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Climate Vault Helps Advance Innovative Carbon Removal Projects with the Potential to Capture up to 15,000 Metric Tons of CO2

Nonprofit’s advanced market commitment is driving innovation in technology critical for confronting climate change, aligned with new federal principles for high-integrity carbon markets  

CHICAGO – Climate Vault, Inc. today announced its Tech Chamber, led by former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, selected Carbon Lockdown and Octavia Carbon for its 2023 Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Innovation Award through its annual RFP process. This is the first time the Tech Chamber’s rigorous standards for CDR solutions have been met. The Carbon Lockdown and Octavia Carbon projects have the combined potential to remove 15,000 metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. 

These approvals validate the Climate Vault mission of reducing global CO2 emissions and stimulating innovation in CDR technologies. Climate Vault has made a large volume advanced market commitment to purchase removed CO2, currently totaling over 1.1 million metric tons and growing. Carbon Lockdown and Octavia Carbon were chosen from a pool of more than 50 CDR companies that applied for consideration in response to Climate Vault’s 2023 request for proposals (RFP). The number of applicants increased five-fold from Climate Vault’s first RFP issued in 2021, underscoring the power of the advanced market commitment. 

“Virtually all plans to limit climate change rely on the removal of past CO2 emissions from the atmosphere. The problem is that these technologies are largely unproven at prices that would make them widely economical or scalable,” said Michael Greenstone, Co-Founder of Climate Vault and the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. “Hope is not a strategy. We at Climate Vault believe that economic incentives, like our advanced market commitment, are vital to unlocking the necessary innovation. We couldn’t be more excited that Carbon Lockdown and Octavia Carbon are the first two companies to have their technology validated by the Tech Chamber as trustworthy for credibly removing CO2 from the atmosphere.”

Situated in rural Maryland, Carbon Lockdown’s project can collect up to 5,000 net metric tons CO2-equivalent of sustainably-sourced woody biomass and bury and sequester it in a “wood vault.” The wood vault is specially-engineered to prevent decomposition and re-release of the biomass’ embodied CO2 back into the atmosphere. Octavia Carbon is the Global South’s first direct air capture (DAC) company based in Nairobi, Kenya. They are developing geothermal integrated DAC machines that filter CO2 from the atmosphere. Leveraging Kenya’s geology along the Rift Valley, the captured CO2 will be injected underground for secure and permanent storage. Their pilot DAC+Storage project that will be commissioned later this year will initially have the capacity to capture and securely store up to 10,000 net metric tons over 10 years.

Climate Vault’s RFP for innovative CDR technologies includes a comprehensive evaluation by its Tech Chamber, whose rigorous due diligence process identifies only the most effective and credible projects to provide verified removals. The Tech Chamber is led by former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz with scientific experts from MIT, Princeton, Harvard University, and UC San Diego (Scripps Oceanography). Because of their process and combined years of experience, the Climate Vault Tech Chamber’s due diligence process has unique expertise to judge CDR companies and their projects on the issues of additionality, leakage, and permanence that plague the voluntary carbon market (VCM). 

“CDR is essential if the United States and other countries are to reach net-zero emissions – and eventually a net-negative emissions economy,” said Moniz. “Supporting innovative CDR, like the projects announced today, is a critical step at this early stage of progress towards gigaton scale legacy carbon removal from the atmosphere and upper layers of the oceans.”

While efforts towards emission reduction and decarbonization are vital, it is widely believed that CDR technologies are needed. The field, however, is still in its infancy. Novel methods—technologies that are partially- or fully-engineered—account for only 0.1 percent of global CDR, according to the 2023 State of Carbon Dioxide Removal Report. For removal of historical CO2 emissions to succeed, there must be immense advancements of novel CDR methods this decade. 

The Climate Vault approach to CO2 reduction involves purchasing and “vaulting” carbon allowances on government-regulated compliance markets to deliver trusted and verifiable CO2 reductions. This approach eliminates the risk of greenwashing that has dominated the landscape of voluntary carbon markets recently. Since its public launch in May 2021, Climate Vault has purchased and “vaulted” more than 1.1 million metric tons of CO2 emission allowances from compliance markets with support from its more than 50 institutional partners and hundreds of individual donors. These vaulted allowances have already helped to reduce the expected damages from climate change by more than $250 million. Climate Vault’s solution then goes one step further by using the value of the vaulted allowances to spur innovation of CDR technologies, while remaining faithful to its commitment to donors to help reduce their carbon footprint. Only once removals are achieved by Tech Chamber Approved project providers and verified will the allowances be transitioned into permanent removals. 

This announcement aligns closely with the Biden-Harris Administration’s recently unveiled Principles for High-Integrity Voluntary Carbon Markets, which emphasize credibility, verifiability, and transparency—cornerstones of Climate Vault’s operational ethos. These new principles support innovative solutions to the climate crisis and validate Climate Vault’s commitment to rigorous due diligence and integrity in both the carbon reduction and carbon removal spaces. 

“The Climate Vault organization’s approach is unique in its ability to deliver a ton of verifiable, brand-safe reduction today through the compliance markets, which converts to a ton of CDR, tomorrow,” said Jon Cohen, CEO of Climate Vault Solutions—the exclusive sales and marketing partner of the Climate Vault, Inc nonprofit. “Our approach avoids the greenwashing risk that, unfortunately, has characterized many approaches in the voluntary carbon market, while democratizing access to cutting edge CDR technologies. As the Biden-Harris Administration’s recent announcement makes clear, ensuring accurate representation and reporting on the removal or reduction of one ton of carbon dioxide (or its equivalent) from the atmosphere is essential for businesses and stakeholders.

Learn more about each of the RFP recipients and the potential impact of their projects on the climate crisis by registering to attend Climate Vault’s upcoming free CDR webinar series. 

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About Climate Vault, Inc.

Founded at the University of Chicago, Climate Vault provides the comprehensive solution for truly verifiable and immediate carbon measurement, reductions and removals. Its integrated reduction and removal program leverages government-regulated compliance carbon markets to generate the environmental impact that today’s employees, stakeholders and customers care about and expect from organizations. By providing the most verifiable and immediate carbon reduction solution on the market, at scale, Climate Vault is the credible and all-inclusive alternative to traditional voluntary carbon market programs. Learn more at www.climatevault.org.