Carbon180 is a climate-focused non-governmental organization that partners with policymakers, scientists, and businesses to fundamentally rethink carbon. Their goal is to build a world that removes more carbon than it emits.
Thanks to decades of work from universities and labs, there’s now a good deal of carbon removal technology out there, but most of it isn’t commercially viable yet. As Carbon180 pursued their mission, it became clear that the entrepreneurs necessary to scale these technologies were too few and far between.
To tackle this problem, Carbon180 decided to find a group of proven entrepreneurs from various fields and help teach them the skills necessary to launch and scale a carbon removal company.
That’s how the Carbon180 Entrepreneur In Residence Fellowship was born. Carbon180 chose seven fellows from 150 applications, granting them each $100,000 and giving them access to mentors, researchers, and investors. The goal is to help them conceptualize, build, and commercialize carbon removal companies. During the 12-month program that began in March 2019, Carbon180 is challenging each fellow to create a detailed plan for a business that can scale to remove one billion tons of CO₂ every year by 2030.
This is not a competition—the real win would be if every single one of these entrepreneurs launched a commercially viable business. The opportunities in this field are near limitless, and we need thousands more entrepreneurs just like them innovating in this space. That’s why Shopify is exploring ways to support the EIR program’s second round in 2021.
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Founded
2016