Public funding from South of Scotland Enterprise anchors a wider fundraising push aimed at enabling one million tonnes of annual carbon removal by 2030
The company targets hard to abate fermentation emissions from distilleries and biogas plants, with permanent storage through geological and mineral pathways
The investment highlights the growing role of regional development agencies in scaling early stage carbon removal infrastructure critical to net zero strategies
A Rural Scottish Firm With Global Ambitions
In a village of just over 300 people, a carbon removal company is positioning itself for European scale. The Carbon Removers has secured nearly $1.3 million (£1 million) in support from South of Scotland Enterprise, capital that will anchor a broader fundraising effort designed to accelerate deployment across the UK and Europe.
The funding is intended to catalyse additional private and institutional investment, with the company setting an explicit target that aligns with global net zero pathways. Its current capital raise is structured to unlock the removal of one million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually by 2030, a level that would move the firm from niche deployment into the emerging infrastructure layer of the carbon removal market.
Targeting Industrial CO2 at the Source
Formerly known as Carbon Capture Scotland, The Carbon Removers focuses on a specific and often overlooked emissions stream. Its technology captures carbon dioxide generated during fermentation processes at whisky distilleries and biogas plants. These sources produce highly concentrated CO2 that is technically easier and cheaper to capture than dilute emissions from combustion or ambient air.
Once captured, the CO2 is permanently stored through deep underground storage or mineralisation into building materials, pathways that align with durability requirements increasingly demanded by buyers, regulators, and voluntary carbon market standards. The company is already operating removal projects in the UK and Denmark, delivering approximately 100,000 tonnes of CO2 removal per year.
That operational base gives credibility to its scale up plans at a time when buyers are scrutinising execution risk and permanence in carbon removal contracts.
From Vaccine Logistics to Carbon Removal Infrastructure
The company was founded by brothers Ed and Richard Nimmons, who launched operations from rural southern Scotland. Beyond carbon removal, the business played an influential role in the rollout of the Covid Pfizer vaccine, experience that helped shape its operational and logistical capabilities.
Over time, the company diversified into carbon removal and storage, becoming the first UK company to receive a licence to store CO2 in Denmark. That regulatory milestone places it among a small group of firms with cross border storage permissions in Europe, a critical advantage as national storage capacity remains uneven across the region.
Co founder Richard Nimmons emphasised the company’s roots and ambitions, saying the business is proud to be based in southern Scotland and excited to grow its carbon capture skills internationally.
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Public Capital as a Signal to Private Markets
For South of Scotland Enterprise, the investment reflects a broader strategy to use regional capital to support globally relevant climate solutions. SOSE Chair Russel Griggs said, “We have worked closely with The Carbon Removers from the beginning of their journey, which included playing a vital role in the rollout of the Covid Pfizer vaccine. They have now grown and diversified into carbon removal and storage internationally all from their original site in the tiny village of Crocketford, where they continue to be based.”
He added, “They have demonstrated that a rural location should be no barrier to innovation, and we look forward to seeing The Carbon Removers continue to grow and prosper.”
For investors and corporate buyers, SOSE’s backing reduces early stage risk and validates the company’s governance and delivery capacity. Public sector support often plays an outsized role in de risking first of a kind climate infrastructure, particularly in carbon removal where long term offtake markets are still forming.
What Executives and Investors Should Take Away
The deal highlights three broader dynamics shaping the carbon removal market. First, point source carbon removal from industrial processes is emerging as a near term scaling pathway, complementing direct air capture rather than competing with it. Second, regional development agencies are becoming strategic players in climate finance, bridging gaps between innovation and bankability. Third, regulatory access to cross border storage is becoming a competitive differentiator as Europe builds a carbon management backbone.
As net zero commitments move closer to enforcement and scrutiny, companies like The Carbon Removers are positioning themselves not just as technology providers, but as infrastructure partners in a carbon constrained economy. The South of Scotland may be an unlikely launchpad, but the ambition is clearly continental in scope.
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