New startup is taking care of the procurement of permanent carbon removal credits to reduce delivery and execution risks. Carbonx is a climate fintech startup, founded in 2022, that aims to help companies reach their net-zero targets.
The startup also announced on October 26th, 2022 that it raised €900K ($901,640) in its pre-seed funding round from investors from the Fintech, SaaS and Impact spaces, including participation from the co-founders of Algolia, Nicolas Dessaigne and Julien Lemoine.
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Carbonx’s business model works as it offers its clients procurement services of carbon removal credits, providing access to a pool of “best-in-class carbon removal projects”. The company does the research involved, and ensures the ongoing monitoring, all on behalf of its clients. Some of the selected projects involve direct air capture, enhanced weathering, ocean alkalinity, and bio-based long-term storage.
The company also recognizes that ambiguity around carbon credits risks the goal of reducing emissions and tackling climate change, therefore it aims to only target high-quality, permanent carbon removal credits that are mainly low in supply and offered for delivery at a future date.
Carbonx’s criteria for carbon removals starts at removal and storage of CO2 for at least 1,000 years.
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“We believe that carbon removal methods that provide credits for avoided emissions or that remove CO2 only temporarily should be viewed and leveraged or accounted for in a different manner than permanent carbon removal methods. Moreover, temporary removal (e.g. nature-based solutions that offer less than 100 or 1,000 years of storage) could potentially expose organizations that are funding such projects to future greenwashing allegations and other financial risks (mainly due to emission reversal risk),” states the company.
Unlocking the full potential of carbon removal approaches is critical to minimize the worst effects of climate change. Even though the approach of Carbonx undermines projects that store emissions for 100 years or less, such projects are also important and provide their benefits in the fight against climate change.
