Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on solutions for Smart Cities. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we decided to share our insights with you. This time, we are taking a look at 5 promising Carbon Management Startups.
Heat Map: 5 Top Carbon Management Startups
For our 5 top picks, we used a data-driven startup scouting approach to identify the most relevant solutions globally. The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 5 interesting examples out of 624 relevant solutions. Depending on your specific needs, your top picks might look entirely different.
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Nordic Blue Crude – Carbon-Neutral Fuel
As air pollution from transportation constitutes a noticeable issue in modern cities, it is reasonable to search for fuelling options that produce less carbon footprint and do not originate from fossils. This looks feasible through advanced hydrogenation of CO2, power-to-gas methods, as well as the usage of biofuel. The solutions aspire to preserve non-replenishable resources while saving costs and, more importantly, the environment. Norway’s Nordic Blue Crude offers an option for transferring from fossils to renewable electrical energy in various transport sectors, including aviation and maritime. The solution converts renewable electric energy into liquid electro-fuels based on the power-to-liquid technology (PTL) using eco-friendly hydro/wind energy and electrolysis infrastructure.
Climeworks – Carbon Sequestration
Year by year, human activity is causing an increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Due to the fact that the sustainability capacity of urban ecosystems is not infinite, modern smart cities have to reduce their CO2 amount artificially. Contemporary technological developments assist in capturing carbon from the air directly through using membranes (filters), absorption or adsorption, followed by underground storage, carbon sinking, or carbon reuse. Switzerland-based Climeworks utilizes a cost-effective filter, made of special material (porous granulates modified with amines) to capture CO2 directly from the air. The latter comes into the filter, where chemical reactions lock carbon inside and release carbon-free air. Afterward, bound CO2 undergoes a heating stage – powered mostly by waste heat – and is collected for storing or secondary purposes.
Carbicrete – Carbon Upcycling
Carbon upcycling addresses the challenges of carbon-negative development in smart cities. It transforms carbon waste and emissions into materials and goods, which are suitable for secondary use, in the form of soil fertilizers, construction additives, road coverages, and nanomaterials. As a result, carbon undergoes a full lifecycle and does not contaminate the atmosphere further. Canadian Carbicrete manufactures carbon-negative concrete blocks using carbonation activation technology. It supplants carbon-intensive cement by steel slag / industrial waste and then cures the mix with CO2 to make it solid and durable. As more carbon is consumed than emitted, it helps Smart Cities to lower their carbon footprint and become carbon-negative.
BioCarbon Engineering – Urban Reforestation
By moderating heat islands and improving air quality in smart cities, urban reforestation tackles problems induced by the rapid growth of modern urban environments. Urban reforestation occurs on the basis of vertical farming, robotic planting, or drone-powered seeding. BioCarbon Engineering from Australia intends to restore destroyed natural ecosystems through substituting a time-consuming manual tree planting with seeding drones. The solution includes mapping, direct seeding, and precision pod planting, combined with area monitoring and data analytics.
Carbon Grid Protocol – Digital Carbon Offsets
Carbon offsets act as incentives for individuals, businesses, and governments to balance their CO2 footprints by co-financing carbon-reduction programs. Converting carbon offsets into digital assets and leveraging them by blockchain aims at tokenizing carbon credits so as to achieve more transparency and efficiency in managing a greenhouse gas emissions cut. Carbon Grid Protocol from Singapore makes the carbon market more decentralized and transparent by connecting the digital world with real-world carbon emission offsets. It develops the CGRID platform, which represents a complementary protocol layer enabling blockchain networks & DApps to access carbon credits (tokens), track CO2 emissions, and create a digital carbon exchange ecosystem.
What About The Other 619 Solutions?
While we believe data is key to creating insights it can be easy to be overwhelmed by it. Our ambition is to create a comprehensive overview and provide actionable innovation intelligence for your Proof of Concept (PoC), partnership, or investment targets. The 5 startups showcased above are promising examples out of 624 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria and collaboration strategy, get in touch.
