Accelerating Decarbonisation … airlines to automotive, construction and energy, fashion and food … how to reduce your carbon emissions, and improve your positive impact, faster

December 29, 2024

Decarbonisation is the priority for many business leaders.

While value creation, making sense of changing markets, exploring new growth markets and unlocking emerging technologies, rethinking business models, reducing costs, and driving growth all matter, decarbonisation is the obvious, urgent agenda that stands out for many of the leaders I meet.

From airlines to automotive, construction and energy, fashion and food, there is a huge priority placed on reducing carbon emissions through new materials, processes, and ways of working.

Look at the investor presentations of companies from British Airways to Volkswagen, Holcim and Shell, Inditex to Nestle, in each case “decarbonisation” is the keyword. How to reduce the emissions of existing ways of working, how to transition to new business models. And for investors, how to reduce risk, tap into growth markets, and deliver growth.

Energy companies are obviously at the forefront of this. Some of my clients like Enel and Iberdrola are leading the energy transition, and others like Siemens are finding ways to accelerate it. In construction, Holcim is regenerating cities out of existing waste materials, rebuilt with green cement, and with more sustainable designs for ongoing use.

Volkswagen in a desperate situation, unable to transition from ICE to EV world. In fashion, brands like H&M to Patagonia embrace reuse and up cycling, recycled fabrics, while new fibre emerge that can do more. In food, companies like Danone and Nestle are actively changing how we farm, and what we eat, while Too Good to Go ensures our food doesn’t go to waste.

So what does it take? And who are the companies accelerating a better future, with less carbon, and sometimes more positive impact too?

Low Carbon Energy: Renewables and Hydrogen

Most CO2 emissions arise from burning fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum, for energy sourcing. As a result, utilities and energy providers are promoting energy transition. Some of the renewable energy systems include advanced photovoltaics (PV) that capture solar energy more efficiently and wind turbines that eliminate the need for huge installations or high-low wind speeds. Additionally, companies are making significant innovations in the areas of hydroelectricity, geothermal energy, and biofuels.

Geothermal: Celsius Energy is a French startup that uses geothermal energy for heating and air conditioning buildings. It uses a heat transfer fluid that circulates in a 200-meter-deep heat exchanger. A heat pump then exchanges the calories with the basement to supply heat to the building during winter and extract them in summer. Additionally, a digital control system minimizes electricity consumption by optimising subsurface operations and heat pumps in real time. Thus, Celsius Energy allows commercial buildings to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels by utilising a local renewable source of energy.
Green Hydrogen: Versogen is a US-based startup that creates an electrolyzer for low-cost green hydrogen production. Its proprietary platform technology, PiperION, applies advanced anion exchange membranes that enable the use of low-cost construction materials in electrolyzers, fuel cells, and other electrochemical devices. This makes them more economical than conventional proton exchange membranes (PEMs). Hence, Versogen solves the main challenge in large-scale green hydrogen production and accelerates the global transition toward net zero.

Carbon Capture

While low carbon energy sources are critical in the fight climate change, they alone are not enough to reverse the effects of global warming. Hence, startups are working on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies, driving decarbonization across industries. Top priority is direct air capture, i.e., capturing CO2 directly from ambient air instead of point sources such as power plants or factories. This opens up concentrated opportunities for carbon sequestration and utilization.

Direct Air Capture: US-based startup Heirloom develops a cost-effective direct air capture solution. It deploys carbon mineralization technology with widely available, low-cost minerals to produce oxides that naturally bind to CO. The process doesn’t rely on energy-intensive and high-cost air contractors. Heirloom injects the captured carbon underground into geological structures. There, it remains permanently trapped away from the atmosphere.
Vehicle Emissions: Remora is another US-based startup that develops a retrofit carbon capture unit for semi-trucks. The device attaches to the vehicle exhaust pipe and captures up to 80% of total emissions. It uses carbon scrubbing technology to strip greenhouse gases from the tailpipe and release clean air. The solution automatically compresses the CO2 and stores it in onboard tanks. Once the offload tanks fill up, the startup picks up the CO2 with a tanker truck and delivers it to concrete producers or other end-users who store it away for a long time.

Low Carbon Materials: Construction and Fashion

There is a huge scope for decarbonisation in changing the type of materials used. For the construction industry this includes cement, asbestos, vinyl flooring, and polystyrene insulations that are highly toxic to the environment. Low carbon construction materials such as self-healing concrete, 3D graphene, aerographite, modular bamboo, and wool bricks are gaining popularity as sustainable alternatives.

Alternative Cement: Betolar is a Finnish startup that makes Geoprime, a sustainable cement alternative. It is a geopolymer-based low carbon material that the startup uses to create cement-free construction materials. To further sustainability, Betolar utilizes side streams of energy, steel, paper, pulp, and mining industries to produce these construction materials including stabilization, precast, and ready-mix concrete. By providing low carbon materials, Betolar enables the construction industry’s transition to carbon neutrality.
Sustainable Fibres: Indian startup Canvaloop produces a carbon-negative textile fibre for slow fashion. The startup’s proprietary technology converts hard barks of Himalayan hemp into a soft cotton-like form. It is then processed into sustainable fibre, HempLoop+. Besides selling fiber and yarns, the startup uses its fibre to make sustainable jeans, yoga mats, and masks that are plastic-free and prevent the release of microplastics in the wastewater stream. Hence, by using a crop that naturally captures CO2, Canvaloop enables decarbonization in the fashion industry.

Low Carbon Travel: Airlines and Automotive

Trains, planes and automobiles are one of the largest carbon-emitting sectors and the most efficient way to decarbonise the industry is electrification. While battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have been here for some time, fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are emerging to be more effective. This is because they are powered by hydrogen and emit only water vapor and warm air. However, even with BEVs, widespread usage is still a challenge due to the non-availability of EV charging stations and range anxiety. To resolve this, startups are developing EV charging station networks as well as modular charging solutions.

Charging Stations: Indian startup Charzer provides Kirana Charzer, a low-cost, compact, IoT-powered EV charging station. It is installable in shops, restaurants, houses, and offices, among others. The startup also offers a mobile app that allows riders to locate the nearest charging point and book slots from a network of 300+ charging stations across India. By converting local groceries, malls, and even small tea shops into EV charging stations, Charzer creates a vast charging network for EV riders, accelerating EV adoption.
Green Hydrogen: Danish startup Everfuel offers green hydrogen supply and fuelling solutions. The system produces hydrogen using renewable electricity only during the availability of surplus energy to reduce energy costs. This approach also provides the power grid with efficient energy storage and enhances the efficiency of renewable energy production. Everfuel connects vehicle manufacturers to the complete hydrogen value chain, ensuring a supply of clean hydrogen fuel to their customers.

Low Carbon Nutrition: Food and Drink

Meat accounts for the majority of the CO2 emissions in the food production industry. But, the demand for meat is only going upward. This is why food tech startups are constantly looking for alternative protein sources including plant products like soybean, pea, chickpea, and nuts, as well as fungi and insects. Some startups are genetically modifying plants to mimic the taste and texture of animal meat while retaining the original nutritional qualities. Others are taking it a step forward by leveraging food ingredients like spirulina, which naturally captures CO2.

Plant-Based Foods: UK-based startup Moolec creates plant-based alternative proteins through molecular farming. The startup’s process induces animal proteins’ gene DNA codes inside the genome of plants to produce proteins the way animals do. Each protein is selected to add value in terms of targeted functionality like taste, texture, and nutritional values. Thus, Moolec is enabling the food sector to reduce its reliance on animal-based meat and, thereby, decrease its carbon footprint.
Positive Drinks: Dutch startup FUL offers climate positive drinks with spirulina, nutritious blue-green algae. This superfood is climate-friendly as it captures atmospheric CO2 and converts it into oxygen and nitrogen. Moreover, the startup enables CO2 recycling by using carbon dioxide to grow spirulina. FUL is thus decarbonizing the food and beverage industry by flipping the tradition of emitting CO2 in the production process.

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