Tencent is a world-leading internet and technology company that develops innovative products and services to improve the quality of life of people around the world.

Launched in March 2023, CarbonX aims to propel the next generation of low-carbon technologies. Tencent has pledged US$28 million in funding over the next three years to support innovative ideas that might otherwise struggle to gain traction.

Tencent is awarding 13 exceptional teams from its CarbonX Program. The winners will receive a total of US$14 million in financial support, highlighting Tencent's commitment to sustainable social innovations in combating climate change.

The first phase of CarbonX centered on carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS), along with technology-based carbon removal.

These solutions were selected for their distinctive capacity to reduce emissions from challenging industries like steel and cement, lessen dependency on fossil fuels, and address legacy emissions from decades of industrial activity.

Supported by Tencent’s "Tech for Good" mission and a coalition of like-minded industry partners,

CarbonX aims to propel these cutting-edge technologies from research or early start-up stages to commercial scale. The ultimate goal is to significantly contribute to the Paris Agreement targets, which include a 45 percent reduction in emissions by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

Dr. Hao Xu, Tencent’s Vice President of Sustainable Social Value and Head of Tencent’s Carbon Neutrality Lab said: “Technology innovation serves as the driving force to accelerate our progress toward achieving carbon neutrality. Our CarbonX program is aimed at fostering the growth of these technologies, driving positive impact across society, and laying the groundwork for a more sustainable future.”

The CarbonX program convened a panel of experts from academia, industry, and the investor community to serve as the jury, inviting submissions across three distinct tracks:

• CarbonX Lab: Focuses onincubating research institutions, universities, or labs with ground-breaking climate solutions.
• CarbonX Accelerator: Aims to accelerate climate-tech start-ups with commercialisation potential.
• CarbonX Infrastructure: Supports capacity building to facilitate industry development.

The finalists include four projects from the Lab track, six from the Accelerator track, and three from the Infrastructure track.

These projects offer innovative solutions such as using steel slag to capture and store carbon directly from furnace exhaust, converting CO2 into sustainable aviation fuel and valuable chemicals through electrochemical reactions or microorganisms, and developing new methods to capture CO2 from the atmosphere with a goal of reducing costs to less than US$150 per ton.

In addition to financial and advisory support, several projects will have the chance to collaborate with industry partners and test their research outside the lab.

Following the success of the first phase, Tencent is preparing to launch the second iteration of CarbonX globally as early as later this year, focusing on early-stage climate tech innovation.