Restore the Climate. Heal the Ocean.
Popular
What we do
Carbon removal through ocean alkalinity enhancement
Our OAE
Our Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) process removes carbon from the atmosphere and safely reduces local ocean acidity.
We add a pure antacid to seawater to neutralise acidic CO2, transforming it into a stable salt that helps support marine life. Once transformed, the carbon is stored in the ocean for 100,000 years.
Planetary’s OAE process is uniquely safe and effective. This is because of our choice of alkalinity, our use of existing outfalls to minimise coastal disruptions, and our collaboration with independent parties to verify our monitoring.
Our product, the Planetary Ocean Carbon Platform, enables the safe deployment of this process.
Ocean Carbon Platform
Company's story
Our Specialty
Our Alkalinity
Planetary’s current projects use magnesium hydroxide, Mg(OH)2 for their alkalinity.
Magnesium hydroxide has been widely used in wastewater treatment facilities for nearly a century. It was chosen as Planetary’s first antacid because it is safe, effective, and well-understood.
We continue to investigate other types of alkalinity that may be safely used to better accommodate the individual circumstances of future sites.
Established Coastal Outfall Facilities
Planetary partners with established coastal outfall facilities – including wastewater treatment plants and power plant cooling systems – to add alkalinity into seawater through existing infrastructure.
Working with these facilities helps minimise disturbances to coastal marine ecosystems, allowing new projects to start without building permanent infrastructure. This helps reduces the carbon and financial cost of a project.
The use of existing infrastructure also means that effective and reliable monitoring systems are already in place, as are the regulatory frameworks necessary to ensure a project’s continued safety.
Our projects are governed by our outfall partner’s permits. Local regulators know their area best, and we respect the safety limits and guidelines they have put in place to protect their water.
Measurement and Independent Verification
The final step of an OAE project is measuring the net amount of carbon the project has removed. We have worked with industry leaders to develop our measurement procedures, and they continue to assist in verifying our measurements and calculations.
Planetary is a leader in marine carbon dioxide removal, and we were the first to publish a proposal for a comprehensive Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) framework. We continue to work with independent academic and scientific organizations to ensure that our underlying research is unbiased and up to date.
Planetary’s current projects use magnesium hydroxide, Mg(OH)2 for their alkalinity.
Magnesium hydroxide has been widely used in wastewater treatment facilities for nearly a century. It was chosen as Planetary’s first antacid because it is safe, effective, and well-understood.
We continue to investigate other types of alkalinity that may be safely used to better accommodate the individual circumstances of future sites.
Established Coastal Outfall Facilities
Planetary partners with established coastal outfall facilities – including wastewater treatment plants and power plant cooling systems – to add alkalinity into seawater through existing infrastructure.
Working with these facilities helps minimise disturbances to coastal marine ecosystems, allowing new projects to start without building permanent infrastructure. This helps reduces the carbon and financial cost of a project.
The use of existing infrastructure also means that effective and reliable monitoring systems are already in place, as are the regulatory frameworks necessary to ensure a project’s continued safety.
Our projects are governed by our outfall partner’s permits. Local regulators know their area best, and we respect the safety limits and guidelines they have put in place to protect their water.
Measurement and Independent Verification
The final step of an OAE project is measuring the net amount of carbon the project has removed. We have worked with industry leaders to develop our measurement procedures, and they continue to assist in verifying our measurements and calculations.
Planetary is a leader in marine carbon dioxide removal, and we were the first to publish a proposal for a comprehensive Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) framework. We continue to work with independent academic and scientific organizations to ensure that our underlying research is unbiased and up to date.
Our story
Our CEO and co-founder, Mike Kelland, likes to say that he grew up in a canoe. He has maintained a personal connection to the environment throughout his life, raising his family close to nature and continuing to hike, canoe, ski, and camp his way across Nova Scotia.
After achieving success as an entrepreneur in the software field, in 2018 Mike realized that his next step had to be toward developing a company that would make a real difference in protecting the planet from climate change. He partnered with longtime mentee Brock Battochio, a climate tech engineer with a background in sustainable and renewable energy, and they spent a year together searching for underappreciated technologies with that potential.
Their search led them to Dr. Greg Rau, a scientist who had spent the last 40 years pioneering applied carbon cycle research and mineral-based alkalinity enhancement. Dr. Rau’s work uncovered the potential for scalable carbon removal, and he saw that Mike and Brock were the partners he needed to bring that potential to fruition. Together, they formed what is now Planetary Technologies.
In the years since Planetary’s founding, Mike, Brock, and Greg are proud to have assembled an incredible team of professionals and partners, united by their connection to the environment and their devotion to investigating safe and meaningful solutions to the climate crisis. They feel a deep sense of purpose in working together with local communities to bring the ocean to the forefront of the toolbox in the fight against climate change.
After achieving success as an entrepreneur in the software field, in 2018 Mike realized that his next step had to be toward developing a company that would make a real difference in protecting the planet from climate change. He partnered with longtime mentee Brock Battochio, a climate tech engineer with a background in sustainable and renewable energy, and they spent a year together searching for underappreciated technologies with that potential.
Their search led them to Dr. Greg Rau, a scientist who had spent the last 40 years pioneering applied carbon cycle research and mineral-based alkalinity enhancement. Dr. Rau’s work uncovered the potential for scalable carbon removal, and he saw that Mike and Brock were the partners he needed to bring that potential to fruition. Together, they formed what is now Planetary Technologies.
In the years since Planetary’s founding, Mike, Brock, and Greg are proud to have assembled an incredible team of professionals and partners, united by their connection to the environment and their devotion to investigating safe and meaningful solutions to the climate crisis. They feel a deep sense of purpose in working together with local communities to bring the ocean to the forefront of the toolbox in the fight against climate change.
General Information
Gallery