State government-backed venture capital firm Fund WA has made an undisclosed size investment in a company which has developed a nature-based process to remove carbon from the atmosphere.
InterEarth’s process was developed recognising two basic facts: Much of the land cleared for farming in low rainfall areas of Australia is of marginal agricultural value. The trees that grow naturally in these areas are, however, highly efficient at capturing CO2.
InterEarth’s process involves returning land to its natural state then trimming the trees to create biomass which will be dried and stored in sealed chambers to prevent decomposition before being buried. The trimmed trees are allowed to regrow enabling the process to be repeated indefinitely.
Chief executive and co-founder of InterEarth Dr Howard Carr says the company’s process is much more effective in sequestering CO2 than simply returning land to natural vegetation. It also offers potential for large scale carbon removal as marginal farmland is widespread in Australia and in many other parts of the world.
The company is partnering with NASDAQ-operated B2B marketplace Puro.earth to offer its services to businesses that need to offset their generation of carbon.
Fund WA has co-invested in InterEarth with Counteract, a UK-based venture capital firm which claims to be the first to focus solely on carbon removal, and Foxglove Capital, a Perth investment group focusing on carbon sequestration and other technologies that offer ecological benefits.
Fund WA chief executive Glenn Butcher said: “We see InterEarth’s target market as an exciting opportunity as the world grapples with how to apply commercial thinking to removing CO2 from the atmosphere.”
InterEarth is Fund WA’s third investment following on demand provider of telehealth services Hola Health and VitalTrace which is developing a biosensor designed to provide obstetricians with improved indication of foetal distress during childbirth.
Fund WA was launched early this year with a target of raising $100 million for investing in very early-stage West Australian technology companies. The fund is supported through the state government’s New Industries Fund which is administered by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation.
Image: Low rainfall marginal farmland is suitable for InterEarth’s carbon sequestration process.