Concept: US non-profit environmental services startup Climate Vault has Introduced a new solution for carbon reduction using government-regulated markets. The purpose of Climate Vault is to drastically reduce CO2, one of the primary causes of climate change, while also promoting research in carbon removal technology aimed at removing historical CO2.
Nature of Disruption: The solution includes purchasing and ‘vaulting’ carbon permits; the method makes use of the strength of government-regulated compliance markets, prohibiting polluters from using them. This implies it won’t trade them, theoretically preventing CO2 emissions and raising the value of the remaining permits. The money that organizations pay for carbon permits would subsequently be used to fund companies that are working on carbon-removal technologies. Climate Vault has purchased about 200,000 metric tons of carbon permits on behalf of its contributors, equal to the emissions produced by 40,000 passenger automobiles in a year. It plans pay the carbon-removal companies with the carbon permits it has vaulted away if they are successful in eliminating CO2. The businesses can then cash in on those permits by selling them on the carbon market. Climate Vault will contribute to the creation of the world’s first ecosystem for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies by funding research and development to make these technologies feasible and cost-effective.
Outlook: Individuals and organizations aiming to cut their emissions can benefit from Climate Vault’s revolutionary solution. Vanderbilt University gave Climate Vault $1.6mn to reduce the University’s carbon emissions for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020. Climate Vault also intends to collaborate with businesses that are removing carbon from the atmosphere through technological or natural mechanisms.