Content & Insights

Reaching Europe’s net‑zero ambitions requires rapid, scalable deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS).

This white paper presents Viridien’s integrated screening workflow for identifying, ranking, and prioritizing geological CO₂ storage opportunities across continental Europe. Using a globally consistent digital geological database and a multi‑scale approach, from regional basin screening to local aquifer assessment, this methodology enables fast, risk‑informed evaluation of storage potential.

By combining subsurface and above-ground considerations, the workflow helps emitters and storage developers focus investment where it matters most and will have the highest chance of success, hence accelerating CCS project development, reducing uncertainty, and supporting timely progress toward Net‑Zero and the EU NZIA 2030 targets.

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Marta Sjögren, Founder and CEO of Paebbl, joins Alex Cameron, Founder of Decarb Connect, to talk about one of the hardest problems in deep tech: getting a whole industry to move together.

Cement and concrete touch nearly every built asset on the planet, yet the value chain is fragmented, margin-sensitive, and deeply risk-averse. Marta breaks down how Paebbl is navigating that from the inside, with investors across the stack and a carbon-neutral bridge in the Netherlands already in the ground.

This conversation goes deep on what “value chain activation” actually looks like in practice, where adoption breaks down, how to map incentives across buyers with completely different risk profiles, and what it takes to get a first-of-a-kind project from interest to commitment. If you are building in hard materials, construction, or industrial decarbonisation, this one is worth your time.

What you will take away from this episode

• Why having investors across the value chain changes deal dynamics, not just your cap table optics
• How to map incentives when your buyers operate on completely different margins and procurement timelines
• Where low-carbon materials most commonly stall, and who in the middle is the real blocker
• What actually moved Paebbl’s carbon-neutral bridge project from conversation to construction
• Why value chain activation is market-specific, and which regulatory environments structurally make it easier
• How to keep stakeholders engaged at first-of-a-kind scale when every risk feels novel
• What the EU’s reindustrialisation push and low-carbon procurement rules mean for companies building in this space

Marta Sjögren, Founder and CEO of Paebbl, joins Alex Cameron, Founder of Decarb Connect, to talk about one of the hardest problems in deep tech: getting a whole industry to move together.

Cement and concrete touch nearly every built asset on the planet, yet the value chain is fragmented, margin-sensitive, and deeply risk-averse. Marta breaks down how Paebbl is navigating that from the inside, with investors across the stack and a carbon-neutral bridge in the Netherlands already in the ground.

This conversation goes deep on what “value chain activation” actually looks like in practice, where adoption breaks down, how to map incentives across buyers with completely different risk profiles, and what it takes to get a first-of-a-kind project from interest to commitment. If you are building in hard materials, construction, or industrial decarbonisation, this one is worth your time.

What you will take away from this episode

• Why having investors across the value chain changes deal dynamics, not just your cap table optics
• How to map incentives when your buyers operate on completely different margins and procurement timelines
• Where low-carbon materials most commonly stall, and who in the middle is the real blocker
• What actually moved Paebbl’s carbon-neutral bridge project from conversation to construction
• Why value chain activation is market-specific, and which regulatory environments structurally make it easier
• How to keep stakeholders engaged at first-of-a-kind scale when every risk feels novel
• What the EU’s reindustrialisation push and low-carbon procurement rules mean for companies building in this space

Decarb Connect partnered with The Urban Future Lab at NYU Tandon School of Engineering to showcase 3 Disruptors Accelerating Net Zero.

In this podcast mini-series, Tom Angus, Director of Conferences at Decarb Conenct takes a deep dive into three UK startups and their carbon reducing technologies…from capturing real-time data on materials and waste in construction, to using sensor data to assess energy use in housing, as well as solving the challenges of hydronic farming with the creation of a reusable substrate.

Here’s what emerged during in each episode:

1. Fixing Construction’s Carbon Blind Spot

Construction accounts for roughly 40% of global carbon emissions when embodied carbon and materials are factored in, yet most project teams still can’t tell you what they’re actually emitting until long after the concrete has been poured. Brittany Harris, CEO & Co-Founder of Qualis Flow (Qflow) explains that by capturing real-time data on materials, waste, utilities, and carbon directly on site, the moment it happens, there’s no guesswork – only accurate data. This helps teams ensure quality, reduce risk, minimise waste, and avoid costly rework or delays.

The problem isn’t data, it’s data capture.

Brittany Harris: “How do we not have this closed system between design and construction and ultimately operation and why are there deep deep silos in our data…”

2. Measuring What Matters: Inside the UK’s £500 Billion Retrofit Problem

The UK’s housing stock is responsible for a significant share of the country’s carbon emissions, and the estimated cost of retrofitting it sits at an eye-watering £500 billion. Tom Fenton, CEO of Senze shares how live sensor data and digital twin technology are exposing the gap between buildings ‘as designed’ and buildings as ‘lived in’, and why measuring first could transform both the economics and the impact of the UK’s net zero retrofit mission. Senze is shifting the narrative from guesswork to precision. By focusing on actual performance data rather than theoretical models.

If we want to solve the energy crisis, we have to start with the data behind the walls.

Tom Fenton: “So essentially by measuring, we could target retrofit more effectively. We could possibly save money, we could wrap around a more complete solution, that would probably tackle one of the biggest challenges that we have in real estate…in that how do we decarbonise all of these buildings that are already here, have archaic systems, and different construction typologies and building fabrics…”

3. Rethinking the Root of Global Food Supply

Every hydroponic farm in the world depends on growing single use substrates – the rockwool, coco coir, or peat that plants grow in and almost all of it ends up in landfill after a single use. Oskar Schortz, Co-Founder and CCO of GyroPlant discusses the impact of this on the global food supply chain and the need for sustainable farming. The answer – a reusable substrate. Enter the GyroCup. A reusable, food-grade silicone vessel designed to last 10 years.

This isn’t just farming, it’s a revolution that makes vertical farming truly circular.

Oskar Schortz: “A big point to make is that we’ve proven you don’t actually need any raw material to grow a plant indoors, so we replace raw bulk material with our precision silicon rubber design.”

The Takeaway?

We don’t just need big promises; we need better data, smarter materials, and leaders like Brittany, Tom, and Oskar who tackle the niche challenges that can make a big difference.

Check out all the episodes here

About Urban Future Lab

The Urban Future Lab at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering is a non-profit innovation hub for best-in-class climatetech startups with a focus on clean energy and sustainable urban infrastructure solutions. It is home to ACRE, New York’s longest-running climate tech incubator, Clean Start, an advanced certificate from NYU for people seeking a transition into the climate tech sector, the Carbon to Value Initiative and Offshore Wind Innovation Hub, which bring innovative technologies and solutions to industry leaders, and the Innovate UK Global Incubator Programme, which supports market entry in the US for UK based climatetech startups that can effectively scale and support the clean growth goals of New York State. ​

Through our 5 programs, we support innovators on their journey to scaling up and commercializing climate solutions. Since 2009, we’ve supported 170+ startups with an industry-leading 88% company survival rate and several impressive exits (Smarter Grid Solutions, Artemis, Go Electric, Keen Home, Honest Buildings). ​

We have raised $2.5B+ in venture capital, project finance, and grants, created 4,100+ jobs, and facilitated 100+ events with 2,000+ attendees per year. We are proud to champion the brightest minds in climate tech innovation, providing them with the necessary support and resources to scale up their transformative solutions while leveraging New York’s built environment and access to climate finance.

Find out more about the Urban Future Lab: https://www.ufl.nyc/

As carbon capture and storage projects move from permitting into delivery, the focus is shifting from ambition to execution, and the biggest risks are no longer above ground. Understanding what happens in the subsurface is critical to ensuring storage capacity, maintaining containment and delivering projects that are both safe and commercially viable.

This insight report published by Viridien explores how operators are using subsurface data to better characterise storage sites, reduce uncertainty and optimise performance over time.

Gregor Duval, CO2 & Energy Storage Manager, and Malcolm Kent, Global Head – Carbon Storage, at Viridien share practical perspectives from over 60 global CO₂ storage projects and discuss how operators can better understand and derisk the subsurface.

Download for free to explore:

• How 3D seismic data improves understanding of storage capacity and containment
• The four key parameters that define storage success: capacity, containment, injectivity and monitorability
• Why pressure and injectivity are critical to project viability
• Key subsurface risks, from fault networks to legacy wells
• Lessons learned from global projects including Sleipner and In Salah
• How monitoring technologies are evolving to support long-term storage performance

Complete the form on the right to download for free!

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Where Capital Is Going and Where the Decision Gap Remains

Europe is spending serious money on clean energy. But the sectors that actually need to decarbonise at scale, steel, cement, chemicals and refining, are nowhere near where they need to be. The capital is not going where the hard problem is. 

Global investment in the technologies European heavy industry actually depends on, hydrogen, CCS, industrial decarbonisation, electrified heat, fell 23% in 2024 to $155 billion (BNEF). BNEF’s read is blunt: cost, technology maturity and the absence of de-risking mechanisms are blocking capital. Without a change, these technologies will not move the needle on emissions this decade. This report covers 126 early-stage European companies. It shows where venture and growth capital is concentrating, where it is stalling and the reality of the FOAK financing gap.

Bring it into your next team meeting and you’ll have the numbers to answer three questions that are sitting on most leadership agendas right now:

1. Why are so few industrial decarbonisation projects making it from pilot to funded deployment and where is capital actually concentrating?
2. Germany, the UK and France account for over half of tracked European activity; what does that mean for where the next wave of deals and projects gets done?
3. Global investment in the technologies European heavy industry depends on fell 23% last year … is this a market correction or a structural problem?

Download the report