by Aurélie Gonzalez, last update 15 Jan 2023 (work in progress)
If you want or think you have the potential to tackle a GtCO2 scale problem, you are at the right place to discover some opportunities.
NOTA BENE: I’m not exhaustive, and I do not pretend to have the “right” answer; nevertheless, I do search for the “truth”. Why? Because nobody wants to loose 5-10 years of their life addressing an unsolvable problem or an unreachale market. I share my vision to make people join it (contact me at [email protected]) or inspire them to start their climate venture.
Who am I?
I’m a climate entrepreneur with 10 years of experience in carbon removal and decarbonization of the « hard-to-abate » sectors. Click here to access my Linkedin profile.
I worked 7 years at a $2B turnover French engineering group Fives, on the decarbonization of heavy industries (steel, aluminum, cement, sugar, paper…) as an Environmental & Innovation program manager. I brought innovations up to industrialization. Then I created a new business line for equipment suppliers at Metron using AI to optimize the energy efficiency of industrial facilities.
In 2021, I decided to put my skin in the game. I jumped into entrepreneurship to create an AI-powered platform for cost reduction of green hydrogen production with Hydragonix: watch here my interview presenting Hydragonix and here our collaboration with Suez for the H2Creteil refueling station project as part of Microsoft Environmental Startup Accelerator at Station F. Beginning of 2022, with the stabilization of renewable electricity prices (through PPAs) for industrial customers, I understood that this project could not unlock a significant climate problem size nor target a b$ market. After stepping down, I started to focus on solving a minimum of 1GtCO2 problem and did it through Entrepreneur First in Paris (PA8), Airminers Launchpad (launchpad n°5, remote), and Zinc (cohort n°5) in London.
Here I deliver my 10 years of understanding and thesis about how to solve the climate crisis using deep tech.
Why a “1GtCO2 problem”?
I have been exploring several markets and solutions intending to tackle a 1GtCO2 problem. This target is a fair metric for one’s ambitions when looking at the climate challenge we face. Indeed by 2030, we must decarbonize 50% of our current emissions and additionally absorb 10GtCO2 over 2000 we have over-emitted to limit the temperature increase by 1,5°C.
How to start?
Discover a high-level overview of what has been done and currently explored paths in the “hard-to-abate” sectors for carbon absorption and decarbonization: I presented it in front of a panel at Zinc London UK in October 2022.
Climate Hard to Abate Sectors.pdf
The analyses below are based on papers reading and discussions with experts and clients on each domain.