Founder Insights #5: Climate Tech Meets Industrial Innovation with Carbo Culture
Market convergence, pragmatic deployment, and resource integration: lessons from a climate tech pioneer
The carbon removal industry is experiencing a fundamental transformation, evolving from purely environmental solutions to technologies that are reshaping industrial processes. At the forefront of this evolution is Carbo Culture, whose patented technology converts waste biomass into stable biochar, permanently storing carbon while generating renewable energy. Since their origins at NASA Ames Research Centre, they've moved beyond pure carbon removal to develop industrial materials and processes, exemplifying how climate technologies can serve multiple purposes.
Below are insights from Henrietta Moon, CEO and co-founder of Carbo Culture, followed by my analysis and commentary (marked with "▷▷").
1. From Single-Purpose Solutions to Industrial Integration
What's the most surprising or counterintuitive insight you've gained about the carbon removal industry that has significantly influenced your business strategy?
Moon's response highlights the dynamic nature of the sustainability market:
The market in sustainability keeps constantly evolving at a rapid pace as regulation, markets and new technologies evolve. Emitters costs, the cost of transitioning and the awaited present value of a green investment are in flux (usually for the better)."
The "cost of transitioning" is becoming more favorable as industrial players realize that delaying decarbonization could be more expensive than acting now. For example, cement manufacturers facing rising emissions costs are finding that solutions like Carbo Culture's Biographite® can both reduce their carbon footprint and improve product performance, turning what was once seen as a cost burden into a competitive advantage.
High-purity biochar for industrial applications commands premium prices compared to basic soil amendments. Companies like Carbo Culture that can demonstrate stable, long-term carbon storage (>10,000 years) are positioned to capture premium values in both compliance and voluntary markets. This evolution is pushing the industry beyond simple offset credits toward higher-value removal solutions.
Climate technologies are increasingly judged not just on their environmental impact but on their ability to deliver tangible performance benefits. This shift is crucial for accelerating adoption and creating sustainable business models.
2. Balancing Speed with Excellence
If you could instantly improve one aspect of public or corporate behavior regarding carbon emissions and removal, what would it be, and how would it transform the industry?
Henrietta advocates for an action-oriented approach:
I would say “done is better than perfect.” If we are trying to engineer something now to meet all our scale and quality and science expectations that we assume we'll have in 2050, we won't get started. Instead let's accept that like in anything else, our understanding and the scalability/cost etc. will evolve as we keep learning by deploying removals.
The urgency of climate change demands immediate action. The "deploy and improve" model is particularly relevant to scale rapidly.
Carbon removal technologies typically see significant cost reductions through deployment. For example, each iteration of Carbo Culture's reactors has revealed opportunities for operational optimization that laboratory testing alone couldn't uncover.
Early deployment creates opportunities for customer input, process optimization, and business model refinement that cannot be achieved through research alone.
Actual deployment enables the discovery and optimization of multiple revenue streams, like conductive concrete through direct customer interaction.
3. Maximizing Impact Through Integration
What's one unconventional metric or data point you track to measure the impact and efficiency of your carbon removal technology?
The response focuses on total resource efficiency:
We measure the total efficiency of the carbon used - in essence, how much of a ton of biomass residue that we process is 'wasted'. For us (depending on the project setup) the efficiency is near total. What remains after the biochar is formed is a combustible syngas that can be burnt to replace fossil fuels.
The drive for complete biomass utilization is a significant shift in carbon removal technology. Carbo Culture's process achieves near-total efficiency through a dual-stream approach. Their solution converts roughly 50% of biomass carbon into biochar for permanent storage, while the remaining carbon becomes energy-rich syngas.
This split is significant because it solves two industrial challenges simultaneously: creating a high-purity carbon product (>90% carbon content biochar) while generating renewable energy that can directly replace natural gas in industrial applications.
The syngas output creates immediate value by offsetting natural gas consumption, while the biochar serves multiple high-value applications from concrete enhancement to soil amendment.
This approach is changing how industries view carbon removal technologies - not as cost centers for environmental compliance, but as integrated solutions that can improve both environmental and operational performance.
The carbon removal industry's evolution from single-purpose environmental solutions to integrated industrial technologies marks a crucial transition in climate tech.
As an investor, I'm particularly interested in technologies that can:
Improve existing industrial processes while reducing emissions
Create multiple value streams beyond carbon removal
Maintain high quality standards while deploying rapidly
Generate immediate revenue while working toward long-term climate goals
I am excited to have invested in Carbo Culture through Alumni Ventures, given their potential to transform multiple industries while scaling carbon removal. Their combination of proven technology, multiple revenue streams, and rigorous scientific validation creates a compelling investment case.
Carbo Culture's approach - combining carbon removal with advanced materials production and energy generation - suggests that the future of climate technology lies in solutions that can transform industrial processes while delivering environmental benefits. This integration of climate tech with core industrial operations represents a crucial evolution in how we address climate change.