neustark was founded in 2019 by Johannes Tiefenthaler and Valentin Gutknecht as an ETH Zurich spin-off. The two young entrepreneurs came together based on their shared vision of a solution for the utilization and storage of CO₂.
In 2020, neustark's first pilot plant was integrated into the production line of an established concrete producer. Today, various concrete producers store CO₂ with one of neustark's mobile plants and produce concrete that is used both in private and public construction projects.
about neustark.
context.
In the Paris Climate Agreement, which (as of January 2021) has been ratified by 188 countries (including China, USA, EU, India, Russia), each country submits a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions towards climate neutrality within its own borders.
These plans usually focus about 90% on avoiding emissions (e.g., generating electricity through hydropower instead of burning coal) and about 10% on negative emissions, i.e., removing unavoidable emissions from the atmosphere.
Since, in contrast to the Kyoto Protocol, all countries pursue the goal of reducing emissions, the tradeability of avoided emissions will be phased out. In contrast, trading of negative emissions will be further established and will dominate emissions trading in the foreseeable future.
As early as 2030, greenhouse gas emissions must be at least 50% below their 1990 level - this is the aim of the Swiss parliamentary resolution on the total revision of the CO₂ Act of Sept. 25, 2020.
scope.
7% of all global greenhouse gas emissions originate from the production of cement. Concrete is in higher demand than ever as a building material - and is at the same time one of the biggest climate killers.
Every year, global cement production causes around 2.5 billion tons of CO₂ emissions - which is roughly twice as much as the entire global air traffic produces.
The use of recycled concrete as a carbon dioxide reservoir is one of the most promising technologies in the field of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Providers such as the Swiss startup neustark are already enabling significant improvements in the carbon footprint of new buildings.
By 2025, net-zero concrete is on the horizon, permanently storing the same amount of CO₂ that is generated during its production.
Valentin Gutknecht is a business economist and takes care of neustark's operational business. Before founding neustark, Gutknecht worked for another ETH spin-off, Climeworks, a Swiss pioneer in the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
