In a world where the urgency of climate action is ever-increasing, Glenn Davies, Co-Founder of Net Zero-X, has embarked on a mission to revolutionize the way clean energy projects secure financing. With a background in project development focusing on clean energy and green fuels, Davies saw firsthand the difficulties that even the most advanced projects face when trying to secure the necessary funds. This experience led to the creation of Net Zero-X, a Singapore-headquartered marketplace designed to connect sustainable projects with the financial industry, aiming to accelerate the global transition to net zero.
In an exclusive interaction with CarbonWire, Davies shared the opportunities around sustainable projects and his vision for Net Zero-X.
Genesis of Net Zero-X
Davies’ journey into the world of climate-tech & clean energy began over 7 years ago in China where he and current business partner, Mark Cramer-Roberts, were working on a model to convert agricultural waste to green hydrogen. After Covid shook the world, Davies & Cramer-Roberts pivoted and opened up a Company in Singapore, with a focus on converting various waste streams into clean energy and generating carbon credits. Despite the success in developing a pipeline of 75 projects, the company faced significant challenges in securing financing, even for projects with secured contracts and long-term deals.
“After about four years, we realized it wasn’t just us struggling with financing. Many deep tech and clean tech startups, including in Singapore, were facing the same issue,” Davies explains. “There was a clear gap between the availability of sustainable projects and the financial sector’s ability to invest in them. This led us to the idea of creating a marketplace where these projects could gain visibility and connect with the right investors.”
Early Success and Strategic Partnerships
Net Zero-X officially launched just three weeks ago, following seven months of development in collaboration with Chintai, a Singapore-based technology group. The partnership with Chintai, known for its blockchain-based technology and regulatory compliance under the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), allowed Net Zero-X to fast-track its platform launch. This move ensured transparency, reduced risks, and provided a licensed and regulated platform for investment and trading.
Since its launch, Net Zero-X has gained attention and the company is now focussed on promoting the platform and their recently launched asset backed token to institutional, accredited, and sophisticated investors.
Net Zero-X offers investors the flexibility to invest either in specific projects or in the form of tokens, a unique approach that digitizes and fractionalizes real-world assets. “Instead of requiring an investor to fund an entire $10 million energy plant, we can break that asset into smaller, more accessible tokens,” says Davies. “This approach not only democratizes investment opportunities but also allows investors to own a portion of the asset, along with all the associated benefits such as carbon credits, profits, and dividends.”
The platform also offers a secondary market for these tokens, enabling liquidity and trading opportunities for investors. This innovative model aligns with the growing trend of tokenizing assets, a concept gaining traction among major players like BlackRock, Temasek, DBS, & SGX.
Focus on Key Energy Transition Projects
Net Zero-X has a diverse portfolio of projects across Africa, the UK, Europe, Asia, and the US, with a strong focus on waste-to-energy and future fuels such as hydrogen, green ammonia, and green methanol. “While the world is still gearing up to fully adopt hydrogen as a fuel, it’s already essential as a feedstock for ammonia production,” Davies notes.
The company’s projects range from converting hazardous waste into clean electricity in the UK to transforming palm waste into green ammonia in Malaysia and Indonesia. In Africa, the focus is on biomass and organic feedstock, with projects aimed at generating clean electricity and carbon credits by converting forestry and agricultural waste.
The First Flagship Project: A Game-Changer
The first project listed on Net Zero-X’s exchange is the Waste Disposal Energy Recovery Hub in the UK, a $6.5 million venture that aims to divert hazardous waste from landfills and convert it into clean electricity using pyrolysis technology. The project, which is ready for financing and can be completed within 9 to 12 months, exemplifies the type of high-impact, sustainable initiatives that Net Zero-X seeks to promote.
In a market where exchanges like AirCarbon Exchange and Climate Impact X dominate the carbon credit trading space, Net Zero-X sets itself apart by focusing on the assets and projects that generate these credits. “We come in before the carbon credit is even created,” Davies explains. “By allowing investors to own the physical asset, they not only benefit from the profits but also have control over the integrity of the carbon credits produced.”
Rather than viewing other exchanges as competitors, Davies sees them as potential partners. Net Zero-X has the capacity to produce significant volumes of carbon credits from its projects, which can be supplied to other platforms. “We are a fuel for these exchanges,” Davies states. “Our projects have the potential to generate hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon credits, which can feed into various platforms around the world.”
As Net Zero-X continues to grow, Davies emphasizes the importance of innovation in the clean energy sector. The company evaluates projects based on their potential to contribute to climate change, the energy transition, their scalability, and their alignment with global sustainability goals.
With its unique approach to financing and its commitment to supporting impactful projects, Net Zero-X is poised to play a critical role in the global push towards net zero. By bridging the gap between green projects and sustainable financing, the company is not only helping to drive the energy transition but also creating new opportunities for investors to contribute to a more sustainable future.