Dive Brief:
- Carbon capture technology provider CarbonQuest announced last week it secured $20 million in funding to scale building decarbonization solutions that help its customers meet their ESG and net-zero goals.
- The financing was led by RiverBend Energy Group, a firm that deploys capital across the U.S. energy sector with a focus on sustainable investing. The funding also included contributions from private equity firms Energy Capital Ventures and Aligned Climate Capital.
- CarbonQuest said in a Feb. 26 release it would use this new funding to circulate its carbon capture technology to a wider range of North American clients, improve the efficiency of its system and hire market-leading talent. The company also said the financing will help it achieve the lowest dollar per ton price tag across the carbon capture industry.
Dive Insight:
CarbonQuest’s technology captures carbon dioxide from buildings, facilities and onsite power generation systems before it is released into the atmosphere.
Once the carbon dioxide is generated through boilers, fuels cells, heat and power systems and other industrial processes, it is diverted into the CarbonQuest system after combustion where it is then liquified using the company’s technology, the company said. This liquefied carbon dioxide, once purchased, is then transported to local businesses that can use it for their manufacturing and production operations.
The company calls the byproduct “Sustainable CO2,” which it says is “responsibly produced” and is advertised as the “greenest carbon option” on the market, per CarbonQuest’s website.
CarbonQuest estimates its carbon capture system can help avoid over 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually per building and offer 0.5 gigaton of carbon dioxide removal potential in the U.S. per year solely from building decarbonization.
The carbon solutions company said in the release that its technology and sustainable carbon offering allows its customers to “support a circular economy while meeting ESG and net-zero goals with a cost-effective, turnkey solution.”
The company’s carbon capture technology has already been adopted across several commercial settings. CarbonQuest’s first pilot project was installed at a residential building on the Upper West Side of New York City in 2021 to reduce the building’s emissions. CarbonQuest said the adoption of its carbon capture system has led to a 25% reduction in the 30-story apartment building’s annual emissions.
“Commercial and industrial facilities across the country urgently need cost-effective carbon capture solutions,” Aligned Climate Capital CEO Peter Davidson said in the release. “CarbonQuest’s proven technology is already serving these customers, and our investment will help the company scale further, faster.”
Disclosure: Informa, which owns a controlling stake in Informa TechTarget, the publisher behind ESG Dive, is hosting an event sponsored by RiverBend Energy Group later this year. Informa has no influence over ESG Dive's coverage.
