EarlyBirds is helping governments and private companies working towards a greener future explore, pick, and fund the most promising CO2 removal technologies currently undergoing development. More information about the Australian OSINT platform can be found at earlybirds.io.

The 2015 Paris Agreement was a landmark moment in world history as nations came together and acknowledged that collective efforts need to be made to stop climate change. To stave off the threat, ratifying countries agreed to attempt to limit the overall rise in global temperatures to under 1.5 degrees Celsius by the year 2100. However, the target is considered very ambitious and is going to require a combination of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) solutions to achieve.

EarlyBirds co-founder Kris Poria says, “While CCS technologies focus on preventing harmful greenhouse gases from being emitted in the first place, CDR solutions attempt to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide that is already present in the atmosphere. Right now, there is a choice between adapting and implementing several nature-based and technology-based CDR solutions. While both have their pros and cons, as more and more years pass and we inch closer to that 1.5-degree threshold, the nature-based solutions are just not going to be viable anymore for ensuring the long-term safety of human life on this planet.”

Natural solutions for carbon removal include reforestation, cropland agroforestry, urban reforestation, biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS), ocean-based approaches, and more. However, these solutions have a limited impact due to comparatively low carbon removal potential, low scalability, and their tendency to be locally isolated. Engineered CDR solutions, on the other hand, can achieve higher carbon sequestration and can be deployed in places where natural solutions just cannot succeed.

The most popular engineered CDR solutions that are currently being worked on include direct air capture and carbon mineralization. Direct air capture involves extracting CO2 from the atmosphere and sequestering it underground. It is an energy-intensive process that can only be economically feasible if the power is provided by low-carbon replenishable sources of energy. Carbon mineralization is the process of strategically spreading and exposing minerals, that naturally react to CO2 and capture it, in the atmosphere.

“The CDR solutions that we have access to are not getting adopted as fast as they ideally should,” says Jeff Penrose, the other co-founder of EarlyBirds. “It is primarily due to the prohibitive cost of the technology. For example, direct air capture can cost anywhere from $100 to $600 per metric ton of CO2 removed. It doesn’t yet make financial sense to undertake mass deployment of these solutions, even for those businesses and government organizations with a vested interest in ensuring a healthy future for the planet. If you have the means to widely implement such solutions and are looking for potential candidates, we urge you to sign up to the EarlyBirds platform as early adopters at https://earlybirds.io/en/early_adopter.”

EarlyBirds’ open innovation ecosystem gives innovators and subject matter experts a platform to interact with early adopters and bring promising CO2 removal technologies to market. Its innovation maps help business leaders narrow down startups, scaleups, and other mature organizations that are actively pursuing investments by domain and specialization.

Currently, the platform monitors over 4.9 million innovators and some of them have listed their products and services for initial sale such as pilot, trial, or proof of concept. The combined efforts of the subject matter experts and the intelligent innovation maps assure that only the best, most resilient solutions bubble up to the top.

Early Adopters can participate in the Explorer Program which is specifically designed for businesses who need innovation as a service to supplement existing innovation programs, or to conduct innovation projects as required. The company also offers organizations the Challenger Program which is designed to solve one business or technical challenge at a time and search for relevant innovators that meet the business, technical, commercial, and business risk requirements.

Researchers and startups that have made significant innovations toward engineered CO2 removal methods can sign up to EarlyBirds as innovators at https://earlybirds.io/en/innovator.