LOS ANGELES, May 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Equatic today announced the appointment of three industry leaders to expand its Advisory Board: Caitlyn Fox, former Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; Jérôme Schmitt, former Senior Vice President M&A at TotalEnergies and founder of OGCI; and Craig Cogut, Chairman and CEO of Pegasus Capital Advisors. Their experience spans climate solutions, innovation and technology in the energy and investment sectors. They join Lord John Browne, Edward Muller and Peter Relan on the company’s Advisory Board.
"We look forward to our expanded Advisory Board helping guide us in our mission to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and produce clean hydrogen on a large scale," said Lord John Browne, who is the Chair of Equatic’s Advisory Board, the Founder & Executive Chairman of BeyondNetZero and the former Group Chief Executive, BP.
Equatic reduces the cost of carbon removal dramatically by combining it with clean hydrogen generation. Its technology accelerates and amplifies the ocean’s natural ability to absorb and permanently store atmospheric carbon. The company recently announced that it is now constructing the world’s largest ocean-based carbon removal plant in Singapore, a facility capable of annually removing 3,650 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) and generating 110 tonnes of clean hydrogen.
Meet the new Advisory Board members:
Caitlyn Fox, former Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative: "Equatic’s commitment to transparency, exemplified by its thoughtful MRV practices, sets the standard for accountability in this growing industry. The company’s mission to build carbon removal at a meaningful scale, while engaging in meaningful stakeholder and community engagement, complements my dedication to tackling urgent societal problems with a focus on equity. Together, we will drive meaningful change and create a sustainable future for all."
Fox is a social and climate leader with over 15 years of experience including roles at Redstone Strategy Group, REDF, and The Rockefeller Foundation. In Fox’s role at CZI, she was responsible for building-out CZI’s climate program with a focus on scaling carbon removal technologies.
Jérôme Schmitt, former Senior Vice President at TotalEnergies: “My career has been built around value creation and managing sustainability and innovation in the anticipation of new trends. Equatic has identified a way to combine multiple processes into one footprint and utilize the ocean for some of the most expensive aspects of carbon removal: transportation and storage. I look forward to contributing my expertise toward Equatic’s ambition of removing carbon for less than $100 per metric ton before the end of the decade.”
Schmitt has over 30 years of global experience in finance, sustainable and energy innovation. He held the positions of SVP of Mergers & Acquisitions, SVP of Carbon Neutral Businesses, and SVP of Sustainable Development & Environment during his tenure at TotalEnergies.
Craig Cogut, Chairman & CEO of Pegasus: “Equatic is rapidly developing as a company, with multiple opportunities before it. There is tremendous need for the solutions Equatic offers. With more than two decades focused on investment in sustainability, I am eager to support Equatic’s vision in accelerating growth — and prioritizing the right customers, strategic partners, and locations to establish market leading position.”
In 1995, Cogut founded Pegasus, a private equity fund manager which over time has focused on planet health and human health. It has become the first U.S. private equity fund manager to be accredited by the Green Climate Fund. Prior to Pegasus, Cogut was a founder and an original partner at Apollo Advisors L.P.
These highly impressive individuals round out Equatic’s advisory board and will support the company as it achieves its mission of gigaton-scale carbon removal. To learn more about Equatic, visit equatic.tech and follow the company’s growth on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/equatic-tech/.
About Equatic:
Equatic is a carbon removal company leading the industry in combined carbon dioxide removal and carbon-negative hydrogen generation. Using a patented seawater electrolysis process, Equatic amplifies the ocean’s inherent ability to absorb and store massive amounts of carbon. The technology was created and developed at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering’s Institute for Carbon Management. Following the successful operation of two pilot facilities in Los Angeles and Singapore, Equatic is now constructing the world’s largest ocean-based CDR facility and works with industry pioneers, national agencies, and government leadership to scale climate solutions at unprecedented rates. The company sells high-quality carbon removal credits and is the only ocean-based carbon removal company that measures removal inside the boundary of its plants, leading to unprecedented certainty.