Iona Capital (Iona), the UK low carbon investment fund manager, has taken a stake in Carbon Capture Scotland (CCSL), one of the leading net zero carbon capture and use companies in the UK.
CCSL works with multiple industries including distillers, energy-from-waste (EFW) firms and biomethane plants in the UK to capture green carbon dioxide (biogenic CO2) from their operations to produce sustainable fuel feedstock, dry ice for commercial use in the food, cold logistics and pharmaceutical industries and for carbon removal, via sequestration, purposes. CCSL’s pioneering technology captures green/biogenic CO2 from the decomposition, fermentation, or combustion of the organic matter produced by distillers, EFW and biomethane plants and other industries.
Iona’s investment in CCSL follows their commercial agreement, announced in July 2023, for CCSL to capture and reuse the green carbon dioxide emitted from Iona’s biomethane plants in the UK. The agreement was an extension of their partnership at Iona’s Crofthead biogas plant in Dumfries (south west Scotland), which is the first and only biomethane facility in Scotland to operate with carbon capture.
Iona’s investment in CCSL is underpinned by a long-term agreement for Iona to provide CCSL with institutional funding to develop the infrastructure for the capturing and processing of CO2. This will include deploying CCSL’s technology across a wide range of industries, with a specific focus on the anaerobic digestion and whisky distilling sectors.
For CCSL, the investment by Iona accelerates its work to deliver Project Nexus, its £120m initiative to remove one million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere annually by 2030. Furthermore, CCSL aims to sequester 90% of Scotland’s biogenic CO2 emissions by 2040, which is equivalent to decarbonizing around 800,000 homes.
CCSL has also benefited from an equity injection earlier this year from Steyn Group (an international family office based in London) and a 5-year £4 million Term Loan Facility with Nat West/Royal Bank of Scotland, that was announced in October.
Alex Todhunter, Investment Director at Iona Capital said: “Our investment in CCSL is backing a team who have consistently outpaced the rapidly evolving carbon capture industry. Our partnership with CCSL provides a solid platform for investing into the full value chain of carbon capture, re-use, and sequestration, and will help drive CCSL’s growth.”
Ed Nimmons & Richard Nimmons, founders of Carbon Capture Scotland Limited said: “For the carbon capture industry to reach full scale, we need practical, realistic solutions across the capture and transportation value chains. This is exactly what we do at Carbon Capture Scotland. Partnering with sector leaders such as Iona Capital enables us to scale rapidly and accelerate decarbonisation in UK industry.”
Legal advisers to Iona Capital were Walker Morris LLP (Leeds office), with Thorntons Law LLP (Edinburgh) advising Carbon Capture Scotland Ltd.
