Carbon Lockdown – a public benefit corporation created to commercialize and advance sustainable carbon sequestration through wood harvesting and storage (WHS) – announced its first sale of 1,000 tons of carbon removal to investment group Kinnevik.
The deal will provide an investment in the Project Potomac Demo, located near the Potomac River in Maryland, US. The project aims to sequester a net 5,000 tCO2-equivalent of sustainably sourced residual woody biomass in a “wood vault”, a hybrid nature-engineering approach to long-duration carbon removal that is being developed by University of Maryland Professor, and Carbon Lockdown Co-Founder and Head of Science Dr. Ning Zeng.
Dr. Zeng commented on the announcement by saying: “I’m excited about this purchase. After 15 years of research and two demo projects, we have established the scientific foundation for WHS and Wood Vault, which offers a low-cost and durable CDR solution with existing technology. The Kinnevik purchase provides the market validation we had been looking for. I expect more purchases coming from companies that are looking for practical carbon removal solutions with gigaton-scale potential in the coming decades.”
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Purchasing reliable carbon removal is part of Kinnevik’s broader climate contribution strategy which aims to make a contribution towards global net zero, and to act as a role model for its portfolio companies.
“Resonating with Kinnevik’s DNA as venture investors, we want to support up-and-coming technologies in the early stages of commercial development. Our aim is not to compensate for a specific level of emissions, but to further the industry for high-integrity carbon removals through market-making purchases. The projects we invest in should have a durability of 1,000 years or more and the highest level of integrity regarding additionality, baselines, carbon leakage, carbon accounting and a good level of buffer. The Carbon Lockdown Project ticked all these boxes, and we are very happy to partner with Dr. Ning Zeng and the team,” said Mikaela Kramer, who leads climate and sustainability efforts at Kinnevik.
WHS and Wood Vault offer additional climate benefits like wildfire reduction and mine remediation. The novel method, a form of biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS), is emerging as another carbon removal approach alongside direct air capture, ocean carbon removal, and mineralization.
Though it would compete with other BiCRS approaches for – residual woody biomass feedstock, WHS could potentially reach gigaton scale, especially if dedicated cultivation and sustainable land use practices are developed.
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