What we do
We act as optimists for a better future. We want to make sure that the time is not wasted until the right decisions are finally made.
We do see three areas of tasks for us:
Direct action: Capture and store CO₂
Without negative emissions in gigantic magnitudes there will be catastrophic consequences. The cost of capturing CO₂ - whether from the air or form exhaust gases - is still too high ( > 100 € per ton) and the lack of adequate CO₂ pricing does not make it profitable.
But the necessary infrastructure and technologies must be set up, together with the necessary startups/companies to run them. We do not want to wait until government regulations will raise the CO₂ price sufficiently and want ensure that projects in the following areas are already (further) developed now.
technical solutions for CO₂ filtering from the ambient air (Direct Air Capturing) together with permanent storage
CO₂ sequestration using natural minerals/rocks (e.g. Enhanced Weathering and mineralization with basalt, olivine or serpentine) or biochar
What we do: Apart from our hands-on-science-project “Project Carbdown” we have invested with an impact-investment approach in the companies Climeworks (Direct Air Capture, Switzerland), 4401 (geologic storage of CO₂, Oman), Carbonfuture (Marketplace for negative emissions, Germany), Reverce (ERW enabler), Lithos Carbon (ERW, USA), Eion (ERW, USA), InPlanet (ERW, Brazil), Silica (ERW, Mexico), Project Vesta (ERW) and others startups where we usually invest super early (pre-seed).
Research in negative emissions
The issue of negative emissions has so far been nearly non-existent in research funding budgets in Europe and it is therefore important to support so that no more time is lost. Some of the technologies that we will need in 2040 and beyond have still to be developed, and there is still some lack in basic research in the physical / chemical / technical field. Examples are the decomposition of CO₂ into carbon and oxygen, new processes for DAC or “good” geoengineering approaches.
What we do: We are doing our own enhanced weathering project “Project Carbdown”together with the Alfred Wegener Institute and the universities in Hamburg, Erlangen, Mainz, and Wageningen. Our main scientific work is currently being done in our extensive ERW experiment greenhouse, one of the largest ERW experiments ever conducted. Through scholarships, funding for doctoral positions or similar support efforts, we help projects / ideas to develop and mature.
Public and political work
Unfortunately many citizens and politicians are neither aware of the urgency and scale of the measures required to protect the climate, nor of the fact that we already know what the necessary solutions are in most areas. Often times these would only have to be implemented. This also applies to negative emissions: Legislators in Brussels and Berlin must create the necessary framework so that the urgently needed technologies and companies can be built legally and future-proof.
What we do: We support the political opinion-forming process constructively with public relations (e.g. in cooperation with scientists and influencers) and the support of lobby organizations (e.g. we are a founding member of the “Negative Emissions Platform”, a lobby organization based in Brussels). And we participate as reviewers in the development of reports of the IPCC.
Read more about the Problem or follow our journey in our blog.