Carbon removal company Carbo Culture has won a award that includes funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC), which supports innovative companies from early-stage research through scale-up. Carbo Culture will use the funds to launch its CO2 removal technology.
With a budget of €10.1 billion, the EIC was established under the EU’s Horizon Europe program to identify and support game-changing technologies and breakthrough innovations.
Through the EIC Fund, the EIC Accelerator offers both grants and equity. This year, the European Commission chose 74 companies out of a pool of more than 1000 small and medium-sized enterprises. The 74 winners will receive up to €382 million in funding, grants, and investments.
“Winning this grant award is a game-changer for accelerating the scale-up of Carbo Culture’s carbon removal technology, validating our core technology and approach,” said Carbo Culture CEO Henrietta Moon. “We are delighted and look forward to working with the EIC and their network of experts to help us scale up faster.”
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Carbo Culture will receive a grant of €2.16 million, with the chance to acquire further equity.
“Now that there is a scientific consensus from the IPCC that in addition to carbon reduction, substantial amounts of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) are necessary to stay below 2°C, we see growing demand for our carbon dioxide removal credits,” Moon said. “And so the sooner we can scale-up our technology to meet this demand for carbon removal, the better for the planet and for all of us.”
The technology of Carbon Culture turns CO2 from plants into stable CO2 and stores it securely for a thousand years. The company’s waste biomass process sequesters CO2 at scale while releasing renewable energy and producing high-quality biochar that can be used to enhance soil or produce CO2-negative material for construction.
