Christopher Sinadinos’ Post

New Vattenfall commitment: 100% circular outflow of permanent magnets from wind farms decommissioned from 2030 onwards. Permanent magnets are integral to wind turbine functionality, especially for direct drive turbines. These magnets contain rare earth elements that are valuable and in need for recycling due to their scarcity, sustainability impact, and geopolitical supply risks. Vattenfall is dedicated to developing circular solutions to reuse, refurbish, repurpose, or recycle permanent magnets, aiming to reduce reliance on raw materials and minimize the environmental & social impact associated with new magnets, especially related to the mining of the rare earth elements. “Our goal is to achieve a 100% circular outflow of permanent magnets from our decommissioned wind farms. This commitment underscores our dedication to reducing waste and preserving material value as well as fostering social responsible sourcing, which is essential for sustainable development. By setting specific targets, we demonstrate our commitment to creating a robust and efficient system for proper treatment of permanent magnets.” says Dr. Eva Julius-Philipp of Environment & Sustainability at Vattenfall BA Wind. Thanks Cyclic Materials and CARESTER for the collaboration so far. #circularity #sustainability #rareearths #windpower

Vaulted Deep, a Plug and Play portfolio startup, announced a breaking 58.3 million deal with Frontier climate. Vaulted Deep is putting waste at work to remove carbon - they inject slurry from organic residues from nearby landfills, feedlots, and waste water treatment facilities deep under the earth’s surface, permanently trapping the carbon. This offtake agreement is the most lucrative that Frontier has signed since it launched in April 2022. Last year, the coalition struck similar deals with companies Charm Industrial, which makes “bio-oil” from crop waste, and Lithos Carbon, which uses crushed rocks to sequester CO2. 👉 Read the full announcement here: https://lnkd.in/gKftJ8AQ #decarbonization #VaultedDeep #biowaste #portfoliocompany #sustainability #carbon

Turning Wind Turbine Blades into Boats What happens when wind turbine blades reach the end of their 30-year lifespan? Recycling these massive fibreglass structures has long been a challenge, requiring costly and inefficient processes. Enter Resolve Composites, a Nova Scotia-based startup, with a game-changing innovation: the #ReceTT method. Their “eureka moment” came in December 2022, when the team discovered a way to recover intact sheets of fibreglass from composite materials without the need for massive solvent tubs. By September 2023, their ReceTT process was patent-pending, and they realized its potential to tackle a larger problem: wind turbine blade waste. Why recycle a boat into a boat, thought founder Nick Bigeau, when they could recycle a blade into a boat? In a remarkable demonstration, Resolve Composites transformed a 20-foot blade section into 162 kilograms of reusable fibreglass, which is now being crafted into the hull of a Bantam Bay 17 Skiff. This process not only makes recycling more practical but also slashes carbon emissions—194 kg saved from a single blade section—and offers a sustainable solution for the growing wind industry. ReceTT could revolutionize fibreglass recycling, turning a long-standing waste problem into an opportunity for circular manufacturing. Source: https://lnkd.in/d3T48Yst #Circulareconomy #Fibreglass #Recycling #Sustainable #Innovation

🌍 Recent years have seen a significant surge in investments aimed at achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. One of the most promising methods for long-term CO₂ sequestration involves integrating it into construction materials. 🌱 Our alumni, neustark, a Swiss climate tech company, has secured $69 million to expand its carbon removal technology globally. Their method captures CO₂ from biogas plants and mineralizes it in concrete waste, transforming construction debris into durable carbon sinks. This funding round led by Decarbonization Partners, a partnership between BlackRock Switzerland and Temasek, with participation from Blume Equity, supports their goal of removing 1 million tons of CO₂ by 2030. 🌐 Neustark’s technology addresses both greenhouse gas reduction and construction waste repurposing. With plans to expand operations across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, Neustark is set to significantly contribute to global decarbonization efforts. 🎉 Congratulations to our proud Alumni of the Neustark team on this milestone beyond the activities we worked on, including PoC with Holcim Schweiz / Suisse / Svizzera. For more information, read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/g6pZhDVC #innovation #impact #climate #2030 #smartcities #makeithappen Valentin Gutknecht , Johannes Tiefenthaler, Raimund Philip Neubauer , Katka Letzing , Andrea Bianchi.

NEW! START-UP SPOTLIGHT: At PVG, we try to track the most interesting start-ups with solutions to climate change. Every month, we’re going to highlight a new cleantech company we think has potential to have a huge impact. Cyclic Materials is creating a circular supply chain for rare earth elements and other materials critical to supporting the energy transition. Cyclic is tackling this mounting challenge by taking landfill-bound products and recovering their critical metals through its innovative magnet recycling process. As demand grows for wind turbines, electric vehicles, and other electronics, it’s crucial to invest in solutions that preserve and recycle rare earth elements.

♻️ Transforming the Future of Rare Earth Recycling: Cyclic Materials Raises $53M in Series B ♻️ Cyclic Materials, a Toronto-based cleantech company, has just raised $53M in Series B funding to scale its mission of creating a circular supply chain for rare earth elements (REEs) and critical materials! 🌍 The round was led by ArcTern Ventures, with support from new investors like BDC Capital’s Climate Tech Fund, Hitachi Ventures, and Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund. 🌱 Existing backers like BMW i Ventures and Fifth Wall also joined the round. 📈 💡 Why it matters: Cyclic Materials, under the leadership of CEO Ahmad Ghahreman, is playing a pivotal role in the clean energy transition by transforming end-of-life products into raw materials essential for electric vehicles, wind turbines, and electronics. ⚡ 🔧 Cutting-edge technology: • Mag-Cycle™: Recovering rare earth magnets from end-of-life products. • REEPure™: Producing Mixed Rare Earth Oxide through proprietary hydrometallurgical processes. In 2024, the company launched its second commercial demonstration facility in Kingston, Ontario, driving further advancements in sustainable resource recovery. 🌿 This funding follows a $3.6M grant from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) to support their groundbreaking work. The future of sustainable materials is here, and Cyclic Materials is leading the charge! 🚀 📢 Stay tuned to Future Techly for the latest updates on this groundbreaking initiative and the latest in tech and business! 💥 Source: FinSMEs #CleanTech #Sustainability #RareEarthElements #Recycling #SeriesB #ClimateInnovation #FutureTechly

The drive to #decarbonize emissions-intensive industries and achieve net zero goals will necessitate a massive increase in available critical minerals. Fulfilling these needs while maintaining the abundance of the Earth’s natural resources will pose an enormous challenge. So how can we reframe it? As investors in climate solutions, we aim to approach such challenges of perceived scarcity with an #AbundanceMindset, a concept pioneered by Peter H. Diamandis in his book Abundance. When applied to #climatechange, abundance thinking provides a powerful lens to find technology and business model innovations that foster #resilience, #adaptation, resourcefulness, ingenuity, and cooperation. After co-investing with At One Ventures in Inlyte Energy — a startup creating a novel grid-scale long-duration battery made from the earth-abundant materials sodium and iron — we saw an opportunity to co-create a salon on rethinking abundant materials. Focusing on four materials — #carbon, #metals & #minerals, #biomass, and #plastics — the evening challenged attendees to reconsider how to work with the Earth, our abundant #naturalresources, and economic models that reward circularity. In this article, teammates Mona ElNaggar and Alison E. Berman share our research prompts and discussion takeaways. A special thank you to our collaborators Tom Chi and Ana Yoerg from At One Ventures, and Valo portfolio companies who are tackling these solution areas: Valo startups building with carbon - Boston Materials is making stronger, lighter, more durable composites using carbon fiber scrap as an input. - Modern Hydrogen is decarbonizing natural gas to produce clean-burning hydrogen and solid carbon on site. - ARRIS is manufacturing high-performance, high-volume carbon composites that are easily recyclable to keep the carbon in circulation. Valo startup utilizing abundant metals and minerals - Inlyte Energy is deploying reliable and affordable grid-scale batteries made from inputs in abundant supply—iron and sodium. Valo startup mapping biodiversity to design new products: - Basecamp Research is building the world’s largest protein database to revolutionize protein discovery and biodesign to power the low-carbon bio-economy. Valo startups making plastic circular or eliminating plastic from everyday products - RoadRunner Recycling is transforming waste management with an AI-powered recycling solution that increases recycling rates while saving customers money on their waste management - Novoloop is upcycling plastic waste into high-value, high-performance materials that are drop-in replacements to virgin materials. - Fluus is pioneering zero-waste feminine hygiene products to be flushable, biodegradable, and microplastic-free. Read here: https://lnkd.in/g-bPBSTS

The oceans are a natural store for CO2, but as CO2 concentrations increase, a solution is needed to extract excess CO2 and permanently store it in other forms, through Direct Ocean Capture. SeaO2 is one of many companies seeking capitalise on the ocean's potential for exchange of CO2, so it's good to see them, secure funding for their pilot plant to prove up the solution. Others in this space are: Brineworks Captura & Ebb Carbon At NovAzure we are actively supporting companies developing solutions for carbon utilisation into cement, animal feed, biofuels/SAF and bioplastics. Please reach out if you need insights into this emerging space and the evolving business models. #CCUS #CCS #NetZero #Sustainability #Decarbonisation #Cleantech https://lnkd.in/ee533K4A

We are at the dawn of a future of infinite possibilities in the material world. The exponential power of AI and Machine Learning is turbocharging biology and chemistry to enable the creation of real-world materials that we have yet to comprehend. Picture a future of mining without mines, photosynthesizing clothing and homes that are grown rather than built. Thanks Elena Klonsky for illuminating the compelling opportunity for abundant, programmable materials. If you're building in this space, we'd love to meet you. #regenerativetechnology #BioAI #materialsscience

Funding for Aussie climate tech was down a whopping 🔻 78% to ~$80m in Q3 compared to the previous quarter. That sounds terrible, but there is a good reason... 👇🏽 Q3 didn't feature any extraordinary mega deals like Q2, when Hysata and Samsara Eco raised >$270m between themselves. Note: *This figure is based on public announcements of closed deals and excludes participants in accelerators **I'm happy to say I arrived at a similar number to the climate tech funding figure reported by Cut Through Venture in their excellent Q3 report (link in comments) Allegro Energy (Thomas Nann) SILTRAX (Zhengrong Shi) Eco Detection (Jefferson Harcourt) KC8 Capture Technologies (Greg Ross) InterEarth (howard carr) Renewable Metals (Luan Atkinson) Number 8 bio (Thomas Williams) Velox Energy Materials (Simon Coyle) Algenie (Nick Hazell) Monty Compost Co (Ashley Baxter) DeCarice (Goran Bozic) Carbonaught Pty Ltd (Andrew Pedley) Climatech Zero (Peter O'Connell)