In a new blog post, direct air capture firm Heirloom said it won’t accept investment from oil and gas companies, and that no carbon dioxide removed with its limestone technology would be used for enhanced oil recovery.
“We must ensure that our industry isn’t used as a fig leaf to emit even more and protect against CDR excusing expansions of fossil fuels,” the blog post said.
Heirloom also said the company would not grant equity to firms primarily engaged in oil and gas production and would not appoint any industry representatives to its corporate board.
The company could still sell CO2 removal credits to big emitters, including oil and gas majors, under certain conditions, Vikrum Aiyer, Heirloom’s climate policy head, told Axios. Those include instances in which government policies could require the acquisition of CO2 removal in accordance with the goals of the Paris Agreement, provided that these removal efforts complement emissions reductions rather than replacing them entirely.
Relevant: New $53 Million In Funding For Heirloom Ensures Further Growth
In its blog post, Heirloom outlined three other guidelines that would ensure “rules of the road” for the nascent CO2 removal sector:
- Clear and open disclosure regarding the measurement and validation of CO2 removal and its environmental effects, ensuring that communities can trust that Heirloom’s technology doesn’t have adverse effects on air and water quality.
- Robust safeguards for workers, including competitive compensation packages and benefits, coupled with a dedicated focus on fostering apprenticeships.
- Agreements that benefit the community, encompassing potential investments in sectors such as housing, transit, STEM education initiatives, and revenue-sharing arrangements with Indigenous communities.
Heirloom is a participant in Project Cypress, one of two consortiums allocated up to $1.2 billion from Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the establishment of DAC hubs.
The company removes and stores excess CO2 from the atmosphere through direct air capture. The firm employs advanced technology to expedite the natural process by which limestone, one of the most prevalent rocks globally, captures carbon dioxide from the air.
Read more: Climeworks, Heirloom And Battelle Apply For $500M US Grant For Direct Air Capture
