Reading Time: 7min
The global climate crisis demands a dual strategy: aggressive emissions cuts and the large-scale removal of carbon dioxide (CDR) from the atmosphere.
A hotspot for this critical CDR innovation is Germany, a country with a rich heritage in cleantech and engineering excellence.
Planet2050 recently joined the German CDR Tour, a key delegation event organized by the Deutscher Verband für negative Emissionen e.V. (DVNE) and Remove.
This immersive tour brought together industry leaders, policymakers, scientists, and investors to explore Germany’s burgeoning carbon removal landscape—visiting pioneers like Greenlyte Carbon Technologies (Direct Air Capture) in Duisburg, ZeroEx (Enhanced Rock Weathering) in Ochtendung, VivoCarbon in Kaarst and Pyreg (Biochar) in Dörth.
Over the course of the delegation, we gained firsthand insight into the innovative German technology companies driving scalable and cost-effective CDR processes across various methods.
ZeroEx is a German technology startup specializing in Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW), which is a cost-effective and scalable method for permanent CO2 removal.
The company's core mission is to solve the complex scientific challenges associated with ERW, particularly the precise verification of sequestered CO2 in agricultural farmlands and the optimization of the application process across various soil types.
What is ERW? This method consists in accelerating the natural rock weathering process. Finely ground rock powder, such as silicate rock flour, basalt powder is spread on agricultural land. When this powder reacts with rainwater containing carbonic acid, it permanently binds atmospheric CO2 into bicarbonates. These bicarbonates are then transported by water into the rivers and eventually the oceans, where the CO2 is stored stably for millennia.
ZeroEx is developing the first ERW projects in Germany in cooperation with mining, farming and academic partners, focusing on intensive research and the creation of novel measurement technologies.
This research is crucial for providing the high-quality, verifiable CO2 removal certificates that companies like Bain & Company purchase to support their sustainability goals and address unavoidable residual emissions. The application also benefits agriculture by improving soil health, increasing pH value, and replacing conventional lime.
Greenlyte in Duisburg is a German startup that developed a unique Direct-Air-Capture (DAC) technology to filter carbon dioxide CO2 directly from the atmosphere.
Their system uses an efficient, low-energy chemical process that is different from competitors because it simultaneously produces pure hydrogen as a valuable co-product via electrolysis. The technology is designed to be self-cleaning and allows the CO2 capture and release steps to be decoupled, enabling it to run continuously on intermittent renewable energy sources.
The highly concentrated CO2 and hydrogen are then used as feedstocks for industrial applications, e-fuels like Electro-Sustainable Aviation Fuel (eSAF), or for permanent carbon storage. Greenlyte aims to significantly drive down the cost of both CO2 removal and green molecule production.
Greenlyte has raised over $45 million (€45 million) in funding since its founding in September 2022, with a €10.5 million pre-Series A round in early 2024 and additional rounds afterward.
PYREG GmbH is a German NetZero Tech company and a pioneer in the field of CO2 removal (CDR) through sustainable solutions in waste disposal management using pyrolysis technology.
The machine manufacturer - using a patented carbonization technology - was founded in 2009 as a university spin-off.
With its modular high-tech machines, the company offers a proven, scalable, and cost-effective solution for safe and permanent binding of environmentally harmful CO2 in the form of biochar, while simultaneously producing clean, renewable energy.
The PYREG process is suitable for a wide range of biogenic inputs such as Sewage sludge, digestate, manure, stable litter, cereal waste, food processing residues slaughterhouse waste, straw, wood chips, SRC wood, green waste, fruit stones, nut shells, compost screenings, and many more.
In the case of sewage sludge, manure and others alike, the PYREG process allows recovery of valuable phosphorus, as the precise control of the process parameters ensures a gentle but complete carbonization. At the same time, organic-based pollutants (such as pharmaceuticals, PFAS and microplastics) are safely eliminated and mineral-based pollutants are filtered out at temperatures of up to 1000°C in the combustion chamber.
Pyreg has commissioned more than 60 plants globally, in Europe, US, and Asia in Taiwan where we had the chance to visit the site during commissioning in late 2024.
VivoCarbon is Germany’s largest agroforestry organization. As a non-profit, it develops agroforestry systems that combine agriculture and trees to create long-term ecological and economic value. These systems build synergies between tree strips, crops, and livestock.
Nearly half of Germany’s land area consists of farmland and grassland, totaling around 16.5 million hectares.
Agroforestry could capture up to 40 million tons of CO2 each year in Germany while fostering a more productive and sustainable agricultural system. Planting trees on just 10 percent of farmland would be enough to achieve this. That’s roughly equivalent to Sweden’s annual CO2 emissions.
At VivoCarbon all projects are implemented in cooperation with local farms and managed jointly over time. After around eight years, the fast-growing pioneer tree species are harvested for the first time, and the stored carbon is permanently preserved in materials such as timber for construction. The roots remain in the soil and the trees regenerate naturally.
Since 2024, 180 hectares of agroforestry area have been planted across nine projects, with 34,000 trees expected to sequester about 4,100 tons of CO₂ over the contract period. The quantification of CO2 is following DIN norms. VivoCarbon is following the development of the EU CRCF with the aim to follow compliance carbon removal methodology and certification in the future.
RWE Power has invested 80 million euros in the construction of a CO2-neutral, dedicated sewage sludge incineration plant at Knapsacker Berg.
When the new plant goes into operation in 2026, 180,000 tons of municipal sewage sludge will be thermally treated annually. The project secures the long-term disposal of sewage sludge from the region's wastewater treatment plants.
This new plant no longer requires lignite (brown coal), which previously supplied the necessary heating energy for incinerating the sewage sludge.
The sewage sludge can be processed on its own because it is pre-dried in the facility itself with the generated heat. The plant's surplus energy will be supplied to neighboring industrial partners and the Hürth municipal utilities (Stadtwerke Hürth) in the form of "green" heat.
RWE will capture, liquefy, and store biogenic CO₂ from the incineration of sewage sludge, making it a Carbon Dioxide Removal project, more specifically BECCS, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage.
Other projects are currently being designed such as the recovery of phosphorus recovery, which will be legally mandated starting in 2029.
In summary, the German CDR Tour by DVNE and remove impressively demonstrated Germany's remarkable innovative strength and commitment to carbon dioxide removal.
Germany is at a crucial turning point to transition these technologies from the pilot phase to large-scale deployment.
The government announced in June the intention to allocate €476 million of federal budget for CDR development over the next years, and established a dedicated department for carbon removals. We published an article about this here.
Planet2050 will continue to actively support this exciting journey and advocate for the realization of these essential climate solutions.
As part of our Permanent CDR RFP, 28 projects based in Europe have been selected and are currently undergoing reviews. More updates on this soon!
_____
Read more insights on carbon markets on our Blog or subscribe to our Newsletter!
