CarbonScape, a New Zealand company, has secured an $18 million investment from Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), Finnish forestry giant Stora Enso, and other investors. This funding round is aimed at dramatically increasing CarbonScape's production capabilities for biographite, which is made from forestry by-products like wood chips. The company plans to establish production facilities in Europe and the United States, allowing for localized supply chains for battery materials.
CarbonScape's patented technology produces a bio-based substitute for graphite that is a "drop-in alternative" for the lithium-ion battery industry. This biographite is carbon-negative, saving up to 30 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per tonne compared to synthetic or mined graphite. Graphite constitutes up to half the weight of a lithium-ion battery, and its production is the largest single carbon emitter in the battery raw material supply chain. Switching to biographite could cut the carbon footprint of each battery by 30%.
The investment highlights a strategic move to reduce Western reliance on China, which currently dominates graphite production. CarbonScape claims its technology can meet half the projected demand for EV and grid-scale batteries by using less than 5% of forestry by-products. This comes as the global demand for graphite is projected to outstrip supply by 777,000 tonnes annually by 2030. Ivan Williams, CarbonScape’s CEO, emphasized that this investment supports sustainable sourcing for global decarbonization and will help Western battery manufacturers counter supply chain instability by onshoring critical material production. CATL itself is actively investing in upstream mineral resources and sees mining as the current bottleneck in battery supply.
