Aker Carbon Capture

Environmental & Social Information • Apr 18, 2024

CO280 and Aker Carbon Capture collaborate with Microsoft to scale-up permanent, affordable carbon removal in US and Canada

CO280 and Aker Carbon Capture collaborate with Microsoft to scale-up permanent, affordable carbon removal in US and Canada

New collaboration aims to scale the full value chain of carbon removal by

capturing and permanently sequestering biogenic CO2 at pulp and paper mills.

CO280 and Aker Carbon Capture's collaboration with Microsoft will supply the

market with significant volumes of permanent, verifiable, affordable Carbon

Dioxide Removals (CDRs).

CO280 and Aker Carbon Capture have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

agreement with Microsoft to explore opportunities for scaling the full physical

and digital value chain of carbon removal in the US and Canada. Together the

three companies have the expertise, technologies, and resources to develop this

market by creating a scalable model to deploy large-scale projects quickly to

meet global net zero targets. The collaboration aspires to leverage the

strengths and capabilities of each partner to enable the ecosystem for the

voluntary carbon market by providing traceability of data and enabling high

-integrity carbon credits.

The three companies will collaborate to address the technological, regulatory,

and commercial challenges and opportunities for creating carbon removal, with

each party playing distinct commercial roles. The parties intend to collaborate

on a non-exclusive basis.

Under the terms of the MoU agreement, the parties agree to explore to:

· Develop biogenic carbon capture project(s), including projects currently in

CO280's development pipeline, as well as additional projects;

· Apply CO280's expertise to jointly develop a standard and efficient

screening process to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of carbon

capture on pulp and paper mills, with the subsequent deployment of Aker Carbon

Capture's plants, including the modularized Just Catch series;

· Standardize the lifecycle assessment (LCA) and measurement, verification,

and reporting (MRV) systems for capture projects in pulp and paper, with the

ambition to leverage Microsoft's digital capabilities, cloud computing

platforms, services, and solutions;

· Create a digital tool to compare CO280's planned projects against Microsoft

Criteria for High Quality Carbon Removal;

· Advocate for policies and demonstrate thought leadership to promote the pulp

and paper carbon capture market, with the corresponding creation and use of high

-integrity carbon removal credits.

North America's pulp and paper industry represents a carbon removal opportunity

of up to 130 million tons per year, due to the fact that the average mill has a

CO2 emissions profile that is 80-90% biogenic. By capturing and storing these

emissions permanently, negative emissions are achieved as more carbon dioxide is

removed from the atmosphere than is being emitted from the process.

CO280 is the leading developer of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) projects in the

pulp and paper industry. In partnership with pulp and paper companies, CO280

develops, finances, owns, and operates large-scale CDR projects. CO280's

projects address a critical supply gap in the CDR market by supplying permanent,

verifiable, and affordable CDR to corporate buyers in the voluntary market.

CO280 currently has more than 10 million tons per year of permanent CDR under

development.

"This commitment on the part of three best-in-class companies is exactly the

kind of bold move the industry needs to unlock the enormous removal opportunity

in the pulp and paper industry and scale up the CDR market. Together, we are

developing the largest scale, lowest cost, permanent carbon removal projects in

the world," said Jonathan Rhone, Chief Executive Officer of CO280.

Microsoft announced its ambitious Carbon goals back in 2020: To be carbon

negative by 2030 and remove the company's aggregated carbon footprint by 2050.

This journey starts with reducing carbon emissions as much as possible,

replacing electricity consumption with carbon-free energy, and removing the

emissions that remain. Microsoft has run an open process for carbon removal

since 2020 and the company has shared learnings publicly. Microsoft is committed

to creating a robust market for CDRs, including by building a digital value

chain that authoritatively tracks carbon attributes and generates robust credits

as simply as possible. For this to happen, engaging with companies that share

the same goals is essential.

"Our collaboration with Aker Carbon Capture and CO280 builds on important large

-scale initiatives across asset-intensive industries including pulp and paper",

says Darryl Willis, Corporate Vice President of Energy and Resources Industry at

Microsoft. "By leveraging the power of technology to create a digital value

chain for carbon tracking and reporting, we can equip the market for high

-integrity carbon removal credits and further enable the industrial sector to

decarbonize."

"It's time to move past the first-of-a-kind and the demonstration projects for

carbon removal. The deployment rate needs to be accelerated by the hundreds to

deliver the 'net' in net zero. We have demonstrated the strength of working

together in the past, and we are excited to expand our collaboration with

Microsoft and CO280 to further deliver impact" says Egil Fagerland, CEO of Aker

Carbon Capture.

Aker Carbon Capture is dedicated to enabling carbon removal and reduction and

the company's proven Just Catch modular solutions enable industries to deploy

their capture technology at speed and at scale. The company is currently

delivering seven carbon capture units: five Just Catch 100 units to Ørsted, one

Just Catch 100 unit to Twence and a Big Catch delivery to Heidelberg Materials

at Brevik.

Accelerating the large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide removals (CDR) is

critical to the net-zero transition. The International Energy Agency (IEA)

estimates that more than one gigaton of CO2 per year will need to be captured by

2030, scaling up to more than six gigatons per year by 2050.

A launch event featuring representatives from CO280, Aker Carbon Capture, and

Microsoft's management teams took place at Microsoft's corporate headquarters in

Redmond on 17 April 2024, in conjunction with the official visit of the Crown

Prince of Norway to the US.

ENDS

Media contact:

Hanne Rolén, mob:?+47 99 00 25 71, email: hanne.rolen@akercarboncapture.com

Investor contacts:

David Phillips, mob: +44 7710 568279, email:

david.phillips@akercarboncapture.com

CO280 contact:

Tom Raith, mob: +1 415 318 6865, email: tom@co280.com

Aker Carbon Capture is dedicated to carbon removal and reduction. The company's

proven modular solutions enable industries to deploy capture technology at speed

and scale, meeting the requirements of tomorrow and the opportunities of today.

Visit akercarboncapture.com (https://www.akercarboncapture.com/) and connect

with us on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/aker-carbon

-capture), Facebook (https://facebook.com/akercarboncapture),

Twitter (https://twitter.com/akercarbon),

Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/akercarboncapture/) and

YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqE71jAZxmM-CNhfUQq86kQ). This press

release may include forward-looking information or statements and is subject to

our disclaimer, see akercarboncapture.com (https://www.akercarboncapture.com/).

CO280 Solutions Inc. is a developer of carbon removal projects. The company

partners with leading pulp and paper companies to develop Carbon Dioxide Removal

(CDR) projects that deliver a new standard of permanent, verifiable, and

affordable carbon removal credits to the voluntary carbon market.

Visit co280.com (https://www.co280.com/) and connect with us on

LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/co280/).