💸🔦 This week’s carbon dioxide removal (#CDR) supplier spotlight: Octavia Carbon 💸🔦

🇰🇪 Today, we are featuring Octavia Carbon in #Kenya and the first Direct Air Capture (#DAC) company in the Global South. They aim to leverage Kenya’s geothermal energy, geology, and talent to make Kenya the world’s most cost-effective DAC hub by 2025.

How does Octavia Carbon operate?

⚡ Octavia Carbon uses Kenya’s abundant geothermal energy and renewable energy sources, meaning it can operate cost-effectively and without generating substantial emissions. Waste heat from geothermal plants will regenerate the filters in their DAC machines, covering 85% of the energy required.

🪨 Octavia Carbon has partnered with Cella Mineral Storage, which will store the CO2 underground in the Kenyan Rift Valley, a natural reservoir for CO2 storage rich in basaltic rock. By co-deploying DAC + Storage, it eliminates the need for infrastructure to transport and store CO2 and helps drive down costs. 

🔎 Octavia Carbon will be able to reassure their customers exactly how many grams of CO2 are removed and they will become the first DAC company to be certified through the geologically stored carbon methodology developed by carbon credits platform Puro.earth.

What is Octavia Carbon’s carbon removal strategy?

🚧 The company has so far built seven at-scale DAC machines and has standardised its design for mass production. They are now gearing up to build their pilot plant by 2024 – Project Hummingbird – which will remove 1000 tCO2 per year at full capacity. 

💵 Octavia Carbon has mobilised US$1.5m in pre-seed investment and CDR pre-purchases, and is currently raising a seed round of $2 million that it will use to build Phase 1 of their DAC+Storage field pilot with Cella. Just earlier today they announced a 950t pre-purchase froKlimate.co! 

🌍 Like most countries in the Global South, Kenya is disproportionately affected by climate change despite contributing the least to it. Kenya’s thriving tech sector and talent pool, in addition to its natural endowments, make it uniquely positioned to help solve climate change while creating prosperity for its people. 

👏 Congrats on hiring a team of 50, building at-scale DAC machines, thereby demonstrating the potential of Kenya’s cost-effectiveness as a hub for CDR! Huge shoutout to Martin Freimüllerüller, Fiona Mugambi, Duncan Kariuki, Mike Bwondera, Diana Maranga and the rest of the Octavia Carbon team - can’t wait to see what you do next!

❓ What do you think of Octavia Carbon’s CDR provisions? 

#CarbonRemoval #cdr #ClimateTech 

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