Halifax-based cleantech star CarbonCure has formally launched its technology in the United Arab Emirates, a market worth tens of billions annually and forecast to grow strongly, on the back of deals with several large companies in the region.

CarbonCure, along with its business partners — Emirates Beton Ready Mix, Tremix and industrial gas supplier Gulf Cryo — marked the occasion with a signing ceremony at the UAE government’s Make It In The Emirates Forum.

“We are immensely proud to bring our solution for high quality, lower carbon concrete to the Emirati market, making a positive impact on the environment and advancing sustainability in the construction sector,” said CarbonCure CEO Rob Niven in a statement. “Targeting embodied carbon is especially crucial as the UAE and the entire Middle East region experiences rapid development and urban growth.”

Funded by some of the most prominent names in innovation, including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, CarbonCure last year made history with the largest venture capital raise ever recorded in Nova Scotia at US$80 million, or C$105.7 million at the time.

Earlier this year, CarbonCure said about 50 million cubic yards of concrete have now been produced using its technology, with 800 systems having been licensed to clients across 35 countries.

Niven and his team aim to help sequester 500 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually by 2030 with the help of their technology for using carbon dioxide emissions to cure the concrete. CarbonCure’s systems report real-time data back to the company, and the team estimates they have averted about 400,000 tonnes of emissions, with about a third of that coming in the past year.