Neustark and Holcim launch landmark investment and strategic collaboration agreement to scale up permanent carbon removal

• Holcim makes significant investment in the climate tech company to accelerate the scale-up of neustark’s pioneering carbon removal technology
• Holcim also commits to rolling out neustark's CO₂ storage technology at its demolition sites worldwide
• Neustark and Holcim to make a huge and concrete carbon removal impact this decade, as Holcim to store a significant part of neustark’s goal of 1 million tons of CO₂ removed
• First global scale-up agreement of this amplitude in permanent carbon removal via mineralization

Neustark and Holcim extend their partnership with a landmark investment and strategic collaboration agreement. Holcim makes a significant investment in neustark to accelerate the scale-up of the company’s pioneering carbon removal technology. In parallel and as part of the strategic collaboration, Holcim also commits to rolling out neustark’s CO₂ storage technology at their construction demolition sites worldwide.

"We are proud to have Holcim on board as both a financial and strategic partner. Thanks to their global standing and wide reach of production sites, we will be able to roll out our CO₂ removal technology at a very high pace this decade," says Valentin Gutknecht, founder and co-CEO of neustark. “This agreement between neustark and Holcim, a global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions, marks a substantial step forward in both carbon removal as well as the decarbonatization of the construction sector.”

The investment builds on Holcim’s commitment to putting clean technologies to work for a net-zero future, from carbon capture, storage and utilization to carbon removal. The collaboration further cements neustark’s leading role in permanent carbon removal and will help massively scale-up the company’s footprint in the next years. Together, neustark and Holcim will be storing a significant part of neustark’s goal – removing 1 million tons of CO₂ in 2030 – at their production sites in the next years, generating a huge carbon removal impact.

Removing 1 million tons of CO₂ in 2030

Neustark has developed and deployed a solution that allows to remove carbon permanently by binding it in demolition concrete. Currently, eleven storage sites are in operation, already removing CO₂ every day from the atmosphere, and fifteen more are under construction.

“One million tons of CO₂ removed from the atmosphere in 2030 – that’s our ambition. We’re already well under way towards the megaton goal, only four years after founding our company. Our strategic partnership with Holcim represents a significant part of this roadmap. It will be a true catalyzer to further scale up the permanent carbon removal impact that we generate in the next years,” says Johannes Tiefenthaler, founder and co-CEO of neustark.

Holcim and neustark, partners in sustainability

The two companies have a history of working together to pioneer climate solutions. Since May 2023, Holcim has been operating a mobile storage plant built by neustark, which is already storing tons of CO₂ at various Holcim sites in Switzerland every week. Thanks to the extended collaboration hundreds of similar storage plants across the globe will follow in the next years.

To scale up carbon removal via mineralization in demolition concrete, neustark builds on partnerships with a large number of local and global construction material recyclers. Only by launching thousands of storage sites in collaboration with a multitude of partners will neustark be able to scale up the carbon removal impact that is needed in time. The Holcim collaboration is a huge step in that direction.

In addition to demolition concrete, CO₂ will also be stored in slurry. Further waste streams are to be developed in joint projects.

Next to reductions, removing carbon is imperative to achieving climate goals

A widespread reduction of CO₂ emissions is the fundament to addressing climate change. But to meet global climate goals, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is also indispensable as the IPCC states. Scientists project that we must remove around 10 gigatons of CO₂ per year to reach net zero by 2050. Major investments and a rapid deployment of tested technologies are needed to create a reliable and effective carbon removal market at a high pace and scale.

One novel method that has been proven by neustark – the first in the world to do so: capturing biogenic CO₂ at point source, e.g. at biogas plants, and storing it permanently in demolition materials via an accelerated mineralization process. Mineralization is one of the few technologies that warrants true permanent carbon removal: the CO₂ is stored for millions of years, and the risk of reversal is proven to be slim to none. And since the CO₂ sourced is of biogenic nature, storing it means it is removed, thereby generating negative emissions.

From start-up to leading carbon removal provider

Following the launch of its first stationary plant in 2022, neustark now has eleven CO₂ storage sites in operation with a cumulative storage capacity of around 4,000 tons per year. At the end of September, the first storage plant in Germany will be launched. 15 more capture and storage sites are currently under construction in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France.

Neustark is scaling up rapidly, on track towards permanently removing one million tons of CO₂ in 2030. To realize its roadmap, neustark is backed by elite investors including Siemens Financial Services, ACE & Company, Verve Ventures, and now Holcim.

As part of its business model, organizations at the forefront of climate action buy neustark’s CDR, which, alongside their reduction efforts, helps them to achieve net-zero. Neustark recently secured one of the largest CDR credit purchases this year, with Switzerland’s Climate Cent Foundation having acquired 29,500 tons of its permanent carbon removal. Further CDR clients include UBS, Microsoft and Verdane.