CO2 recycling
As climate change continues to be a forefront issue globally, many are petitioning for change and finding unique solutions to solving this issue. Twelve, a self-proclaimed “carbon transformation company” is attempting to be part of the solution by turning captured CO2 into products usually made from fossil fuels.
According to co-founder and CEO Nicholas Flanders, the company produces “building blocks for a wide range of materials, chemicals and fuels that are currently made from fossil fuels today.” He claims the products made this way have no change in quality compared to the ones they replace.
So far the company has internally developed products like CO2-derived sunglasses (which retail for $495) and carbon-neutral fuels, but the plan is to integrate their technology into companies that want to reduce emissions across their supply chains and operations.
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Based in Berkeley, California, Twelve says it has already partnered with Mercedes-Benz, Procter & Gamble, Shopify, NASA and the Air Force to create products for the automotive, household and governmental spaces, though it declined to answer how many products it has sold or share its revenue.
After announcing a $130 million Series B funding round — led by DCVC with participation from Series A investors Carbon Direct Capital Management and Capricorn Technology Impact Fund — the company is slated to build out what they call an “industrial-scale carbon transformation platform.”
Flanders explained the platform consists of planting their system, a reactor, at partnered manufacturing locations to change emitted CO2 directly into products (the “building blocks,” likely more complex hydrocarbons) partner companies can use.
“One big benefit of our technology is that it’s helping customers address a lot of the volatility they’re seeing in their supply chains, because our main inputs are CO2, which we capture locally, and electricity, which is something you can get a really long-term contract for, and very stable pricing,” Flanders said. “So we actually see what we’re doing as not only something that has a positive environmental impact, but actually something where customers can have a bit more control over their long-term pricing and predictability.”
CO2 recycling
