Deep Sky Announces Founding Buyers: 10,000 Carbon Removal Credits for Royal Bank of Canada and Microsoft

CDR Project Developer Intends to Remove 10,000 Tonnes of CO₂ from the Air via up to 10 Different Technologies at the World’s First CDR Innovation & Commercialization Center

MONTRÉAL, Nov. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Deep Sky, the Canadian carbon removal project developer, has sold carbon removal credits to its founding buyers including Royal Bank of Canada and Microsoft. In return, Deep Sky intends to facilitate the removal of 10,000 tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere over a 10-year period via Deep Sky Labs, the world’s first carbon removal innovation and commercialization center. The founding buyers are helping to support Deep Sky Labs’ mission to accelerate the path to low cost, low energy intensity and scalable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and marks an industry milestone for the private development of scalable carbon removal technologies. The agreement calls for Deep Sky to deliver an initial 10,000 tonnes of removals with options to purchase an additional 1 million tonnes from Deep Sky’s pipeline of commercial projects.

Deep Sky Labs represents a single destination to streamline efforts to help combat the climate crisis and is the first commercial direct air capture project in Canada. It’s where multiple Direct Air Capture (DAC) technologies convene for the first time to measure their performance through category benchmarking. Here, the technologies will be tested and optimized for performance year-round in the Canadian climate and validated before committing to them at commercial scale. Proprietary Deep Sky software will track and benchmark all operational data to accelerate the R&D of technology partners and the industry at large.

To start, eight DAC technologies will be deployed side-by-side at Deep Sky Labs, with full access to renewable power and permanent carbon storage to enable the life cycle analysis required to support the production of verified carbon removal credits validated by third-party carbon registries. Labs’ tech-agnostic nature decreases delivery and operational risks while increasing the speed at which the industry can scale. This novel approach attempts to solve for the delivery delays that have plagued past global carbon removal projects. The approach allows buyers to have an impact on the development of multiple DAC technologies through a single purchase of carbon removal credits. The selection of DAC partners is a result of an evaluation of nearly 100 technologies from all over the world. Air processing units with a pathway to low energy intensity, simplicity and scalability were prioritized and selected for piloting.

These DAC providers include Airhive, Avnos, Phlair (formerly Carbon Atlantis), Greenlyte, Mission Zero, NEG8 Carbon, Skyrenu, and Skytree. Together, the partners represent some of the world’s foremost CO₂ carbon removal technologies, convening for the first time in Canada. Any additional DAC providers interested in deploying at Deep Sky Labs can email [email protected].

“These founding buyers are made up of two companies who recognize carbon removal’s important role in earth’s decarbonization,” said Damien Steel, Deep Sky CEO. “In a fragmented market, Deep Sky Labs acts as a focal point for investors, suppliers, customers and other partners who want a defined path to the best carbon removal technologies in the world. This first group to invest catalytic capital in carbon removal gives us more confidence than ever that we can overcome humanity’s greatest challenge and reverse climate change.”

“Carbon removals is an emerging segment of the voluntary carbon markets, and new, technology-based solutions are needed to support its growth. As a founding buyer, RBC is excited to learn alongside Deep Sky Labs and support their journey to develop large-scale CDR innovation,” said Sarah Thompson, Global Head of Sustainable Finance, RBC Capital Markets. “This transaction represents RBC Capital Markets’ Environmental Markets Solutions Group’s first purchase of Direct Air Capture credits.”

“As the DAC space continues to innovate, Deep Sky Labs offers a novel, broad-spectrum approach to evaluate and advance multiple technologies at the same time while streamlining project development for early-stage companies,” said Brian Marrs, Senior Director of Carbon Removal and Energy, Microsoft. “In short, the Deep Sky Labs project will incubate technologies and expedite learning such that the industry can deepen and fast-track its understanding of what it takes to deploy gigaton solutions.”

Deep Sky Labs and the commitment from the founding buyers will generate green jobs in Innisfail, Alberta – home to Deep Sky Labs. Approximately 80 workers will be employed for the construction phase, with another 15 for annual operations. The project has the potential to invest more than $100M in the community over 10 years. Subsequent commercial plants across Canada are expected to employ approximately 1,000 workers for construction and 150 for annual operations.

Deep Sky aims to help enterprises meet their decarbonization commitments through the supply of verified carbon removal credits that can be used to offset company emissions. Carbon removal credits produced by Deep Sky projects will be traced from capture to storage with Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) software and will be validated against rigorous carbon standards to help ensure complete additionality and durability. Deep Sky’s projects are designed to reduce risks typically associated with carbon removals while increasing the community and economic impact of an enterprise’s decarbonization pathway.

Deep Sky Labs aims to accelerate the development of multiple technologies and allows Deep Sky to scale them at commercial projects across Canada. Deep Sky Labs and future commercial projects will issue carbon removal credits via carbon registries to meet global regulatory and industry-led carbon integrity schemes. Buyers that are interested in reserving carbon removal credits from Deep Sky can reach out to [email protected].  

All references to Deep Sky Labs and its development of carbon removal technologies and associated carbon removal credits are made solely by Deep Sky Labs.

About RBC

Royal Bank of Canada is a global financial institution with a purpose-driven, principles-led approach to delivering leading performance. Our success comes from the 100,000+ employees who leverage their imaginations and insights to bring our vision, values and strategy to life so we can help our clients thrive and communities prosper. As Canada’s biggest bank and one of the largest in the world, based on market capitalization, we have a diversified business model with a focus on innovation and providing exceptional experiences to our more than 18 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 27 other countries. Learn more at rbc.com.

About Deep Sky

Montreal-based Deep Sky is the world’s first tech-agnostic carbon removal project developer aiming to remove gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere and permanently store it underground. As a project developer, Deep Sky brings together the most promising direct air and ocean carbon capture companies under one roof to bring the largest supply of high quality carbon credits to the market, commercializing and catalyzing carbon removal and storage solutions like never before. With $77M in funding, Deep Sky is backed by world class investors including Investissement Québec, Brightspark Ventures, Whitecap Venture Partners, OMERS Ventures, BDC Climate Fund, BMO, National Bank of Canada, and more. For more information, visit deepskyclimate.com.

SOURCE Deep Sky

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