Latest news with #DirectAirCapture
Business Wire
20-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Cool Effect Adds First Direct Air Capture Project to Portfolio Following Rigorous Review
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cool Effect, a Bay Area nonprofit that supports high integrity carbon emission reduction and removal projects around the globe, is announcing today that it has selected a Direct Air Capture (DAC) project to be added to its portfolio of carbon projects. After a comprehensive review, Cool Effect has chosen to represent Project Juniper, a DAC project in Nevada owned and operated by LA-based project developer Clairity Technology. After a comprehensive review, Cool Effect has chosen to represent Project Juniper, a DAC project in Nevada owned and operated by LA-based project developer Clairity Technology. This marks the first time that Cool Effect has supported a DAC project, and only the second durable technology-based Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) project added to its portfolio after selection of a biochar project in 2024. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that 10 billion metric tons, or 10 gigatons, of carbon dioxide removal will be required annually by 2050. Despite its potential as a complement to decarbonization strategies, investment in DAC remains a fraction of what's needed. According to carbon market database Allied Offsets, only 2.1 million tons of DAC carbon credits have been transacted as of December 2024 1 – less than 0.02% of what will be required each year. 'We've seen growing interest in DAC projects from our corporate buyers, but many remain cautious because of price and availability, and are wary of investing in an emerging technology,' said Jodi Manning, CEO at Cool Effect. 'Clairity's innovative approach has demonstrated that scalable, high-integrity carbon removal through DAC is not just the future promise—it's starting now with Project Juniper. We're proud to add this project to our portfolio, helping build confidence in the market and setting a high bar for what first-of-its-kind, science-backed carbon removal should look like.' Project Juniper captures atmospheric carbon dioxide using Clairity's novel, low-cost, and scalable three-step DAC process. First, fans blow air over a widely available, low-cost, and non-toxic alkali carbonate sorbent, capturing the carbon dioxide via a chemical reaction. Then the sorbent is heated to low temperatures, off-gassing the carbon dioxide, which is collected, and yielding water. Next, the carbon dioxide is introduced to feedstock materials, where it undergoes a mineralization process that permanently locks in carbon by generating carbonated materials. Once mineralized, the carbonated materials are transported to a local construction and demolition (C&D) landfill for storage. C&D landfills are designated for industrial waste disposal and highly regulated, meeting strict methodological requirements for ensuring low reversal risk and a carbon storage durability of over 1,000 years. Most DAC processes are both energy-intensive and consume water, which would traditionally place an increasing strain on communities as DAC scales to megaton and gigaton levels. However, Project Juniper is carbon-negative and water-positive, generating water for water-stressed communities in Southern Nevada and providing a significant environmental and economic co-benefit. The project is fully electric and can be powered by clean energy from the local grid operator. Additionally, it boasts a modular design with the ability to add on fans and increase carbon capture capacity over time, allowing for it to scale and right-size based on investment. 'We were deeply impressed by the Clairity team and their innovative DAC technology,' said Johanna Depenthal, Director of Project Research at Cool Effect. 'Their non-toxic, energy-efficient, and water-generating carbon capture and sequestration process is a step forward for DAC, and their careful accounting of project emissions via the comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) ensures that resulting credits are truly additional. We also appreciate the meaningful co-benefits it brings to the Southern Nevada region, a key consideration for every project we support at Cool Effect.' Project Juniper is currently undergoing validation by Isometric, a leading carbon removal registry. Following the project's approval, credits are anticipated to issue in summer 2025, at which time Clairity Technology is expected to be the first DAC project developer to issue credits in the United States and only the second in the world. 'We're incredibly proud of the breakthrough technology behind Project Juniper and what it represents for the future of carbon removal,' said Glen Meyerowitz, Founder & CEO at Clairity Technology. 'From the beginning, we set out to create a DAC solution that is both scalable and cost-effective today. Partnering with Cool Effect—a leader in rigorous project selection and integrity—validates the work we've done and gives us confidence that we can accelerate impact in the years ahead.' To learn more about Cool Effect and how to partner with the organization to develop an impactful carbon credit program, please visit About Cool Effect™ Cool Effect is a San Francisco Bay Area 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to reducing carbon emissions around the world. Endorsed by 1% for the Planet, its mission is to educate and then inspire businesses and individuals to take measurable action against climate change by purchasing scientifically verified carbon credits from the world's highest quality projects. It returns more than 90% of each donation directly to its project partners and, since its launch at the Paris COP in 2015, has helped projects receive over $70 million for nearly ten million tonnes of emission reductions. Like the Butterfly Effect, The Ripple Effect, and others, a single action can have global impact. To learn more, please visit or follow Cool Effect on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X. About Clairity Technology Clairity Technology is a global leader in direct air capture (DAC) and carbon storage by advancing the bounds of what can be accomplished today. Clairity's process uses readily available materials and simple hardware to deploy solutions to capture and remove atmospheric CO 2. Project Juniper is Clairity's first commercial facility to perform DAC and storage via ex-situ mineralization and will generate the first independently verified credits from a DAC project in North America. Clairity will be increasing the scale of its removal across the US Southwest and in other locations around the world. For more information, visit
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cool Effect Adds First Direct Air Capture Project to Portfolio Following Rigorous Review
Nonprofit Backs Breakthrough Carbon Removal Solution from US-Based Clairity Technology, Supporting Scale and Integrity in the Growing DAC Market SAN FRANCISCO, May 20, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cool Effect, a Bay Area nonprofit that supports high integrity carbon emission reduction and removal projects around the globe, is announcing today that it has selected a Direct Air Capture (DAC) project to be added to its portfolio of carbon projects. After a comprehensive review, Cool Effect has chosen to represent Project Juniper, a DAC project in Nevada owned and operated by LA-based project developer Clairity Technology. This marks the first time that Cool Effect has supported a DAC project, and only the second durable technology-based Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) project added to its portfolio after selection of a biochar project in 2024. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that 10 billion metric tons, or 10 gigatons, of carbon dioxide removal will be required annually by 2050. Despite its potential as a complement to decarbonization strategies, investment in DAC remains a fraction of what's needed. According to carbon market database Allied Offsets, only 2.1 million tons of DAC carbon credits have been transacted as of December 20241 – less than 0.02% of what will be required each year. "We've seen growing interest in DAC projects from our corporate buyers, but many remain cautious because of price and availability, and are wary of investing in an emerging technology," said Jodi Manning, CEO at Cool Effect. "Clairity's innovative approach has demonstrated that scalable, high-integrity carbon removal through DAC is not just the future promise—it's starting now with Project Juniper. We're proud to add this project to our portfolio, helping build confidence in the market and setting a high bar for what first-of-its-kind, science-backed carbon removal should look like." Project Juniper captures atmospheric carbon dioxide using Clairity's novel, low-cost, and scalable three-step DAC process. First, fans blow air over a widely available, low-cost, and non-toxic alkali carbonate sorbent, capturing the carbon dioxide via a chemical reaction. Then the sorbent is heated to low temperatures, off-gassing the carbon dioxide, which is collected, and yielding water. Next, the carbon dioxide is introduced to feedstock materials, where it undergoes a mineralization process that permanently locks in carbon by generating carbonated materials. Once mineralized, the carbonated materials are transported to a local construction and demolition (C&D) landfill for storage. C&D landfills are designated for industrial waste disposal and highly regulated, meeting strict methodological requirements for ensuring low reversal risk and a carbon storage durability of over 1,000 years. Most DAC processes are both energy-intensive and consume water, which would traditionally place an increasing strain on communities as DAC scales to megaton and gigaton levels. However, Project Juniper is carbon-negative and water-positive, generating water for water-stressed communities in Southern Nevada and providing a significant environmental and economic co-benefit. The project is fully electric and can be powered by clean energy from the local grid operator. Additionally, it boasts a modular design with the ability to add on fans and increase carbon capture capacity over time, allowing for it to scale and right-size based on investment. "We were deeply impressed by the Clairity team and their innovative DAC technology," said Johanna Depenthal, Director of Project Research at Cool Effect. "Their non-toxic, energy-efficient, and water-generating carbon capture and sequestration process is a step forward for DAC, and their careful accounting of project emissions via the comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) ensures that resulting credits are truly additional. We also appreciate the meaningful co-benefits it brings to the Southern Nevada region, a key consideration for every project we support at Cool Effect." Project Juniper is currently undergoing validation by Isometric, a leading carbon removal registry. Following the project's approval, credits are anticipated to issue in summer 2025, at which time Clairity Technology is expected to be the first DAC project developer to issue credits in the United States and only the second in the world. "We're incredibly proud of the breakthrough technology behind Project Juniper and what it represents for the future of carbon removal," said Glen Meyerowitz, Founder & CEO at Clairity Technology. "From the beginning, we set out to create a DAC solution that is both scalable and cost-effective today. Partnering with Cool Effect—a leader in rigorous project selection and integrity—validates the work we've done and gives us confidence that we can accelerate impact in the years ahead." To learn more about Cool Effect and how to partner with the organization to develop an impactful carbon credit program, please visit About Cool Effect™ Cool Effect is a San Francisco Bay Area 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to reducing carbon emissions around the world. Endorsed by 1% for the Planet, its mission is to educate and then inspire businesses and individuals to take measurable action against climate change by purchasing scientifically verified carbon credits from the world's highest quality projects. It returns more than 90% of each donation directly to its project partners and, since its launch at the Paris COP in 2015, has helped projects receive over $70 million for nearly ten million tonnes of emission reductions. Like the Butterfly Effect, The Ripple Effect, and others, a single action can have global impact. To learn more, please visit or follow Cool Effect on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X. About Clairity Technology Clairity Technology is a global leader in direct air capture (DAC) and carbon storage by advancing the bounds of what can be accomplished today. Clairity's process uses readily available materials and simple hardware to deploy solutions to capture and remove atmospheric CO2. Project Juniper is Clairity's first commercial facility to perform DAC and storage via ex-situ mineralization and will generate the first independently verified credits from a DAC project in North America. Clairity will be increasing the scale of its removal across the US Southwest and in other locations around the world. For more information, visit Sources Pranav Balaji, "DAC: Processes, types of DAC and Current state of DAC," Allied Offsets, December 2024, View source version on Contacts Media Contact Jenn EiskampDemonstrate PR on behalf of Cool Effectcooleffect@
Forbes
17-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Why Oxy's Acquisition Of Holocene Signals A Maturing Carbon Removal Industry
Lori Guetre, vice president and head of business development for Carbon Engineering (CE), from left, ... More Michael Avery, president and general manager for Direct Air Capture (DAC) for North America at 1PointFive, Vicki Hollub, president and chief executive officer of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY), Richard Jackson, president of US onshore resources and carbon management for Occidental Petroleum (OXY), and other executives hold shovels during a groundbreaking ceremony at the Occidental Petroleum and 1PointFive Direct Air Capture (DAC) plant in Ector County, Texas, US, on Friday, April 28, 2023. Upon completion, the first DAC plant will be the world's largest of its kind and will allow the acceleration of a net-zero economy. Photographer: Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg There's a moment in every technological revolution where the story shifts. It stops being about startups and starts being about ecosystems. It's not about invention anymore — it's about scale, integration, and consolidation. That's where direct air capture (DAC) finds itself in 2025. And the latest sign of this maturation? Occidental Petroleum's quiet but telling acquisition of Holocene, a young DAC startup with a novel take on liquid sorbents. To the casual observer, this might look like an oil company hoovering up another climate tech company. But to those paying attention, it's something else entirely: a tectonic shift in the carbon removal market. And the tremors are only just beginning. This isn't Occidental's first rodeo in DAC. Less than two years ago, they made headlines with a $1.1 billion acquisition of Carbon Engineering, the Canadian pioneer whose technology now powers Oxy's flagship Stratos plant in Texas — expected to be the largest DAC facility in the world when it opens later this year. Now comes Holocene, a scrappy startup spun out of Stanford in 2023, based on tech licensed from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Their secret sauce? A liquid sorbent system that captures CO₂ using amino acids, offering the promise of lower-temperature regeneration — and therefore, lower-cost carbon removal. Unlike Carbon Engineering, which relies on potassium hydroxide and fossil fuels to complete the CO₂ release step, Holocene's chemistry is designed for electric heating. In theory, that means waste heat from a data center or a renewables-powered kiln could do the job. What Oxy is building here isn't just a technology stack. It's a portfolio — and a hedge. Two different flavors of liquid sorbent DAC, each with strengths, weaknesses, and unknowns. That's not just savvy corporate strategy. It's a recognition that DAC is entering the stage where technology diversity matters. Where cost per ton, energy inputs, and integration pathways will decide who wins contracts from Microsoft and Stripe — and who fades into obscurity. Holocene's journey — from grad school dream to multinational acquisition in under two years — is breathtaking. Holocene, for example, had only raised about $6 million in grant funding and pre-purchase agreements— yet it landed a headline acquisition thanks to promising tech and a marquee client in Google, which agreed to pay $100 per ton to remove 100,000 tons of CO₂. This is also indicative of a broader shift: the end of the DAC startup boom and the beginning of a consolidation era. Over 140 DAC companies were operating globally as of 2024, according to with more than $1.4 billion in private capital raised cumulatively. Each with their own capture chemistries, process tweaks, and go-to-market theories. Some aimed for household names; others stayed stealthy. But the proliferation had a logic: government funding (especially in the U.S. and Europe) was plentiful, private carbon removal buyers were experimenting, and the sector still had enough white space to reward boldness. That moment is ending. The Trump administration's gutting of the Department of Energy's carbon removal programs — reducing a $3.5 billion initiative to a skeleton crew — hasn't helped. But the deeper issue is market dynamics. With voluntary buyers growing cautious and compliance markets years away from maturity, only the best-capitalized players can endure the wait. And that makes M&A inevitable. This acquisition isn't an outlier. Last year, Skytree — a European DAC company — acquired ReCarbn, a startup with modular capture units, marking an early wave of horizontal integration in the sector. More such deals are coming. As Jason Hochman of the Direct Air Capture Coalition put it, "I expect to see a fair amount of consolidation of the industry in the near term". Oxy-Holocene is a louder echo of the same trend. A fossil fuel major buying its way into optionality — but also into IP, talent, and the credibility of being seen as a serious climate player. Whether you see that as co-optation or progress probably depends on your priors. But either way, it's happening. Here's the thing about markets growing up: they stop tolerating exciting ideas that can't scale. In DAC, scaling isn't just about building bigger plants. It's about integration — with power sources, with CO₂ storage infrastructure, and with buyers who can underwrite long-term offtakes. That's where companies like Oxy — and, yes, even Exxon or Aramco — have a real advantage. Not because they're altruistic. But because they already understand geology, permitting, and project finance at a scale that few startups ever will. This is the paradox of climate tech's next wave. To move from promise to permanence, it may need the incumbents it once tried to replace. That's uncomfortable. But it's also practical. Of course, there's still legitimate concern about how companies like Occidental will use this tech. Enhanced oil recovery — injecting captured CO₂ into aging fields to extract more oil — is still part of the plan. Oxy's CEO Vicki Hollub has framed DAC as a license to operate in a decarbonizing world. Net-zero oil, in her words. That framing makes many climate advocates nervous, and understandably so. But it also reflects the messy reality of transition: it doesn't happen in straight lines. Sometimes it takes carbon capture to get to carbon reduction. Sometimes the bridge is built by the very people who profited from the problem. The acquisition of Holocene is a signal. Not of DAC's arrival — we're still far from that — but of its adolescence. The experimentation phase is ending. The survival phase has begun. And with it, the stakes are rising. The technologies that work will be absorbed, integrated, and deployed — not just by Silicon Valley darlings, but by the legacy giants with the balance sheets to scale them. The rest will be footnotes. That's not failure. That's what maturity looks like. The future of carbon removal won't be clean. But if Holocene's journey is any indication, it will be real.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Absolute Climate Announces Advisory Board and Key Hire to Advance Independent Standard for Carbon Removal
Additions bring policy, science, and market expertise to support the development of clear and credible carbon removal standards SAN FRANCISCO, April 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Absolute Climate, the company driving the first industry-wide carbon removal standard, today announced the formation of an advisory board along with a key addition to its growing team. These additions bring deep expertise across regulatory policy, carbon market strategy, and climate innovation, which will guide Absolute Climate as it establishes a trusted, industry-wide standard for carbon removal. The newly established advisory board brings together some of the most influential leaders in the climate space. This team will help guide Absolute Climate in setting the benchmark for transparency, consistency, and trust in carbon removal: Giana Amador, Executive Director at the Carbon Removal Alliance (CRA), a leading organization advocating for scalable carbon removal technologies. As co-founder of Carbon180, she helped secure funding for Direct Air Capture (DAC) hubs and established the first carbon removal research program in the Energy Act of 2020. Giana has testified before Congress and advised presidential campaigns, advancing the recognition of carbon removal in climate policy. Erin Burns, Executive Director at Carbon180, a pioneer in advancing policies and technologies for large-scale carbon removal. She leads efforts to scale equitable and accountable carbon removal solutions. With a background in energy, labor, and coal worker transition issues, Erin brings deep experience in policy and advocacy. In addition to forming its advisory board, Absolute Climate has brought on Adam Ward as Certification Lead. Adam is a leading expert in carbon removal, with specialized experience in DAC and Biogenic Carbon Capture and Storage (BiCRS). He previously served as a CDR scientist at Isometric, developing carbon removal credit protocols. In his new role, he will spearhead the expansion of the Absolute Carbon Standard (ACS) into additional carbon removal pathways and lead certification efforts that support broader adoption and help scale carbon removal solutions with rigor and credibility. 'Bringing on this advisory board and expanding our team marks an important step in our work to build a more transparent and accountable carbon removal market,' said Peter Minor, CEO and co-founder of Absolute Climate. 'We're not just setting a standard—we're shaping how the industry defines quality and trust. The collective expertise of these leaders will guide us as we scale the Absolute Carbon Standard and support the growth of a market grounded in science, confidence, and meaningful climate impact.' These additions come on the heels of a partnership announcement with Vesta, where the two companies will collaborate to develop a first-of-its-kind methodology for Vesta's marine carbon capture projects. This marks an expansion of the Absolute Carbon Standard into marine-based carbon removal pathways, supporting Absolute Climate's mission to promote transparency and trust across the industry. About Absolute ClimateAbsolute Climate is accelerating market adoption of carbon removal through the first universal standard that assesses and verifies carbon credits independent of registries. The Absolute Carbon Standard enables registries to independently apply consistent, science-based evaluations across all carbon removal pathways and issue credits that reflect true carbon impact. By separating the roles of standard-setting and credit issuance, Absolute Climate eliminates conflicts of interest to ensure that credit quality aligns with genuine climate outcomes rather than market pressures. Founded by experts in measurement, verification, and reporting—Peter Minor and Greg Becker—Absolute Climate is helping scale carbon markets to achieve gigatonne-level impact. Contactabsoluteclimate@ in to access your portfolio
Reuters
28-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
US carbon removal hub funding may face Energy Department cuts, sources say
WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy is weighing cuts of hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to two projects in Texas and Louisiana aimed at demonstrating technology to capture carbon from the atmosphere at commercial scale, three sources familiar with the matter said. The Direct Air Capture hubs, part of former President Joe Biden's effort to slash U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, were launched by the DOE's Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations to help commercialize the expensive and nascent carbon removal technology. At full operation, the two hubs could remove more than 2 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year, far more than the world's biggest operating DAC plant in Iceland. The two largest U.S. hubs are Louisiana's Project Cypress, run by research and development firm Battelle, Climeworks Corporation and Heirloom Carbon Technologies, and the South Texas DAC Hub, proposed by Occidental Petroleum (OXY.N), opens new tab subsidiary 1PointFive, Carbon Engineering and engineering firm Worley. The projects are on a list of Biden-era programs targeted to be eliminated to fund tax cuts in Congress's budget reconciliation bill, which is being reviewed by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the sources said. They requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly. The two hubs were awarded $550 million and $500 million respectively under Biden, but have so far only received their first tranche of $50 million each. An Energy Department spokesperson said it was conducting a department-wide review to ensure programs align with the Trump administration's priorities. 'This review is ongoing, and speculation by anonymous sources about the results of the review are just that – speculation," the spokesperson said. The roughly 20 smaller DAC research projects identified by Biden's administration for grants were not on the list, and their status was unclear, the sources said. The capital-intensive demonstration projects cannot continue without receiving the rest of their grants and cannot survive even two more months of uncertainty as Wright makes his final funding decisions, said a source involved in one of the projects. Louisiana state officials turned up the pressure on Wright and the state's congressional delegation this week to save funding for its DAC hub. "I urge you to contact DOE Secretary Chris Wright and ask him to take every necessary step to advance this critically needed federal grant," Louisiana's Secretary for Economic Development Susan Bonnett Bourgeois wrote in a letter on Thursday to the state's U.S. senators and representatives, which was seen by Reuters. Occidental did not respond to a request for comment on the potential DAC hub cuts but said on the company's February investor call that it has had several conversations with President Donald Trump about the need for DAC technology and for subsidies.
