UK’s Carbon Re targets industrial emissions using AI

Around 20 per cent of global greenhouse emissions come from the production of primary materials such as cement, steel and glass. Notoriously difficult to decarbonise, these sectors are largely betting on nascent technologies such as hydrogen and carbon capture to reduce their emissions. However, scale deployment of these technologies could be decades away.  

According to Carbon Re, its Delta Zero AI platform can facilitate significant CO2 reductions today through operational efficiencies. The start-up says its software is already being used in pilot projects to cut fuel use and CO2 emissions by up to 10 per cent at cement plants in Europe, Asia and the Americas. It’s claimed that a single deployment of Delta Zero at a cement plant can eliminate 50 kilotonnes of annual CO2 emissions – equivalent to taking 11,000 cars off the road.

Carbon Re said the platform works by modelling the unique production environment of each plant then using advanced machine learning and AI techniques to drive operational efficiencies. Delta Zero continuously analyses manufacturing data to enable plant operators to optimise production processes based on lowest possible CO2 output and fuel use.

"At a time of escalating fuel prices and increasing emphasis on CO2 reduction targets, there is an urgent need for action,” said Sherif Elsayed-Ali, CEO of Carbon Re.

“Carbon Re is connecting the biggest challenge of our time - climate change - with the biggest opportunity - advances in AI. Our cement plant trials have demonstrated that Delta Zero can deliver dramatic CO2 savings on a near-live basis.

"Our platform provides a unique solution for energy-intensive industries that delivers £2m in fuel cost savings and 50,000 tonnes of CO2 savings per plant. This latest funding round will enable us to accelerate our mission to reduce carbon emissions by gigatonnes every year."

Berlin-based climate tech venture capital firm Planet A Ventures led the investment, with follow-on participation from Clean Growth Fund, UCL Technology Fund and Cambridge Enterprise. It’s claimed the new funding will enable product roll-out into the global cement market as well as expansion into other target markets such as steel and glass.

"Energy-intensive materials, such as cement and steel, are the backbone of modern economies but they account for more than 20 per cent of global CO2 emissions,” said Jan Christoph Gras, general partner at Planet A.

“Carbon Re's state-of-the-art AI solution has the potential to tackle some of the toughest challenges on the road to a carbon-neutral future. Starting with fuel efficiency in cement, Carbon Re has the ambition and capability to develop a large portfolio of advanced solutions across multiple industries - and substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”