Investing in carbon capture technologies

NOVEMBER 2022

Throughout recent assessments, it’s evident that the countries that signed the Paris Climate Agreement have not managed to cut their emissions enough to meet its targets. The strategies employed to date by governments, relying heavily on more renewable energy and fewer carbon consumption, are not enough.

While the physical reduction of CO₂ emissions remains the highest priority, to help achieve net-zero goals CO₂ will also need to be removed from the atmosphere on a large scale and stored or eliminated. Even if we do reach net-zero by 2050, we will need to continue removing historic CO₂ emissions from the atmosphere in order to avoid future warming. According to the World Resources Institute scientists predict that up to 10 Gigatonnes (Gt) of CO₂ will need to be removed annually from the atmosphere by 2050, with removal capacity increasing to 20 Gt CO₂ per year by 2100. To support this removal and storage of CO₂ emissions from the atmosphere – known as carbon capture and storage (CCS) – agile innovations are needed in negative emissions technologies (NET) to recapture previously emitted greenhouse gases.

As an experienced investing partner in decarbonization technologies across a wide variety of industries, Siemens Financial Services (SFS) is joining several forward-looking players in proactively investing in companies developing NET. Backed by the Siemens industrial businesses, SFS can offer the strategic solutions that address the many challenges growth companies face – start-up capital, ecosystem access and development time.

In this way, SFS is an ideal partner for NET companies, providing more than money to help multiply impact. As a global technology leader, Siemens is one of the few companies in the world that has a proven track record as a key enabler of decarbonization from renewable energy to smart infrastructure and efficient manufacturing. Siemens can also provide companies access to technologies such as digital twin and high-end process modelling necessary to help pilot projects for larger-scale use.

Additionally, SFS made an early-stage investment in Neustark, which developed a solution that uses the carbonization of recyclable demolished concrete – the world’s largest waste stream – to permanently remove and store CO₂ from the atmosphere, creating negative emissions. Headquartered in Switzerland and currently operating throughout Europe, Neustark aims to scale its operations globally and reach its goal to remove one million tons of CO₂ in 2030, and beyond that. Neustark’s technology integrates seamlessly into the current concrete recycling process and helps local concrete recyclers answer customer demand and generate additional income with low-carbon building materials.SFS believes in technology with purpose. We understand the role that both capital and ecosystem knowledge play in forming new markets, helping to pioneer strategic partnerships to scale for maximum sustainable impact.