The views expressed here are solely my own and do not represent the opinions of my employer Munich Re Ventures, its parent or affiliates, Twelve, or Twelve’s employees
Combatting Climate Change by Combatting Carbon
Climate change is not a problem that can be solved with one policy, in one sector, by one company, or by one person. Climate change involves a coordinated fight. It involves smarter choices on the part of citizens, and more responsible and sustainable activities by corporations. It involves better, more efficient approaches to problems that allow us to do more with less and, in particular, do more with our waste. [If you want to learn more about my thoughts on leveraging technology to fight climate change let me know in the comments, or shoot me a note at peter@munichre.com]
We as a society have to work to reduce carbon emissions as much as possible, but, at this point, simply emitting less is not enough to cut it. Changing human behavior on a global scale is incredibly challenging, and for large swaths of the world’s population, particularly in the developing world, significantly reducing emissions is simply infeasible. We have to actively take CO2 out of the equation, which means not only capturing it when emitted, but also finding something to do with it that doesn’t involve burying it only for it to be released into the atmosphere later. For large scale carbon capture and sequestration to make any sense, we have to create a market for that captured carbon, and that means thinking creatively to find industrial applications for CO2. Enter Twelve, my portfolio company at MRV.
How Twelve is Transforming the Carbon Equation
Twelve is a cutting-edge deep tech company that is using materials science and electrochemistry to turn captured CO2 into the building blocks for materials you see and use every day — the hard plastics in your car, the soft foam in your shoes, and one day even the fuel powering the aircraft in which you may fly. Through carbon electrolysis, a process that mirrors how water can be split into hydrogen and oxygen, Twelve can take captured CO2 from industrial manufacturing plants and transform it into gases that are key inputs in a variety of industrial and consumer products. Critically, Twelve converts the CO2 into clean, chemically identical versions inputs used today, eliminating the need for costly recertification processes, like those that have plagued the bioplastics industry.
Investing in Twelve — and what’s next
At the end of the day, Twelve’s customers can manufacture the same product, only cleaner. And by transforming CO2 into high-value chemicals, Twelve is not just helping enable carbon-negative manufacturing, but it is also helping create a market for carbon and incentivizing its capture. Thus, Twelve is paving the way for additional carbon-reducing modalities, such as capturing CO2 directly from the air (a process known as direct air capture or DAC), to become economically viable. Twelve is a truly revolutionary company led by rockstar electrochemists Dr. Etosha Cave and Dr. Kendra Kuhl, and fellow Stanford grad and cleantech entrepreneur Nicholas Flanders. I am excited to have been a part of their $57M Series A Fundraise.
I met the founding team in the fall of 2019 and have been regularly blown away by the commitment and drive of this extraordinary group. Their progress, both on the technical and the business side, has been incredible. Their partnerships, including those with Tide, Mercedes-Benz, and the US Air Force, are inspiring examples of what can be done when visionary founders creating solutions at the intersection of technology and economics team up with forward-looking industrial partners. I’m excited about what the future holds at Twelve, and will be supporting Etosha, Kendra, and Nicholas as they help build a more sustainable future. Stay tuned — I feel confident this is just the beginning for this amazing team.