Low carbon investors Iona Capital have taken a stake in Carbon Capture Scotland, one of the UK’s leading firms in carbon capture and use.
CCSL’s pioneering technology captures carbon dioxide from decomposing, fermenting or combusting organic waste. Its supplies come from distillers, energy-from-waste (EFW) firms and UK biomethane plants, yielding biogenic CO₂, or green carbon dioxide, in layman’s terms. The chemical engineers process this to produce feedstock for sustainable fuels or dry ice for chilling of transport and in drugs manufacture.
Iona’s investment in CCSL follows a deal announced in July, for the Forfar-based company to capture and reuse the green carbon dioxide emitted from Iona’s UK biomethane plants.
That agreement built on their relationship begun at Iona’s Crofthead biogas plant in Dumfries, still Scotland’s only biomethane facility to operate with carbon capture.
Iona’s investment in CCSL is underpinned by a long-term agreement to secure for the technology firm funding from big institutional investors such as pensions and insurance company. More sales are the goal, focusing on animal waste from livestock farming and from whisky distilling.
For CCSL, Iona’s investment speeds up its Project Nexus, a £120m initiative whereby by 2030 one million tonnes of CO₂ will be drained from the atmosphere every year. A decade later, CCSL aims too to extract and hide 90% of Scotland’s biogenic CO₂ emissions, now equivalent to stripping the dicarbon out of 800,000 homes.
Pictured above, Carbon Capture Scotland’s founders Ed Nimmons & Richard Nimmons commented: “For the carbon capture industry to reach full scale, we need practical, realistic solutions across the capture and transportation value chains.
“This is exactly what we do at Carbon Capture Scotland. Partnering with sector leaders such as Iona Capital enables us to scale rapidly and accelerate decarbonisation in UK industry.”
Family-run financiers Steyn Group bought equity in CCSL this year. Nat West and Royal Bank of Scotland inked £4 million-worth of 5-year debt last month.
Iona investment director Alex Todhunter commented: “Our investment in CCSL supports a team consistently outpacing the carbon capture industry.
Our partnership provides a solid platform for investing into the full value chain of carbon capture, re-use, and sequestration, and will help drive CCSL’s growth.”
Legal advisers to Iona Capital were Walker Morris LLP (Leeds office), with Thorntons Law LLP (Edinburgh) advising Carbon Capture Scotland Ltd.
