JP Morgan to earmark USD 200 mn for carbon capture: US investment banking giant JP Morgan Chase has pledged a USD 200 mn financing package for carbon removal projects, inking several agreements with carbon capture, usage, and storage (CCUS) and direct air capture firms for the purchase of durable carbon credits, according to a statement.

Setting up a direct air capture plant in Iceland: The bank signed an agreement with Swiss direct air capture tech solutions startup Climeworks where it will invest USD 20 mn to help the company establish its second CCUS plant in Iceland. Prior to JP’s investment, the Zurich-based firm raised USD 762 mn over nine funding rounds from a mix of venture capital investors and corporations including Microsoft, and opened the doors of its first carbon capture plant in Iceland back in 2021.

SOUND SMART- Direct air capture is not the same as CCUS: Direct air capture tech — unlike conventional CCUS technologies which extract carbon from point sources — sequesters greenhouse gasses before they are released into the atmosphere using chemical reactions, according to the World Research Institute.

Other agreements: JP Morgan has also signed a five-year agreement with California-based CCUS startup Charm Industrial for the purchase of some 28.5k CO2 tons worth of carbon credits, and a non-binding agreement with CO280 Solutions that could see JP Morgan offset some 45k tons of carbon over 15 years if finalized, according to Bloomberg. The values of the agreements have not been disclosed.

JP isn’t the only one going big on carbon removal: Earlier this month, tech titan Microsoft signed an agreement with renewables developer Orsted A/S to purchase 2.76 mn tons of durable carbon credits from Orsted’s biomass energy and carbon capture plants in Denmark. And over in our neck of the woods, UAE renewables firm Masdar signed an agreement with French aircraft manufacturer Airbus to jointly develop sustainable aviation fuels using direct air capture tech.

OTHER STORIES WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THIS MORNING-

  • India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese discussed establishing an economic framework agreement on mining minerals critical to EV production (Reuters)
  • Spain intends to increase its carbon output reduction target to 30% below its 1990 emissions by 2030, up from its current target of 23%. (Reuters)
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