LanzaTech Inks $500m Partnership with Mark Carney's Brookfield
Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P.
Carbon capture technology specialist LanzaTech has scooped up $500m backing from Mark Carney-affiliated investment giant Brookfield as part of a strategic partnership aimed at co-developing commercial plants that recycle CO2 into new commodities and products.
The funding partnership will see Brookfield Asset Management's renewable power arm commit an initial $500m towards constructing and operating new "carbon capture and transformation" (CCT) projects that have achieved "certain pre-agreed milestones", it said.
Following that initial investment - targeted towards Europe and North America - Brookfield has also said it could commit a further $500m towards the partnership "if sufficient projects are available at the agreed milestones", bringing total potential investment in LanzaTech to over $1bn.
Moreover, topping what is a major vote of confidence in the potential of LanzaTech's carbon capture and recycling technologies, Brookfield said it would invest an additional $50m in the firm to support further corporate development.
US-based LanzaTech uses biotechnology to transform CO2 emissions from heavy industry into fuels and chemicals. It has previously used its technology to turn steel mill emissions into sustainable aviation fuel, clothing ranges, trainers, plastics, laundry detergent, household cleaning products, and even perfumes.
The company's first two commercial-scale gas fermentation plants have produced over 30 million gallons of ethanol, which it claims is equivalent to offsetting the release of over 150,000 metric tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, and additional plants are also now under construction worldwide.
"Creating a new carbon economy will require new ways of financing technology scale up and deployment," said Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech. "We are excited to partner with Brookfield to accelerate deployment and achieve exponential growth. Together, we have the potential to target significant commodity markets and keep fossil resources in the ground. Each additional plant deployed has the potential to keep the equivalent of around 100,000 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year. This is the new carbon economy in action."
The funding is being made available through Brookfield's Global Transition Fund, which it claims is the largest fund in the world focused on the energy transition and is co-led by former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney.
Natalie Adomait, managing partner and chief investment officer of BGTF, said LanzaTech's technology "provides new ways to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors across the economy".
"We view this as an attractive opportunity to accelerate deployment of this technology at scale and be a partner to grow in an emerging area of infrastructure in a decarbonised economy," she said.
Source: BusinessGreen
