Occidental to Buy DAC Innovator Carbon Engineering for $1.1B

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Occidental Petroleum revealed plans to acquire Canadian Direct Air Capture supplier Carbon Engineering through its subsidiary Oxy for $1.1 billion. 

The oil major’s Oxy Low Carbon Ventures subsidiary advances technologies and solutions that economically grow the company while reducing emissions. 

Carbon Engineering (CE) provides climate solutions focusing on deploying large-scale direct air capture (DAC) technology. It captures carbon directly from the atmosphere and stores it in geologic formations or uses it to make valuable products. 

Accelerating DAC Deployment and Technology Breakthroughs

Occidental and CE have been working on DAC technologies for almost five years now. The buyout will allow Occidental to establish multiple direct air capture sites to deliver climate change solutions.

DAC is Occidental’s low-carbon strategy toward its net zero goal. Last year, it signed a net zero oil deal with South Korean refiner SK Trading.

Occidental plans to build about 100 DAC plants to rapidly advance the technology breakthroughs and ramp up deployment. That way the energy giant can help make DAC a cost-effective global carbon removal solution.

Buying out Carbon Engineering is a good opportunity to make that happen while aligning with Occidental’s net-zero strategies. CE’s DAC technology applies standardized and proven processes. 

The image shows how CE’s DAC technology works. It uses giant fans powered by solar energy to suck in CO2. The liquid sorbents draw in carbon that will be heated to get pure CO2, which would be injected underground or used in making valuable products. 

Carbon Engineering DAC Process

Highlighting the importance of their agreement in scaling up DAC, Occidental President and CEO Vicki Hollub said:

“Together, Occidental and Carbon Engineering can accelerate plans to globally deploy DAC technology at a climate-relevant scale and make DAC the preferred solution for businesses seeking to remove their hard-to-abate emissions.”

Hollub added that it will bring new revenue streams for Occidental, adding to its profitability. 

Occidental will buy CE’s equity for cash in 3 annual payments, with the first due when their agreement turns official. 

Their deal will close before this year closes, subject to regulatory approvals in both the United States and Canada. After this Carbon Engineering would be a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxy Low Carbon Ventures. Its R&D activities and Innovation Center will remain as is in BC, Canada.

The DAC company’s personnel will also continue their usual DAC tech development efforts while working closely with Occidental and 1PointFive to provide DAC solutions.

1PointFive is a Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Sequestration (CCUS) platform aimed at curbing global warming by deploying climate solutions. And this particularly includes CE’s DAC solution. 

A Growing Support for DAC 

Carbon Engineering CEO Daniel Friedmann expressed their appreciation of the acquisition as the next chapter in their journey. The deal shows their commitment to “accelerate implementation of DAC-based climate solutions in the U.S. and around the world.”

The deal comes as part of the US government’s intent to employ DAC, alongside other carbon removal technologies, to reach net zero emissions by 2050. 

Just last week, the US Department of Energy made a huge bet on DAC technology by planning to spend over $1.2 billion on two DAC projects in Texas and Louisiana. Together, these facilities can potentially remove over 2 million metric tons of carbon emissions each year.

Some of the dollars will be under Oxy’s hands as it manages the West Texas-based DAC project called Stratos. 

1PointFive is building Stratos in Ector County, Texas. Occidental and CE are adapting the project’s front-end engineering and design study for a planned DAC facility at Kleberg County. This new plant will be part of the DAC Hub that won DOE’s federal grant.

Employing Carbon Engineering’s DAC technology, Stratos would be the largest DAC plant worldwide in 2025. The other recipient of the grant is Climeworks-led Project Cypress in Louisiana. Climeworks said its DAC hub construction will start as soon as possible, targeting 2025 or 2026. 

Right now, the US government is pioneering massive support programs for advancing DAC and scaling it up. But other countries like the UK and EU are keeping pace with their recent announcements of DAC funding programs. 

The world needs to remove 1 billion tons or 1 gigatonne of CO2 annually by 2030 to prevent catastrophic disasters. Though it can’t deliver such a big amount of carbon removal, DAC is one option entities have at their disposal.

As governments and industries prioritize DAC, Occidental’s vision aligns with the growing support for innovative carbon capture solutions worldwide.

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What Is Hydrogen And Why Is It Revolutionizing Energy

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There’s no need to have a deep education in organic chemistry to understand the importance of hydrogen and the way it’s shaping the future of energy.

Here’s all that you need to know to get started.

What Is Hydrogen And Why Is It Revolutionizing Energy

Hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant atomic element in the universe.

The reason for this goes back to the Big Bang – the theory on how the universe was created.

The Big Bang quickly led to the formation of protons, neutrons, and electrons. And since hydrogen is the simplest element, it formed most quickly.

In fact, the sun and other stars are essentially giant balls of hydrogen and helium gases.

Hydrogen is colorless, odorless, non-toxic, and highly flammable.

Most importantly, the earth is riddled with hydrogen.

It can be found in a wide range of compounds – from oxygen in water (H2O) to hydrocarbons like petroleum and natural gas.

Best of all, hydrogen is considered an ‘energy carrier’ rather than an energy source itself because it needs to be produced from other substances.

But once it’s produced and used as a fuel, it does not produce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), or other harmful pollutants like methane or sulfur dioxide.

The only byproduct that enters the atmosphere during hydrogen combustion is water vapor, making it a clean alternative to fossil fuels.

Hydrogen also has a high energy content per unit of mass, which makes it an attractive option for energy storage and transportation.

It can store more energy in a smaller volume compared to conventional batteries, making it suitable for applications where space and weight are critical factors.

This is what makes Hydrogen ideal as a source of energy.

It can be used in various applications – such as powering fuel cell vehicles and combustion engines.

In fuel cells, hydrogen reacts with oxygen to produce electricity – making it a clean power source for transportation, industrial capacity, and providing electricity in homes.

So while hydrogen itself is a great source of energy, producing it comes with a catch…

Not All Hydrogen Is Created Equally: The “Good Kind” Vs. The “Bad Kind”

Even though hydrogen is a special and abundant element, it doesn’t exist by itself in nature.

As mentioned above, it has to be produced by separating it from other things it’s found in – like water, plants, and fossil fuels.

There are different ways to produce hydrogen, and some are cleaner than others.

“Green” hydrogen is the cleanest. It’s made by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable energy like solar and wind. No harmful CO2 is released into the ai
“Blue” hydrogen is made from natural gas or fossil fuels, but the CO2 it produces is captured and stored, so it doesn’t harm the environment as much.
“Grey” hydrogen is the least clean. It’s made using natural gas or methane, and the CO2 is released into the atmosphere, which is not good for our planet.

Right now, most of the hydrogen we produce is “grey” (roughly 95%), and it creates a lot of harmful emissions that flow into the atmosphere and accelerating climate change.

That’s why “green” hydrogen production and infrastructure is ramping up as a zero-emissions alternative.

Put simply, green hydrogen is produced cleanly through a process known as electrolysis.

Here’s how it works:

During the electrolysis process, electricity from renewable sources – like solar or wind turbines – is used to split water (H2O) into its constituent elements, hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2). This happens when an electric current is passed through the water, causing the hydrogen atoms to separate from the oxygen atoms.
The separated hydrogen gas is collected and stored for later use.
The oxygen that is produced during electrolysis is also collected, but it can be released into the atmosphere without causing any environmental harm since it’s just pure oxygen.

Green Hydrogen: Energizing The Race Towards Net-Zero

Governments around the world have pushed for a ‘net-zero’ environment by 2050 – meaning the balance between the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) that’s produced and the amount that’s removed from the atmosphere.

And because of this zero-emission and powerful renewable energy source that green hydrogen offers, governments and corporations around the world have realized they cannot hit their climate change goals without it. And these goals are ambitious.

According to the United Nations, more than 70 countries, including the biggest polluters – China, the U.S., and the EU – have set a net-zero target, covering about 76% of global emissions.
More than 3,000 businesses and financial institutions are working with the Science-Based Targets Initiative to reduce their emissions in line with climate science.
And more than 1000 cities, over 1000 educational institutions, and over 400 financial institutions have joined the “Race to Zero”, pledging to take rigorous actions to halve global emissions by 2030.

Because of this, governments have aggressively pushed incentives and subsidies to push green hydrogen infrastructure and production.

The Green Hydrogen Market Is Still In The Early Stage – But Growing Quickly

It’s clear that the current path is to move from grey hydrogen green hydrogen.

Major countries around the world have set up green hydrogen policies to make sure it grows fast enough to help achieve the net-zero goals.

For example, over the last couple of years we’ve seen the:

USA: Inflation Reduction Act
EU: Green Deal
UK Hydrogen Strategy
Canada’s National Hydrogen Strategy
Japan’s METI: Committed to H2 within transportation, industry, and power production.
India’s National Hydrogen Mission

And on the back of all these subsidies, the global green hydrogen market is poised to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 54.98% between 2023 to 2032 – from $4.02 billion in 2022 to over $331.98 billion by 2032.

But all this growth requires much more green hydrogen infrastructure and investment.

Producing it is one thing, using it is another.

The entire hydrogen supply chain requires trillions in capital to scale it appropriately – from transportation and refueling stations to distribution and storage.

In fact, Goldman Sachs believes the world must invest over $5 trillion in green hydrogen supply-chains to reach net-zero targets to supply the huge demand for hydrogen (which is expected to rise 9x by 2050).

Goldman Sachs also noted that green hydrogen is the “next frontier of clean technology.”

This is an incredible amount of investment flowing into the rapidly growing sector.

And it’s only the beginning as macro-and-micro fundamentals switch gears towards hydrogen as a clean energy source.

Disclosure: Owners, members, directors and employees of carboncredits.com have/may have stock or option position in any of the companies mentioned: AMLI

Carboncredits.com receives compensation for this publication and has a business relationship with any company whose stock(s) is/are mentioned in this article

Additional disclosure: This communication serves the sole purpose of adding value to the research process and is for information only. Please do your own due diligence. Every investment in securities mentioned in publications of carboncredits.com involve risks which could lead to a total loss of the invested capital.

Please read our Full RISKS and DISCLOSURE here.

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Is the Money and Attention Given to Carbon Capture and Storage Worth It? An Expert Debate

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In its weekly podcast, Climate Now unveiled a historical audio debate among experts in carbon capture and storage (CCS). It marks the first episode in a series of debates tackling the pros and cons of technologies essential for transitioning to clean energy and mitigating climate change. 

Climate Now covers key scientific ideas that underpin the understanding of how and why the climate is changing. The company also provides relevant information on clean energy technologies and policies tackling the climate crisis and energy transition. 

This first-of-its-kind debate involves 4 CCS experts actively arguing for and against the technology. Their insight will bring light for those who want to understand the controversial matter on both sides. 

Towards CCS or Away From It?

Carbon capture and storage technologies have shown their potential to suck in carbon from emission sources, helping reduce global warming. 

The IPCC and other international organizations believe that CCS serves a crucial role in avoiding carbon emissions from industrial production and power generation from warming the atmosphere. 

The UN panel made it clear that removing carbon from the air and locking it away for good is key to achieving the Paris Agreement climate objectives. 

CCS is one of the carbon removal technologies that receives the most attention lately, both from private and public investors. The U.S. Department of Energy has been awarding grants in billions of dollars to carbon capture projects. The agency is backing up both early-stage (R&D) and commercial CCS projects. 

The Environmental Protection Agency has also proposed new rules that would regulate emissions from coal and new gas-fired power plants. In effect, CCS technologies would be one of the most attractive solutions for this hard-to-abate sector. 

Other national governments are also following the U.S. such as Canada, the UK, and the EU. They have also committed millions, if not yet billions, of dollars to these climate technologies. 

However, other scientists and industry leaders question the technology’s feasibility, efficacy, and whether it detracts from the urgent need to transition to renewable energy sources. Others also raise concerns about CCS cost, scalability, and its use in extending the life of fossil fuel-powered industrial processes. 

To address these contending ideas, Climate Now produced a landmark debate between the allies and enemies of CCS.  

Key Questions Covered in the Debate:

Decisions made in the next seven years about where to allocate resources towards clean energy technologies will have a profound impact on the habitability of our planet for decades to come. Why should those dollars be spent on CCS, when there are more expedient ways to cut emissions faster?
If CCS is not the answer, what strategies are being proposed instead to deeply decarbonize the hard-to-abate sectors? How feasible are those strategies?
To date, how effective has CCS been in actually reducing emissions globally? What are the challenges?
Looking ahead, what developments in technology, governance, or the market might shift the debate, either toward more CCS adoption or away from it?

Arguing for CCS project expansion are:

Susan D. Hovorka, a Senior Research Scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, at The University of Texas at Austin
George Peridas, the Energy Program Director, Carbon Management Partnerships at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Debating against CCS technologies are:

Kurt House, entrepreneur working at the interface of technology and natural resources, CEO and co-founder of KoBold Metals
Charles Harvey, a hydrologist and biogeochemist at MIT

The opposition members are co-authors of the NYT Op-Ed, Every Dollar Spent on This Climate Technology is a Waste.

This debate, featured in the first episode of the Climate Now podcast, is available across the company’s channels including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and its website.

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VinFast Shares Soar After Going Public in Nasdaq, Now Valued More Than Ford and Rivian Combined

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VinFast Auto Ltd., a Vietnamese EV company, had gone public and started trading on Nasdaq, after which its shares soared upwards at $37 per share, reaching a market cap of a staggering $85 billion. With this recent milestone, the EV maker continues to pave the road toward sustainable transportation. 

A member of Vingroup JSC, VinFast is Vietnam’s leading EV maker with the mission to make the future green. The company manufactures and exports electric SUVs, buses, and scooters in its home country and the U.S. 

VinFast Goes Public (IPO)

Trading under the ticker symbol of “VFS”, VinFast went public after it acquired Black Spade Acquisition Co. The latter will provide VinFast an ongoing business advisory for the brand’s growth and help with direct investor engagement.  

Their merger will be led by Global CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy, also known as Madame Thuy Le. Remarking on the company’s massive success, Madame Thuy Le commented saying that:

“VinFast has accelerated the global EV revolution by making smart, safe, and environmentally friendly EVs accessible to everyone. Today’s successful listing… supports VinFast’s commitment to sustainable mobility at a global scale.” 

The company’s IPO brought its valuation to more than that of GM ($45.8B), Ford ($47.9B), and other EV makers like Rivian ($19.6B). The Vietnamese carmaker also works on strengthening its stance in the global EV market. It’s taking on new partners in large markets such as North America and Europe.

The now US-listed company has delivered about 19,000 EVs including different models as of the first half of 2023. At the same time, it’s preparing for the launch of its next-generation EV and solutions as it expands globally. 

VinFast had rolled out its own EV charging network across Vietnam, spanning 63 cities and provinces. It has also developed its own retail and service network of more than 120 stores nationwide. 

The company’s Nasdaq listing is a step closer to its vision for a “sustainable future for people and the planet through green, clean, and safe mobility”. 

VinFast’s Sustainability and Net Zero Goals

According to VinGroup and VinFast’s ESG Director, they are on track to achieve 100% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035. The automaker is working its way to strengthen its title as a sustainability champion and hit net zero by 2040. 

However, VinFast’s total carbon emissions had increased, both for Scope 1 and 2 emission sources, according to Vingroup’s annual report. 

Scope 1 increased by 4% while Scope 2 jumped much higher by about 144% from 2021 to 2022.

Scope 1 includes direct greenhouse gas emissions measured in tons of CO2 equivalent from energy consumption and losses from cooling systems, while Scope 2 emissions are indirect GHG emissions. The chart below shows VinFast emissions breakdown per Scope.

Scope 1 emissions dropped from 12% in 2021 to 5% in 2022. But Scope 2 went up from 88% to 95% for the same period.

To address its growing carbon emission, VinFast plans to install renewable energy sources (rooftop solar panels) in its factories. This is crucial to reduce the footprint from energy use, which represents most of the carmaker’s carbon emissions. Sourcing energy from renewables will offset the company’s emissions from the grid. 

Part of its net zero strategy is discontinuing production of internal combustion engine vehicles in July 2022 and switching to making full EVs. More importantly, the Vingroup company pledged to reach net zero emissions by 2040 when it joined “The Climate Pledge”. The pledge is co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism. 

In the same year, VinFast also signed the COP26 Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Declaration. With that, the EV maker aimed to sell 100% zero-emission vehicles in major markets starting in 2035. 

VinFast also employs processes that enable it to further reduce carbon emissions and save on energy and water consumption. They opt for energy-efficient production and partner with researchers to find new solutions to achieve zero emissions. 

Just recently, the Vietnamese carmaker had broken ground at its new EV manufacturing plant in the United States. This marks another huge achievement for the company’s aim to expand and develop its supply chain in North America. The move aligns with Vingroup’s efforts and plans to establish its own battery manufacturing capacity. 

Establishing EV Battery Line and Supply Chain

Last year, the parent company built a battery pack manufacturing facility at the VinES factory in Ha Tinh. At VinFast’s manufacturing facility in Hai Phong, they established a lithium iron phosphate manufacturing line for their EVs and e-bikes. 

Integrating battery manufacturing technology into its EVs is crucial to meeting its goal of global expansion. To this end, Vinfast collaborates with battery industry leaders like China’s CATL to develop new battery and EV technologies.

An important part of this strategy is to ensure enough suppliers of critical EV battery components such as nickel and lithium. Lithium, in particular, has seen a soaring demand as other EV manufacturers like Tesla and Rivian are ramping up production. 

The critical metal is hailed as the new oil, at least for the EVs, and the global race is on to secure this valuable resource. In the US, American Lithium Corp is playing a key role to help deliver an ample supply of lithium. The company runs two of the biggest lithium deposits in the Americas.

In the fast-evolving landscape of sustainable transportation, VinFast’s Nasdaq debut marks a monumental step towards its vision of green, clean, and safe mobility. With a commitment to net zero and innovative strategies, the Vietnamese EV company continues to find ways to drive down its carbon emission and make positive changes in the automotive industry.

Disclosure: Owners, members, directors and employees of carboncredits.com have/may have stock or option position in any of the companies mentioned: AMLI

Carboncredits.com receives compensation for this publication and has a business relationship with any company whose stock(s) is/are mentioned in this article

Additional disclosure: This communication serves the sole purpose of adding value to the research process and is for information only. Please do your own due diligence. Every investment in securities mentioned in publications of carboncredits.com involve risks which could lead to a total loss of the invested capital.

Please read our Full RISKS and DISCLOSURE here.

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Carbon Dioxide Removals (CDR) Purchases Jump 437% in First Half of 2023

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Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) has seen a rapid growth in 2023 amid uncertainties and blows, and set a record high increase in purchases of 437% for the first half this year versus full-year 2022, data according to CDR.fyi.

CDR.fyi is the largest open data platform dedicated to monitor CDR to inform market players and stakeholders with updated data on the industry to help guide investment decisions and scale.

The platform tracks high-permanence CDR purchases and deliveries (100+ years) from public and private data disclosures. Here are the major results in their progress report for the first half of the year.

CDR Purchases Soar, But on the Hands of the Few

Reaching gigatonne-scale of removals each year calls for a very ambitious growth in the industry. Between 40% to 50% annual growth rate by the end of the decade is necessary. 

To date, 4.1 million metric tonnes of CDR have been bought, with just 2.6% delivered or ~109k tonnes. But market trends are so promising, showing significant improvements particularly on CDR purchases.

The first half of 2023 has been a defining moment for the CDR market. Purchases surged to about 3.4 million tonnes, showing strong growth of 5.6x versus the full-year 2022. The whole previous year recorded only around 610 thousand tonnes of CDR purchases. 

But interestingly, the huge increase is caused by a few major transactions. In particular, the 3 biggest purchase deals are responsible for 95% of the current year’s total purchases. They specifically include the following transactions from large companies:

Ørsted and Microsoft – 2.76 million tonnes of CDR 
NextGen – 193 thousand tonnes
Frontier and Charm Industrial – 112 thousand tonnes ($53 million)
JP Morgan – 800 thousand tonnes (with $200 million commitment to buy from Charm, Climeworks, and CO280)

Out of those large purchase agreements, delivery of the removals don’t keep up with only over 33 thousand tonnes. Still, it’s higher with a bigger number of suppliers (21) compared to the same period from the past year (19).

The improvement in the length of time from the CDR pre-purchase deal to delivery by more than a year suggests that processes have also improved. This brings more confidence in CDR buyers to make forward purchases. 

In fact, corporate CDR buyers are committing to long-term contracts (over 5 years) that align with their net zero targets.

CDR.fyi also reported that the number of CDR buyers in 2023 H1 jumped 14% versus the 2022 H1. And most of them are buying <100 tonnes a year, which is so insignificant compared to the amount of carbon they’re emitting. 

Here are the top 10 in the leaderboards for corporate CDR buyers and suppliers.

Source: CDR.fyi

Diversity in Carbon Removal Methods

When it comes to CDR methods, CDR.fyi data shows that there are some shifts in distribution trends. 

As illustrated in the chart, the bulk of purchases come from BECCS (Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage) – 88%. This is mainly because of the Ørsted and Microsoft CDR deal.

Bio-oil comes next with 4% of the entire volume, Direct Air Capture or DAC represents 3%, while Biochar gets only 2% of CDR purchases. However, it appears interesting to note that CDR from biochar takes up 91% of total deliveries. Bio-oil and enhanced weathering comes second and third, accounting for 6% and 3% of the deliveries respectively. 

The diversity in the methods of removing carbon dioxide shows that the CDR market is exploring various ways to mitigate climate change. From ocean-based removal to biomass, these different means also have various levels of potential for scale up. And many of them are in their early-stages that need more investments to reach commercialization. 

What the Industry Needs to Scale

The trends are encouraging so far and CDR.fyi further said that by the end of this year, purchases will reach 6 million tonnes. If this happens, it would be a 10x increase from 2022. 

However, the fact remains that a lot of major companies are still not in the market. Only a select few are supporting and investing in this emerging carbon credit market. 

The report doesn’t include purchases from the governments, which have the capacity to buy CDR at scale. But some progress can be observed in the public sector. 

Just recently, the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced its commitment to provide support for CDR suppliers. The agency has been pumping billions of dollars to help scale up the industry. The US government will be the first in the world to provide direct payments to carbon removals suppliers. 

As the market continues to deliver high-permanence CDR, we can expect to see more support and investments pouring in. This is critical to enhance the capacity of various methods of carbon removals and bring down the cost of technologies.  

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Iberdrola Launches New Carbon Credit Unit to Sequester 61M Tons of CO2

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Iberdrola SA, a Spanish power company that leads in producing wind energy, has launched a new business unit aimed at generating nature-based carbon credits to reduce its global carbon emissions. 

The carbon credit company called Carbon2Nature (C2N) is formed through Iberdrola’s startup program Perseo. C2N will provide high-quality carbon credits in-house through projects that improve biodiversity, conserve and restore nature.

Harnessing the Potential of Nature-Based Carbon Credits 

C2N leverages the potential of carbon markets, supporting the development of projects that will generate high-quality carbon credits. The new business will either develop its own nature-based solutions (NBS) or partner with others doing the same. 

The goal is to capture and sequester over 61 million tons of carbon in natural sinks across more than 100,000 hectares, which includes forests, coastal ecosystems, and agricultural land. Each credit corresponds to each tonne of carbon reduced, removed, or avoided from entering the atmosphere. 

The nature-based projects will prevent emissions caused by degradation, contributing to additional carbon sequestration while promoting social and environmental benefits. The newly found company believes that investing in nature is crucial to fight climate change while promoting sustainable value creation.

Speaking for the new launch, Carbon2Nature’s director Miguel Ángel García Tamargo said:

“We come to this new market with humility and a desire to do things differently, bringing all of Iberdrola’s experience in sustainability to the world of nature-based solutions and the generation of carbon credits.” 

Iberdrola also plans to use the initiative to advance emerging clean energy solutions and sustainable production processes. Their new carbon credit initiative will focus on countries where Iberdrola has a strong presence. 

The majority of C2N’s projects will be in Latin America, including Peru, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia. The carbon credit company will also invest in nature-based solutions in the UK, Portugal, and its home country, Spain.

Carbon2Nature’s carbon credits will be available to Iberdrola’s customers aiming for cutting their carbon footprint and for the company’s own net zero goals. 

With a focus on producing more renewable energy, Iberdrola aims to reach net zero emissions by 2040.

Iberdrola’s Net Zero Targets 

As a global leader in renewable energy, Iberdrola aims to achieve carbon neutrality for Scopes 1 and 2 by 2030 and net zero emissions for all scopes before 2040. 

As outlined in its Climate Action Plan, Iberdrola defines the levers and actions that will help advance its decarbonization journey. This plan contains the following major elements.

To reach its net zero goal, the company says it will continue to invest around 47 billion euros between 2023 and 2025 in these decarbonization efforts:

Increased renewable installations
Onshore and offshore wind power 
Solar photovoltaic 
Battery 
Hydroelectric capacity
Electricity grids

The energy giant has one of the biggest renewable energy pipelines as shown and mapped below per renewable source.

All these investments, as stated in the company’s 2022 Sustainability Report, aimed towards accelerating the energy transition. By the end of the decade, the company expects to achieve 100,000 MW of installed capacity, 80% is renewables. This is possible thanks to Iberdrola’s planned investments of between 65 to 75 billion euros between 2026 and 2030. 

Alongside its plan to rapidly reduce its own carbon emissions, the energy major also seeks to decarbonize the energy mix sector. Moving towards its net zero emissions, Iberdrola has employed a broad range of decarbonization initiatives. 

Those efforts resulted in a 15% reduction in the company’s direct and indirect carbon emissions from 2021 to 2022. The same case happened in Iberdrola’s carbon emissions intensity (gCO₂/kWh) which shows a huge downward trend. These achievements speak for the company’s commitment to climate change and sustainability. 

Source: Iberdrola GHG Report 2022

Pioneering a Sustainable Energy Transition

As part of its net zero journey, the company will employ various actions focusing on these key areas:

Decarbonization of electricity generation through the massive introduction of renewable energies
System integration through smart grids and digitization. 
Electrification of demand – new uses of electricity, e.g. production of green hydrogen, for sectors that are difficult to decarbonize
Nature-based and other emerging climate solutions (ex. Iberdrola’s 2020-2030 Trees Program aims to plant 20 million trees by 2030)

Carbon2Nature is the most recent NBS initiative that the energy giant made as it commits to a sustainable energy model. The goal is to fuel its decarbonization strategies by harnessing carbon markets to bring positive impacts to the environment and the climate.

By tapping into the potential of carbon credits and nature-based projects, the Spanish energy leader’s strategies exemplify the multifaceted approach needed to usher in a net zero era.

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DevvStream Inks Multi-Year Purchase Deal for 250K Carbon Credits

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DevvStream Holdings Inc., a technology-based environmental, social, and governance (ESG) company, has made another significant stride in the world of carbon credit trading by securing a multi-year carbon credit purchase agreement with a Canadian subsidiary of a major investor-owned energy company. 

This groundbreaking agreement marks a pivotal moment for DevvStream as it reinforces its position as a leading player in carbon credit project development and generation, with a specialized emphasis on technological solutions.

Under this multi-year agreement, the buyer committed to purchase 250,000 carbon credits from DevvStream. Generation of these carbon credits would adhere to compliance programs in Alberta and British Columbia for at least 3 years. They will also be subject to meeting specific conditions like regulatory requirements in BC.

Trading Carbon Credits in Compliance Markets

A critical aspect of trading carbon credits in the compliance carbon market is that they must align with the relevant national, regional, and international policies and legislation. DevvStream will produce the credits according to the Technology Innovation and Emission Reduction (TIER) Regulation, enacted under Alberta’s Emissions Management and Climate Resilience Act. 

The company will also ensure alignment with British Columbia’s forthcoming Output-Based Pricing System (OBPS). In case the OBPS is not yet finalized during the agreement’s term, equivalent voluntary credits can be an alternative, at the buyer’s discretion.

Voluntary carbon credits are also known as carbon offsets. DevvStream also offers a range of targeted and scalable carbon offset programs (COPs) to meet the agreement’s requirements. These carbon offset programs include:

emission reduction activities in road transportation and maintenance, 
buildings and facilities program,
energy-efficient lighting, 
electric vehicle charging stations, and 
methane abatement initiatives focusing on sealing orphaned oil and gas wells, 

To ensure scalability and effectiveness, DevvStream’s COPs employ the Program of Activities (PoA) approach. This model is recognized by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Applying it enables DevvStream to bundle up multiple eligible activities across predetermined jurisdictions, promoting quick deployment at scale.

Committing to Carbon Credit Integrity 

Sunny Trinh, DevvStream’s CEO, emphasizes the company’s commitment to generating top-quality carbon credits that adhere to strict environmental standards. These credits will align with the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) Core Carbon Principles and also comply with robust methodologies outlined in Canadian law. 

Trinh further asserts that their ability to work around strict regulations showcases DevvStream’s operational excellence in the carbon space.

The initial batch of carbon credits will be delivered by 2024, with the final delivery slated for 2026. The agreement also allows for the possibility of purchasing an additional 400,000 credits beyond the specified period.

This landmark agreement highlights the surging demand for carbon offsets generated through DevvStream’s diverse programs. As environmental concerns continue to take center stage, partnerships like these contribute significantly to addressing climate change while adhering to stringent compliance and quality standards.

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US to Invest $1.2B in DAC Projects Led by Climeworks and Oxy

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The US government just made a very large bet on giant carbon-sucking machines known as Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology as a climate solution by planning to spend $1.2 billion on two projects led by Occidental Petroleum, Oxy, and Climeworks. 

The Department of Energy (DOE) awarded the grant to Project Cypress in Louisiana, a DAC facility run by Battelle, Climeworks, and Heirloom Carbon Technologies. The other DAC plant is in Texas overseen by Occidental Petroleum’s (Oxy) subsidiary 1PointFive, alongside Carbon Engineering and Worley.

Together, the two pioneer DAC hubs will remove over 2 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year.

Leading the Game-Changing Carbon Removal Technology

Rising global temperatures and the lack of rapid carbon reduction efforts put carbon removal into the spotlight. Climate scientists at the UN panel say that billions of tons of carbon must be drawn out of the air every year to stay within the critical 1.5°C threshold. 

Direct air capture is one of the emerging carbon removal technologies. 

The $1.2bln move places the United States as the world leader in testing DAC as a climate change solution. It represents the first phase of the $3.5 billion funding program of the DOE for developing DAC hubs. The funds were set aside by the Biden Administration last year through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 

The billion-dollar investment is the first and largest governmental support worldwide for the nascent carbon capture technology. Speaking for the government’s decision at the reporters’ call, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said:

“These hubs are going to help us prove out the potential of this game-changing technology…If we deploy this at scale, this technology can help us make serious headway toward our net-zero emissions goals while we are still focused on deploying, deploying, deploying more clean energy at the same time” 

She further noted that once the projects come to life, they can remove emissions equal to taking 500,000 gas-powered cars off the road. 

Rolling Out Support For DAC 

The Energy Department has also rolled out several initiatives that will bring the cost of DAC technology down to below $100/metric ton of CO2 within the decade. These efforts include a $35 million procurement program for carbon credits and grants for 14 feasibility studies and 5 engineering and design studies.

Last year, the agency launched 4 programs with $3.7 billion in funding to ramp up the carbon removal industry in the country.

This recent rollout is part of the larger program to develop 4 direct air capture hubs over the next decade. Each of them has the potential to remove and store at least 1 million tons of carbon a year. 

The funding is the biggest-ever investment in engineered carbon removal – DAC. It also includes funding for another 19 conceptual and engineering studies of future DAC facilities.

The two awarded DAC plants are on a different scale and use different carbon removal technologies. 

Climeworks’ Project Cypress 

The Louisiana DAC plant, run by Battelle, will store 1 million tons of CO2 annually. But it will employ technology from two DAC companies – Climeworks and Heirloom. They use solid sorbents in capturing carbon dioxide which is released and pumped underground.

Climeworks runs the largest DAC plant ORCA in Iceland. The company uses giant fans to suck in huge quantities of air through a special chemical that filters out CO2. The captured air is heated to release the pure CO2 stream that is pumped deep underground, where it becomes stone.

Heirloom’s DAC tech employs the natural carbon mineralization process, speeding it up from millions of years to just days. The company is using a powder from crushed limestone, and mixes it with water to act like a sponge that absorbs CO2 quickly. 

Climeworks said its DAC hub construction will start as soon as possible, depending on several factors. They target to begin capturing in 2025 or 2026. 

Both versions of DAC technology have been tested and are considered mature, but still need scaling up to lower costs. 

Oxy DAC Facility

Occidental will build the other DAC plant in Texas. The facility will use Carbon Engineering’s (CE) DAC technology which also uses fans powered by solar energy to draw in air. 

The liquid sorbents suck in carbon that will be heated to get pure CO2 that would be injected underground or used in making valuable products. The image shows how CE’s direct air capture technology works. 

Oxy’s DAC plant can also remove 1 million tons of CO2, which can scale up to 30 million tons yearly. This project represents one of the world’s biggest experiments in DAC.

Will DAC Help Take Us to 1.5°C?

Private sector efforts and government support are ramping up to advance carbon removal solutions and DAC gets the most attention. 

According to the International Energy Agency, 130 DAC plants are under development globally. But they’re all small-scale, with a total carbon removal capacity of just 11,000 tons a year. That’s far way down below what’s required – 1 billion tons or 1 gigaton of CO2 annually by 2030.

Critics of this carbon removal technology argue that spending public money on DAC is a waste. They claim that the process consumes so much energy and is one of the most expensive methods of carbon sequestration. Skeptics further say that DAC won’t get us anywhere because of the difficulty in scaling up this technology.

However, DAC proponents counter that without carbon removal like DAC, it would be impossible to achieve the global climate goal. Some say it serves as a “backstop technology” over limitations of natural carbon removal solutions, e.g. land availability.

Other supporters claim that DAC plants need a smaller land area, easier to calculate the amount of carbon captured, and tend to sequester CO2 permanently. 

Amid the debate, other countries are also taking major turns to advance direct air capture and other carbon removal technologies. The EU, UK, and Canada have also recently announced funding support for the technology. 

As temperatures rise and climate disasters get worse, a wider consensus emerges that technologies sucking carbon from the air will be key to curbing global warming.

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Advancing Carbon Removal: DOE Invests $13M in 23 Innovative CO2 Capture Technologies

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) invested over $13 million in 23 projects to support research and development for carbon capture technologies and their applications that can cut carbon emissions.  

Universities and private sector companies across the country lead the projects to scale up carbon capture technologies to commercial deployment. These technologies capture CO2 from industrial sources like power plants, or directly from the air and oceans. They then transform the captured carbon into valuable products such as fuels and chemicals or use it to make building materials. 

Earlier this year, the DOE rolled out $2.5 billion to fund 2 carbon capture initiatives aimed to boost investment in technologies that capture, transport, and store carbon. The Department also opened new funding opportunities in May worth $2.25 billion for the validation and testing of large-scale, commercial carbon storage projects.

Scaling Up Carbon Capture and Conversion Technologies

The chosen initiatives are helping the nation achieve President Biden’s 2050 net zero economy goal. They also provide high-quality jobs and economic opportunities for local communities. Highlighting the importance of the funded project’s technologies, Assistant Secretary of FECM Brad Crabtree said that:

“Carbon capture and storage, carbon dioxide removal, and carbon conversion will play an essential role in support of our national decarbonization efforts.”

DOE’s financial support aims to bring rapid and widespread adoption of those technologies. 

Under round 1 of its funding program, DOE selected 4 projects below to receive a total of over $7 million. These projects convert carbon emissions captured from industrial facilities and power plants into durable building materials like concrete. They can also significantly reduce overall life cycle emissions in the process while focusing on improving the cost efficiency of their processes.

The DOE Funding Program Awardees

Calcify LLC – Total Value: $1,716,741 

DOE Funding = $1,364,278; Non-DOE Funding = $352,463

The Connecticut-based company will develop a 20 kg/day prototype process using biomass ash and desalination brines to capture carbon. The captured CO2 will be used to make stabilized, amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) for cement, which the team has to demonstrate to show superior properties to regular Portland cement and emit lower CO2. 

C-Crete Technologies, LLC – Total Value: $2,500,000

DOE Funding = $2,000,000; Non-DOE Funding = $500,000

The California-based company will demonstrate that their technology is feasible to convert over 10 kg/day of CO2 to make a special formula of high-performance concrete that may outperform Portland concrete while mineralizing the net carbon. Their low-carbon concrete will be fast-curing, carbon-negative, strong and tough and applicable to precast and cast-in-place concrete markets. 

Cornell University – Total Value: $2,500,000

DOE Funding = $2,000,000; Non-DOE Funding = $500,000

The New York-based university aims to show regenerable carbon capture solvents made through its transformative energy- and atom-efficient technology. The converted CO2 will be integrated for the co-recovery of high-value energy critical metals and other minerals (calcium carbonate, magnesium, iron- and aluminum-rich products) from industrial residues produced by secondary iron and steelmaking as well as aluminum manufacturing. 

University of Missouri – Total Value: $2,500,000

DOE Funding = $2,000,000; Non-DOE Funding = $500,000

The university will use carbon dioxide to process solid wastes to produce carbon-negative supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) for construction. In partnership with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, their technology works with various carbon sources, e.g. flue gasses.

The second round of the DOE funding program includes 19 R&D projects that focus on ocean-based carbon removal technologies. Some of them are also into direct air capture (DAC) alongside carbon-free hydrogen to make carbon-neutral methanol.  

Other projects are developed by universities as included in the tables.

Here is the detailed list of the 19 project developers and what technologies they’re developing.

The DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will manage those projects. 

These recent selections bring FECM’s total investments of more than $678 million since the funding program launched in 2021. The initiatives promote R&D and deployment of CO2 capture, transport, conversion, and storage. 

The recent DOE funding opportunity is crucial in driving technological innovations, economic growth, and job creation during the clean energy transition. The selected innovations, spanning carbon capture to ocean-based removal, signify a stride toward sustainable innovation and significant emission reductions.

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