CarbonScape opens European office

20 Apr

CarbonScape is taking a leading role in building a sustainable domestic battery raw material supply chain in Europe, by opening an EU office.

From this EU base, located in the Netherlands, we will drive forward our plans to establish large scale biographite anode manufacturing on European soil.

Timing for creating a domestic biographite anode supply for electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries in the EU is very favourable.

Europe’s new Green Deal Industrial Plan provides a strong tailwind for our biographite for lithium-ion batteries. Under the plan, the EU will fast-track clean tech projects and scale up production of raw materials critical to a low-carbon economy. This includes batteries for electric vehicles, a major driver for the reduction of fossil fuel emissions in the EU’s race to net zero.

Growing clean tech within EU borders

A major goal of the Green Deal Industrial Plan is to keep Europe’s battery industry competitive in the wake of America’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which promises tax incentives to battery makers who localise and decarbonise their supply chains.

Earlier this year, that saw leading automakers pause plans for new battery cell plants in the EU in favour of relocating to the US.

To counter that, Europe’s Net-Zero Industry Act aims to create a more supportive environment for clean tech industries. It wants to see 40% of low-carbon technology produced domestically by 2030 and create quality jobs.

The Act includes a framework to reduce the EU’s reliance on highly concentrated imports, of which graphite anode for lithium-ion batteries is a clear example.

Currently, Europe has little to no domestic graphite supply chain. In fact, 91% of the world’s graphite anode manufacturing for lithium-ion batteries is controlled by China.

Our biographite technology allows for domestic production, using local, sustainable feedstocks, which will remove the EU battery market’s reliance on China for this essential raw material.

Laying the foundations for a sustainable battery supply chain

CarbonScape will build a sustainable battery anode supply chain in Europe from the ground up. With 30% of a lithium-ion battery’s weight comprising graphite, and European anode demand growing from almost zero to >1.2 million tpa by 2030, this represents a significant market opportunity.

Our technology uses abundant, locally sourced timber and forestry industry waste streams to engineer the battery-grade biographite in a net carbon negative process.

It takes just a fraction of the time, and less than half the temperature, of traditional synthetic graphite manufacturing, which uses the byproduct of fossil fuel production. Graphite is also unsustainably mined, but is less appealing to battery makers for its inconsistent qualities.

Unlike traditional graphite’s long, emissions-heavy process, CarbonScape technology can be applied in areas with the cleanest energy mixes, and allows for constant production, providing certainty for battery makers.

Our EU team members

The opening of our EU office comes with two exciting new appointments to our team.

They are CarbonScape EU Director Harold Joanknecht and EU Projects Director Jerom van Roosmalen.

Harold has 20 years of experience in finance. He has led executive and non-executive boards, senior management and founders/owners on transforming, growing and re-capitalising their companies. Before joining CarbonScape, Harold was Managing Director at Morgan Stanley. He also worked at ABN AMRO in Amsterdam and Bank of America Merril Lynch in London.

Jerom is a talented engineer and entrepreneur who founded iLNG (now Nordsol) in 2012 and has patented his new disruptive technology worldwide. Jerom is passionate about new technologies that provide an enduring and positive environment impact.

He is an enthusiastic networker and connector and thrives in the creative culture of early-stage ventures.