Bill Gates has thrown his support behind CarbonCure Technologies, the Nova Scotia company that is reducing carbon emissions in the production of concrete.
The Co-Founder of Microsoft on Monday posted a blog that highlighted Dartmouth-based CarbonCure, including a video that features interviews with CEO and Founder Robert Niven.
Last year, CarbonCure was one of nine companies in the world to receive funding from Breakthrough Ventures, an impact fund backed by Gates, along with other billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg and Jack Ma.
In the blog, Gates notes that the world is estimated to add 2 trillion square feet of buildings by 2060 –
the equivalent of putting up another New York City every month for the next 40 years.
“Many of these buildings will be made using cement, a massive emitter of greenhouse gases,” says Gates on the video. “But a company in Canada discovered an innovative way to reduce cement’s carbon footprint.”
Concrete is the second most abundant man-made material in the world, and cement, its key ingredient, is responsible for an estimated 7 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. CarbonCure cures concrete by injecting CO2 into it, which produces a stronger concrete while reducing carbon emissions.
CarbonCure’s technology is already being used by more than 120 concrete producers across North America and recently expanded into Asia. The company is also one of 10 finalists in the $20 million NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE challenge.
“CarbonCure is on a mission to reduce 500 megatonnes of CO2 emissions per year,” said Niven in the video. “That is the equivalent of taking 100 million cars off the road or the equivalent of the CO2 reductions from 500 million acres of trees annually.
Earlier this month, Jennifer Wagner, CarbonCure’s Executive Vice-President of Corporate Development, was named to the Clean50, which each year recognizes 50 Canadians who have made outstanding contributions to clean capitalism.