#103 | Carbon Removal Tech + 🌍Earth Week Events

Understory newsletter on climate and sustainability tech

Apr 18

Happy almost Earth Day! Are you ready for all the events and news that Earth Week will surely bring? If you are in the Atlanta area this week, drop by and say hi to The Understory Team at the Atlanta Green Market Fair where we will be moderating a panel on ‘Inspired Innovation’. You can also find us at the Atlanta Sustainable Fashion Week event. If you have other Earth Day events to share with our community, drop them in the Understory Slack.

Other community reminders:

Understory x gener8tor: Startups Driving Sustainability Showcase

Join us for a special edition of our Showcase Event on Tuesday, April 26th. Understory is hosting the five startups participating in gener8tor's inaugural sustainability accelerator program: itselectric, blip energy, SolarSteam, Carbon Yield, and Mycocycle.

RSVP Here

New Climate Tech Glossary

Understory has a new quick reference guide to the many environmental terms you will see within our community and beyond. These definitions are critical to understanding the scope, complexity, and potential solutions related to the climate crisis.

The Understory Investor Community

We have launched a new curated community to scale connections between climate tech startups and accredited investors.

Are you a climate or sustainability tech startup that is currently fundraising? Let us know here!
Are you an accredited investor who wants to connect with fundraising startups? Let us know here!

📚 Worth Reading

The carbon removal market got a huge uplift this week. A consortium of tech firms including Stripe, Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, McKinsey and more have committed to buying almost $1 billion of permanent carbon removal before the end of the decade. The advance market commitment will be facilitated by a new organization called Frontier. A new fund called Lowercarbon Capital also raised a $350 million fund dedicated to carbon removal.

What are Carbon Removal Technologies?

Carbon Removal Technologies suck carbon from the atmosphere as a way to reverse climate change. While some of these technologies, like carbon sequestration, are well established, a number of new innovations are still in development. Here are some of the methods:

Reforestation and habitat restoration - replanting trees and restoring habitats which naturally capture carbon
Soil carbon sequestration - using regenerative agricultural practices to increase soil carbon content
Carbon sequestration in concrete - replacing cement with carbon dioxide in concrete
Biochar - charcoal produced by burning organic material and safely storing carbon
Biomaterials - using biomaterials which increases the time that carbon is stored in natural biomass
Direct Air Capture with Carbon Storage (DACCS) - a chemical process that captures carbon directly from the air and injects it into reservoirs
Bioenergy with Carbon Capture & Storage (BECCS) - a process that captures carbon from biomass and stores it into reservoirs

Why is large investment needed today?

The cost of DACCS and BECCS is still extremely high given the amount of new investment that is still needed to further develop these technologies. These technologies are still in early stages and some methods are still unproven. Frontier’s goal is to bring down the cost of these technologies so that impact can be scaled quickly.

Read more about carbon removal technologies in our quick links:

World Resources Institute: Carbon Removal
Visual Capitalist: The Impact of Carbon Removal Technologies
Frontier Climate: How it works
The Atlantic: We’ve Never Seen a Carbon-Removal Plan Like This Before

🚀 Funding and Congrats!

Lowercarbon Capital launched a $350 million fund for carbon removal startups.
Solar energy company - Guangdong Gaojing Solar Energy Technology - raised a $251 million Series A round.
Plant-based materials company Natural Fiber Welding raised $85 million in funding led by Evolution VC Partners.
Material Exchange, a marketplace for sourcing sustainable materials, raised a €25 million Series A round.

If you have funding or other news to share, email us at hello@theunderstory.io.

💡 Startup Spotlight

ByFusion - converts plastic waste to building materials.

🌱 Startup Resources

The importance of storytelling and less numbers! Old article, but always a great reminder.

👀 Quick Hits

Just Salad released its Annual Impact Report detailing the impact of its sustainability initiatives. Of note, a new Lifecycle Analysis shows that the company’s reusable bowls result in lower emissions and water use versus disposables after just two uses. Hear first-hand from Just Salad’s Chief Sustainability Officer on The Understory Podcast.
Deloitte plans to invest over $1 billion into its new Sustainability & Climate practice to build out additional client resources and solutions.
Chief Sustainability Officers and climate graduates are commanding top dollar in today’s job market.
JPMorgan’s new headquarters in NYC will be an all-electric, net zero building.
BlackRock and Mubadala take a 10% stake in Tata Power’s renewable energy business.
New innovation in energy storage: scientists have created a chip that stores solar energy up to 18 years.
Ultra-fast fashion is a new threat to zero waste and net zero goals.
Lululemon launched a new trade-in and resale option for consumers.

🎧 Podcast

Christian Mundy of Greencom: rewarding green behavior

Stefan Gönner of Seqana: sequestering soil organic carbon

Shuchi Nijhawan of Eka Software Solutions: carbon accounting to reach net zero

The Understory Podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Google Podcasts.

⚙️ Jobs

Find and share your open positions on the Understory Slack channel.

🆕 Circular Economy Specialist at Rubicon
🆕 Multiple Roles at Air Protein
🆕 Social Media Engagement Intern at Wallet Max
🆕 Multiple Roles at Gradient Comfort
🆕 ESG/Sustainability Product Lead at Hartford Funds
🆕 Global Creative Director, Sustainability at Accenture
🆕 Product Manager - Sustainability at Travelport
Senior ESG Analyst at RBC
Public Affairs Specialist, Circular Economy at NatureWorks
Head of Marketing at Nth Cycle
Director of People at Nth Cycle
Multiple Roles at Goodr
Fellow, Climate Solutions at Emory University
Sustainability Engagement Lead at Twitter
Circular Economy Portfolio Leader at Owens Corning
Director at Georgia Social Impact Collaborative
Solutions Engineer at Clarity AI

🗓 Events

April 23: Atlanta Green Market Fair
April 23: Atlanta Sustainable Fashion Week
April 26: Understory x gener8tor: Startups Driving Sustainability Showcase
May 17-19: Circularity 22 Conference
May 24: Understory’s Startups Driving Sustainability - May Showcase

Do you have any events to share? Post them in our Understory Slack community.

📧 Stay in Touch!

You don’t have to wait for our weekly newsletter for all the latest content. Join us on Slack or follow along on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter to see real-time updates.

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