Mike Kelland

The ocean has absorbed humanity’s excess carbon dioxide for decades, growing more acidic in the process, and Mike’s company is giving it something like an antacid. Planetary Technologies doses seawater with magnesium hydroxide, a byproduct of industrial processes, to neutralize that acidity and pull CO2 out of the atmosphere, locking it away for up to 100,000 years. Operating out of a Nova Scotia Power facility in Halifax, the company achieved the world’s first verified tonne-scale ocean alkalinity enhancement removal, winning the XPrize X Factor Award as top ocean-based carbon removal company globally. That milestone has grown into more than 4,800 tonnes of carbon credits and $45 million in offtake agreements with Frontier Climate and British Airways.