Key Highlights:
- SGG and Swiss Re have agreed to work on Carbon Removals projects in Australia utilizing Direct Air Capture of CO2 (DAC).
- SGG has established a medium-term cost objective of $100 per tonne of CO2.
- Swiss Re supports for first reducing emissions, then removing them.
Collaboration for Carbon Removal
SGG and Swiss Re, one of the world’s largest suppliers of reinsurance, insurance, and other kinds of risk-based transfer, have agreed to work on Carbon Removals projects in Australia utilizing Direct Air Capture of CO2 (DAC).
SGG is advancing the development of its world-leading technology for solar-powered DAC modules with this cooperation.
The modules use metal-organic framework nano-materials to selectively absorb CO2 from the air, as well as design-for-manufacture features that allow for low-cost, high-volume production in Australia.
Because the DAC technology is entirely solar-powered and removes CO2 from the atmosphere, it produces negative emissions, which are required to achieve Net Zero emissions.
Project Objectives
SGG has established a medium-term cost objective of $100 per tonne of CO2, at which point the modules will be used to support the construction of significant carbon removal projects in Australia.
SGG and Swiss Re will work together on carbon removal projects in the following areas:
- Raising awareness of the possibility of carbon removal among key stakeholders in Australia.
- Educating foreign stakeholders about Australia’s world-leading carbon removal potential.
- Facilitating access to funding for demonstration projects.
- Creating consortia of project investors and off-take customers to make projects bankable.
Sharon Ooi, Head of Swiss Re Australia & New Zealand, stated that the company’s partnership with SGG matches its worldwide commitment to sustainability and net-zero emissions.
“The carbon removal market creates a new ecosystem of stakeholders and needs—and with it, opportunities to build expertise and commercialize this new risk pool,” Ooi explained.
First Reduce and then Remove
Swiss Re supports for first reducing emissions, then removing them.
“There will always be emissions from bushfires, hard-to-abate sectors, and historic residual emissions, so carbon removal needs to be part of our planning to reduce present-day emissions and the carbon built up in the atmosphere,” said Mark Senkevics, Head of Property & Casualty Underwriting, Asia, Australia & New Zealand at Swiss Re.
According to a recent Swiss Re Institute report, achieving net-zero emissions requires developing a carbon removal industry capable of delivering negative emissions at the rate (within three decades) and scale (10–20 billion tonnes per year) that climate science predicts will be required to enable sustainable living for future generations.
Mr. Rohan Gillespie, Managing Director of SGG, stated, “Australia is well placed to make a significant contribution to this major Carbon Removal task. Numerous studies have identified both onshore and offshore basins with the potential to permanently store hundreds of billions of tonnes of CO2. We are excited by this collaboration with Swiss Re, one of the world’s leading pioneers in pushing for and aiding in the establishment of Carbon Removal as a new industry to combat climate change.”
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