Japan Airlines Co, Ltd (JAL) announced its investment in California-based decarbonisation developer Heirloom Carbon Technologies, Inc.

Heirloom specialises in Direct Air Capture, a negative emission technology that captures CO2 directly from the atmosphere. 

This strategic investment aims to diversify JAL’s approaches to achieving Net Zero CO2 Emissions by 2050.

A major investment in decarbonisation

JAL senior vice-president for general affairs Yasushi Noda said of the investment: “We recognize this partnership as an important milestone in the development of global decarbonization solutions. Through Heirloom’s innovative Direct Air Capture technology, we aim to significantly advance our efforts towards Net Zero CO2 Emissions by 2050.”

Heirloom CEO Shashank Samala added: “We’re honoured to receive this investment from JAL and look forward to working with them as a strategic partner to rapidly scale our CO2 removal technology to make meaningful progress in the fight against global temperature rise.”

The investment follows JAL’s March 2024 CVC investment in US venture firm Captura with Direct Ocean Capture, an upcoming negative emission technology. 

JAL’s investment in Heirloom addresses the diversification of future decarbonization approaches, such as the use of carbon credits generated from the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and supports the development of CO2 removal technologies crucial for global decarbonization.

How does Heirloom’s decarbonisation technology work?

Limestone has been absorbing and fixing atmospheric CO2 since time immemorial, helping to keep atmospheric CO2 concentrations low. 

Heirloom leverages this property by heating limestone with renewable energy to extract CO2 and then allowing it to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere like a sponge. 

This technology enables the artificial collection of large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere at a low cost.