Temasek, Toyota back climate biotech firm Living Carbon

 

LONDON - Singapore state-owned investment company Temasek has led the latest funding round for climate tech firm Living Carbon, which aims to increase the carbon-absorbing ability of trees, the startup's chief executive told Reuters.

The biotech's $21 million (S$28 million) Series A round was also backed by the world's biggest automaker Toyota and venture firms Lowercarbon Capital and Felicis Ventures, and takes total funding raised to date to $36 million.

Trees' ability to absorb climate-damaging carbon dioxide and emit oxygen is central to the world's efforts to rein in global warming, yet the rate of deforestation continues apace and hit a fresh record high in the Amazon last year.

While the chief focus for many is on protecting existing forests and re-planting those that have been cut down, Living Carbon aims to tweak trees' genetic code so that they grow more quickly, lock more carbon away and are more resilient.

'Photosynthesis enhancement', used for years with crop plants, increases biomass rather than yield so is better suited to carbon markets, where success is measured by how much carbon is locked away, CEO Maddie Hall said.

"We're focusing not just on increasing the rate of carbon capture, but also preventing it from decomposing and returning back to the atmosphere," she added.