Canadian clean technology company CarbonCure has announced an investment co-led by Amazon and Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) will be used to tackle the carbon footprint of concrete.
CarbonCure develops carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions for the concrete industry.
CarbonCure co-founder Robert Niven says: “This collaborative investment by technology and property development firms is a great endorsement of CarbonCure as the go-to CDR solution for the growing tech construction space and the overall shift towards low embodied carbon construction materials.”
“We witnessed the tech industry setting climate change trends with their adoption of renewable energy sources like wind and solar. This investment in CDR signals a broader change for public and private infrastructure projects as industries and governments turn their focus toward the reduction of embodied carbon,” Niven adds.
CarbonCure intends to use the investment to accelerate its product roadmap and geographical expansion in order to meet its goal of removing 500 megatonnes (500 million metric tonnes or 500 Mt) of carbon dioxide annually from the concrete industry by 2030.
“Our solutions help producers deliver low embodied carbon concrete in an efficient, non-disruptive, and profitable way,” Niven continues. “The latest investment presents a wonderful opportunity for the global concrete industry to capitalize on the increasing demand for sustainable concrete.”
Kara Hurst, vice president of sustainability at Amazon, says the investment will help Amazon and other companies meet The Climate Pledge, a commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040.
“We are looking forward to lowering the carbon footprint of many of our buildings by using CarbonCure concrete, including in Amazon’s HQ2 building in Virginia,” Hurst adds.
The investment also includes input from Microsoft, BDC Capital, 2150, Thistledown Capital, Taronga Ventures, and GreenSoil Investments.
Brandon Middaugh, director of Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, says: “Achieving a net zero carbon future requires developing innovative new technologies to address carbon emissions across industries. Solutions like CarbonCure help to reduce carbon emissions from the concrete industry, which is a large producer of carbon, and help us meet our goal to be carbon negative by 2030.”
