Climate Cent Foundation supporting two projects in the Greater Zurich Area

August 24, 2023

Materials, Advanced manufacturing
News

Baar/Kloten - Climate Cent Foundation, the Swiss climate protection foundation, has committed to purchasing CO2 certificates worth around 20 million Swiss francs from two projects launched by companies from the Greater Zurich Area. The technology known as reCO2ver, developed by Sika, allows used concrete to be totally recycled and saves an additional 15 kilograms of CO2 per ton. For its part, zirkulit stores CO2 in concrete granulate.

Climate Cent Foundation supporting two projects in the Greater Zurich Area

Climate Cent Foundation, the Swiss climate protection foundation, is supporting five projects in Switzerland aiming to directly capture CO2 from industrial plants and permanently store it. Two of the projects were submitted by companies based in the Greater Zurich Area, namely Sika, the specialty chemicals company based in Baar in the canton of Zug, and zirkulit. The latter is a subsidiary of Eberhard Unternehmungen, which is active in the construction industry, and based in Kloten in the canton of Zurich. The Climate Cent Foundation has committed to buying CO2 certificates worth around 20 million Swiss francs from these two companies until 2030. In total, it is investing a sum of 50 million Swiss francs in five projects. The foundation plans to transfer the certificates to the Federal Council, the Swiss federal government, by 2032 at the latest.

According to a press release, Sika has now successfully completed a two-year test phase that sought to recycle old concrete. With its reCO2ver technology, all of the components that go into making concrete - gravel, sand and cement stone - are recovered in full. In addition, Sika permanently stores around 15 kilograms of CO2 in each ton of the recycled concrete. This can be reused as a cement substitute in the production of concrete. “We are convinced that we are delivering significant added value to the construction industry, the environment, and future generations”, says Philippe Jost, Head of Construction at Sika, in the press release.

We are convinced that we are delivering significant added value to the construction industry, the environment, and future generations.

Philippe Jost - Sika, Head Construction

According to information from the company itself, zirkulit is responsible for developing the first circular concrete. Their funded project relies on concrete granules that are gassed with CO2, which is permanently stored and then used in recycled concrete. As the start-up writes in a press release of its own, it is proud to have been able to “win the trust of the Climate Cent Foundation. This is an important step in the development of zirkulit AG”.

Also selected to receive financial support were two projects from neustark, a Bern-based spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), and one from CO2 Energie based in Baden in the canton of Aargau. According to the Climate Cent Foundation, on a collective basis over the funding period as a whole, the projects will permanently store around 84,000 tons of CO2. ce/mm