Planeteers - Climate Technology Firm Interview

Today’s interview is with Kala Jackway, Senior Commercial Sales Manager, Planeteers

What inspired you to focus on water and the ocean as the foundation for Planeteers approach to carbon removal?

The ocean is Earth’s largest natural carbon sink, currently absorbing about a quarter of the global CO₂ emissions. Planeteers’ mission is to amplify this natural buffering capacity by accelerating processes that already occur in nature. Water-based systems allow for safe, permanent carbon storage without land-use change, while also addressing ocean acidification. This approach reflects our belief that leveraging nature’s chemistry is the most scalable and sustainable path to climate stability and to turn the tide for a livable future.

How does your technology capture CO2 in water and enable permanent storage through natural processes?

Our technology accelerates natural limestone weathering in a closed engineered system.CO₂ from point sources is dissolved in water, forming carbonic acid. We then introduce alkaline minerals (like limestone), which react to form bicarbonate, a stable compound that can remain in ocean water for over 10,000 years. This process mimics nature but compresses the timescale from millennia to minutes. Every step occurs in a closed, monitored system, ensuring precise measurement and environmental safety. Additionally, the approach controls the amounts of bicarbonate released to ensure that solutions that are discharged to rivers or oceans are in equilibrium with the surrounding waters so that no reversion of the alkalinisation process is triggered, and the CO2 remains stored safely and permanently.

Which industries or emission sources are best suited for your solution and why?

Our solution is ideal for hard-to-abate sectors such as cement, lime, and waste incineration, as well as biogenic point sources like wastewater treatment plants and biomass energy facilities. These industries emit concentrated CO₂ streams and often have water access, making integration seamless. By collocating our units at these sites, we capture emissions efficiently and avoid costly transport or storage infrastructure.

What level of CO2 capture and removal are you currently achieving, and how do you plan to scale this in the next few years?

Our first Isometric-validated production unit is able to capture and store about 60 tons of CO₂ annually and we are currently working on our commercial unit with the annual capacity for 1,000 tCO2 removal. Our industrial units are targeting 2,500 tons per year by2027 and 10,000 tons by 2028 through scaling. By 2030, we aim for our global roll out to lead us to our long-term roadmap target of 1 gigaton of CO₂ removal by 2047. Scaling will be driven by modular design and strategic partnerships.

How does your approach compare to conventional carbon capture solutions in terms of cost, energy use, and long-term carbon storage?

Our approach is an end-to-end solution offering both carbon capture and permanent storage in one technology. We utilize the world’s largest carbon sink, the ocean, to permanently store CO2. Our technology is modular, allowing for a wide range of industrialCO2 sources. Unlike conventional CCS, our process has no needs for CO2 liquefaction, intermediate storage and transport, thus requires less energy, avoids land-use change and ecological disruption, and is less demanding in terms of investments into capital intensiveCO2 transport infrastructure. This makes our solution cost-effective, infrastructure compatible, and environmentally safe, while providing co-benefits like ocean deacidification.

Beyond carbon removal, what additional environmental benefits does your process offer for ocean health or water systems?

By increasing alkalinity, our process helps combat ocean acidification, supporting marine ecosystems and biodiversity. It also improves water chemistry stability, which benefits aquatic life and mitigates climate-driven stress on coastal environments. These co-benefits make our approach a win-win for climate and ocean health. We leverage waste materials from the production of limestone and lime as alkaline feedstock. This reduces the need for depositing these minerals and increases circularity.

Planeteers attended Carbon Unbound Europe 2025. Was there a standout connection, conversation, or insight from the event that stayed with you?

It was a great opportunity for Planeteers to meet with so many passionate people involved in the carbon market at Carbon Unbound. Carbon Unbound Europe reinforced the urgency of scaling high-integrity carbon removal and the importance of collaboration across sectors.

A key takeaway was the growing demand for verifiable, ocean-based solutions and the role of MRV in building trust. Conversations with buyers and investors highlighted that permanence and transparency are now non-negotiable for CDR credits—a validation of our integrated approach.