Good Morning. This is the Sunya Scoop. The newsletter that takes energy transition news and turns it into an easy-to-read email for you.
Here’s what we have for you today:
Sumitomo invests in Inherit Carbon focused on carbon removal
I Squared closes $1.2 billion fund for sustainable infrastructure
Captura raises another $21.5 million for Direct Ocean Capture tech
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Sumitomo Corporation has made an investment in Inherit Carbon Solutions AS (Inherit), a Norwegian company specializing in CO2 removal (CDR) through the biomethane production process, as part of their contribution to achieving a carbon-neutral society.
CDR (CO2 removal) is gaining attention as a means to offset difficult-to-abate emissions and achieve net-zero emissions. The market for carbon credits, generated through negative emission technologies like Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) and Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), is expected to grow from USD 2.1 billion to USD 80 billion by 2030.
Inherit is a pioneer in biomass-derived CDR, capturing CO2 emitted during biomethane production and permanently sequestering it in geological storage. They plan to create CDR-derived credits in the Nordic region starting in 2025 and have already secured offtake agreements with Microsoft and other partners.
Sumitomo aims to combine its global network and financial strength with Inherit’s CDR expertise to remove millions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere over the next decade. The collaboration involves finding suitable storage providers in Europe, North America, and Asia and focusing on creating CDR credits.
Sumitomo is engaged in CCUS business development across Europe, the USA, and Asia, covering CO2 separation and capture, transport, storage, and utilization.
I Squared Capital, a global infrastructure investment manager, has closed its first dedicated Climate Fund in collaboration with the U.S. International Finance Development Corporation (DFC).
DFC will commit $300 million to this Climate Fund, while funds led by I Squared Capital will contribute $900 million. The total fund size is $1.2 billion, and its primary focus is to invest in climate-related infrastructure projects.
Over the last decade, I Squared Capital’s funds have committed $7.9 billion to infrastructure investments in emerging markets. These investments have spanned a wide range of sectors, including energy, utilities, transportation, social infrastructure, digital infrastructure, and environmental infrastructure.
Saudi Aramco has increased its capital for the Aramco Ventures unit by $4 billion.
This funding was added over a four-year period, bringing Aramco Ventures’ total capital to $7 billion.
Additionally, Aramco has a separate $500 million venture capital fund called Wa’ed Ventures, which invests in Saudi start-ups.
Aramco Ventures previously managed three funds: the $500 million Digital/Industrial Fund, the $1 billion Prosperity7 Fund, and the $1.5 billion Sustainability Fund.
The investments focus on areas such as new energies, chemicals, transition materials, diversified industrial businesses, and digital technologies to support Aramco’s long-term strategy.
Captura has expanded its Series A funding round by raising an additional $21.5 million to advance its Direct Ocean Capture (DOC) technology for removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.
New investors in this round include Maersk Growth, Eni Next, and EDP Ventures, along with support from existing backers like Future Planet Capital, Equinor Ventures, Freeflow Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, Aramco Ventures, mTerra Ventures, and EIC Rose Rock Venture Fund.
Captura initially raised $12 million in January 2023 and has made progress in its technology pilot program and commercial plant design.
The company’s DOC technology captures CO2 from the ocean, enabling its permanent storage or conversion into lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emission fuels, providing a tool for hard-to-decarbonize sectors to reach net zero emissions.
Captura’s technology amplifies the ocean’s natural carbon sink capacity, efficiently removing atmospheric CO2, contributing to climate solutions.
H2 Green Steel has raised 4.75 billion euros ($5.17 billion) in new funding for its flagship plant in Boden, Sweden, which is set to become the world’s first large-scale green steel project.
The company secured 4.2 billion euros in debt financing, nearly 300 million euros in equity from investors, and received a 250 million euro grant from the EU Innovation Fund.
The total funding for the Boden plant now amounts to 6.5 billion euros.
New shareholders in H2 Green Steel include the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund and Siemens Financial Service, while existing owners include Altor, GIC, Just Climate, Andra AP Fonden, Hy24, and Temasek.
The Boden plant will use hydrogen produced from renewable electricity instead of coal, significantly reducing CO2 emissions (up to 95% less) compared to traditional blast furnace technology.
The company has already sold half of its initial yearly production volume of 2.5 million tonnes of steel through binding customer agreements that span five to seven years.
Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd, Japan’s second-largest oil refiner, intends to transform the Yamaguchi refinery in western Japan into a hub for carbon-free energy sources like solar power and hydrogen by the 2030s.
In 2022, Idemitsu had announced its decision to cease refining operations at the Yamaguchi plant, owned by its subsidiary Seibu Oil, by March 2024. This move is in response to the aging and shrinking population in Japan and the global transition to greener energy sources, which has reduced household demand for petroleum.
Despite ending refining operations, the Yamaguchi refinery, with a crude oil processing capacity of 120,000 barrels-per-day, will continue to function as a receiving, shipping, and stockpiling terminal for petroleum products.
Idemitsu’s plans for the site include developing it into a green energy hub, focusing on resource recycling and technology development.
As an initial step, the company intends to introduce and expand carbon-free electricity supply, utilizing its solar power farms and other resources, in the second half of the 2020s. Additionally, Idemitsu aims to initiate biomass and resource recycling businesses in the future.
We released a podcast, Sunya Stories.
The first episode features a conversation with Cemvita’s Moji Karimi
We published our first Sunya Spotlight profile on Oxy’s STRATOS DAC project.
The largest deal last week was the BlackRock buying Global Infrastructure Partners for $12.5bn in last Tuesday’s edition
“If you want to have cheap energy, you need to be gas fired. That’s the cheapest way, the most secure way if you calculate the whole thing, from the beginning to the end.
I believe people need to become reasonable about the energy transition.”
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