the first of its kind, is located near ON Power’s geothermal park in Iceland. The project runs entirely on renewable energy from the geothermal park. It is to capture 4,000 tonnes of CO2 per yearequivalent to the annual emissions of 790 cars.
Watershed
Founded in 2019, software platform based in San Francisco Watershed helps companies, like Stripe, Twitter, Walmart, and Airbnb, measure carbon emissions and get to net zero with real-time audit-grade data. Its goal is to eliminate half a billion tonnes of CO2 every year for its customers. The startup not only has a roster of big backers, including Al Gore, Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins, but has also onboarded University of California Earth System Science Professor Steve Davis as its climate science lead.
In 2021, the startup developed a free calculator to help people determine the climate impact of hybrid workplaces. It helps to calculate how the promotion of hybrid working influences emissions. Users can assess the extent of their impacts by entering information into the calculator, such as number of days spent in the office per week, employee accommodation and travel methods, office area, travel frequency professionals and clean energy consumption. This calculator supports five regions: San Francisco, New York, Houston, London, and Toronto.
In November of this year, she launched the Watershed Supply Chain Tool to address indirect (or scope 3) emissions from vendors and suppliers. It can identify Scope 3 emissions footprints throughout a company’s supply chain using private and public financial and climate data. With this information, companies can then work with their suppliers to reduce emissions, and Watershed can customize strategies to help suppliers reduce their carbon footprint. This streamlines the supply chain and accelerates emissions reduction efforts.
nori
Based in Seattle nori works to fight climate change using blockchain technology. The startup is developing a platform where users can trade their captured carbon for other financial rewards. Currently working on soil carbon sequestration, Nori connects buyers (i.e. small businesses, startups and individuals) with farmers who extract carbon from the atmosphere and put it back into the soil of their land.
Built on the Ethereum blockchain, each “Nori Carbon Removal Ton(NRT) presents a tonne of CO2 removed from the atmosphere for at least ten years. The startup will soon launch its cryptocurrency, the NORI token, exchangeable for an NRT. The token will provide farmers with a digital product that they can store, control, and redeem for cash at any time.
To prevent the problem of double counting (a loophole where two parties claim the same carbon removal) existing carbon removal in the carbon market today, each NRT will be taken out of circulation so that it cannot be resold.
The climate technology revolution
According The future of climate technology released by Silicon Valley Bank this year, 49 countries and 93 Fortune 500 companies have pledged to achieve net zero goals. So far, VCs have invested billions of dollars in climate technology, showing no signs of slowing down. The report indicates that venture capital investment in climate technologies in the United States has increased by 80% between 2020 and 2021, reaching $56 billion, with the energy and electricity sector seeing the most growth. fast. With a steadily, if not rapidly growing, market, the future of climate technology looks bright.
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