PHOTO
The investment arm of oil giant Saudi Aramco has invested in US-based climate tech company Spiritus, which seeks to slash the sky-high cost of carbon removal technology.
Aramco Ventures, whose total investment allocation was raised to $7 billion last year, was the lead investor in the recent $30 million Series A funding round for the American company.
Spiritus seeks to provide direct air capture (DAC) technology at a much lower cost, targeting a price of $100 per tonne of CO2, compared to a current average of $1,000 per tonne.
The $30 million investment will support plans to scale the deployment of the climate solution globally, including Saudi Arabia, and contribute towards efforts to decarbonise the economies.
“Direct air capture has the potential to play an important role in decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors of the economy, but until now, it has been too expensive to be meaningful. Breakthrough approaches like Spiritus are needed,” said Bruce Nieven, Executive Managing Director of Strategic Venturing at Aramco Ventures.
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
