Carbfix: Storing CO2 forever - Teaching Note

In March 2021, the team at Carbfix -a start-up born out of the culmination of more than 15 years of work by universities and parent company Reykjavik Energy- believed it had a game-changing technology to fight against climate change: eliminating CO2 permanently and safely from the atmosphere by storing it in basalt rock. In an aim to scale, they were considering three options to commercialize the concept: licensing the technology to other countries for onsite deployments near carbon dioxide (CO2) emitters, accelerating a direct air CO2 capture and storage system; and developing a storage hub in Iceland where CO2 could be imported and stored. In the deliberations of where to place precious time and resources, the company needed to consider the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) mechanism, a ?cap and trade? system that permits carbon units to be sold in order to meet CO2 reduction targets. What was the best path forward to deliver on the company goal of reducing CO2 while building a viable commercial entity?