When Airbus Ventures, the investment arm of Europe's aerospace giant, decided to fund a carbon emissions startup, it might have raised a few eyebrows. After all, this is a company associated with jet fuel and sky-high emissions. But for Marta Krupinska, CEO and co-founder of London-based CUR8, the investment made perfect sense.

CUR8 recently closed a seed round that included Airbus Ventures, Google Ventures, and CapitalT. The company, founded in 2022 by fintech veteran Krupinska, developed software called CUR8 Plan that helps corporations identify carbon removal projects and offset credits aligned with their business operations. More importantly, it helps them build the internal business case for actually committing capital to carbon programs.

The carbon removal market is messy, complex, and filled with obstacles. It's also heading toward a trillion dollars in value, according to Krupinska. She sat down with MarketDash to explain how this market works, where the money-making opportunities lie, and why right now might be the perfect time for investors to pay attention.

The Three Big Problems Holding Back Carbon Markets

According to Krupinska, the net zero carbon emissions industry faces three major challenges: complexity, access, and risk.

The complexity issue is straightforward. Carbon removal is a brand new asset class with somewhere between 1,600 to 2,200 projects worldwide using roughly 20 different removal methods. These range from planting trees to literally sucking carbon out of the atmosphere. For a corporate sustainability officer trying to figure out where to start, it's overwhelming.

That complexity creates an access problem. Even if you understand what good carbon removal looks like, how do you find the right projects? How do you actually procure credits?

"There is demand and interest, it's just that corporates don't really know how to move," Krupinska explained. "This is why we released CUR8 Plan. Users can see different types of approaches, the projects, where they're located geographically. They can better understand the asset class itself."

The platform lets companies build the internal case for budget allocation. If you work at a major UK retailer like Sainsbury's and need to pitch for carbon credit funding, CUR8 Plan helps you understand how carbon removal fits your sustainability strategy, what UK net zero policies require, when compliance deadlines hit, and what budget you'll actually need based on average pricing.

The Technology Actually Works

One challenge facing any emerging market is whether the underlying technology is legitimate. In carbon removal, Krupinska says multiple proven approaches already exist.

Forestation has seen huge innovations in measurement, reporting, and verification. New technology can prove that carbon was actually drawn down and will stay sequestered. Tree planting itself is straightforward, but these verification improvements have made the market higher integrity and higher quality.

Biochar has existed as a commercial market for more than 30 years because it doubles as fertilizer. The process involves taking waste biomass like rice husks and burning them in low oxygen environments at extremely high temperatures. The result is carbon-rich charcoal that farmers can apply to their land to improve soil pH and boost crop yields while storing carbon.

Then there are the more futuristic approaches. Direct air capture, which Krupinska calls "those fantastic sky hoover machines," filters air to separate CO2, then mineralizes it and stores it in deep geological formations.

Another promising but early-stage method involves storing carbon in oceans and rivers.

"We need all those approaches because different ones are going to lend themselves differently to different geographies, climates, labor availability," Krupinska said. "Between them all I would say that the market is incredibly rich and there's plenty of opportunities to invest in things that are very well understood and high quality."

Regulations Are Coming Fast

The regulatory landscape is moving quickly. More than 80% of global GDP is already covered by net zero regulations at either the country or industry level.

In the United Kingdom, greenhouse gas removal methods will be included in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme starting in 2028-2029. The EU is targeting 2029-2030. Japan is launching their ETS inclusion next year. California and South Korea are also making progress.

These aren't theoretical future policies. They're locked in timelines that will create mandatory compliance requirements for corporations across the developed world.

Where the Money Gets Made

The most straightforward opportunity is taking advantage of carbon pricing before regulations force demand higher.

Right now, there are more suppliers than buyers. But that's changing. The best biochar projects are nearly sold out. Companies that commit to purchasing now can lock in future access at today's prices through long-term offtake agreements.

Because buyers still have leverage, they can negotiate favorable terms like rights of first refusal and most favored nation pricing. That's why massive companies like Microsoft, Google, Airbus, and Equinor are already pouring billions into carbon removal even though full regulatory requirements haven't kicked in yet.

"The case for saving money is fairly simple. Prices are going up right now," Krupinska noted.

Another major opportunity lies in financing the market itself. Many carbon removal projects need upfront capital to deliver credits before they can sell them. CUR8 offers carbon offtake financing by partnering with banks to forward finance long-term removal offtakes.

Climate Tech After the Backlash

Recent years have seen pushback against climate action in some markets, particularly the United States. Has that affected business?

Krupinska acknowledged there's been an impact, but pointed to resilience in corporate spending. More than 80% of U.S. CFOs plan to either maintain or increase their climate action budgets. Two of CUR8's three board investors are American, and the majority of capital in the company's most recent September fundraise came from U.S. sources.

Meanwhile, Europe sees the U.S. political shift as an opportunity to lead. There's significant activity in Asia across Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Indonesia. Interestingly, Krupinska noted an uptick in U.S. investors backing European climate startups because "it is a better market to operate in if you're in climate in 2025."

Collaboration Over Competition

Krupinska spent the early part of her career building fintech companies in London. She remembers when all the companies that became unicorns were located within a hundred yards of each other, housed in the same three buildings. Collaboration was the norm.

She sees the same dynamic playing out in climate tech.

"We are all together building coalitions to influence policymakers, to persuade corporates to collaborate on what best in class science means, to make sure there is accurate data out in the market," she explained. "It's in all our interests to collectively make a case that the market is growing. All of us believe the bigger the market the bigger the opportunity for all of us to build big businesses."

She also expects consolidation, as happens in any nascent market reaching maturity.

Investment Advice: Now Is the Time

For investors considering climate tech, Krupinska's timing argument is compelling.

The investment bubble that inflated climate tech valuations two to four years ago has moved to AI and defense. Climate valuations have stabilized. That creates an opportunity to invest in well-performing companies at healthy valuations before regulations kick in and market size drives those valuations higher.

"Now is a great time to invest in really well performing companies with very healthy valuations before the regulations kick in and those valuations balloon again because of market size," she said.

She also noted that climate tech companies have adjusted their capital strategies. Instead of raising for 18 months of runway, they're now raising for 36 months. They're leveraging AI for efficiency and being more disciplined about hiring.

The companies performing best combine commercial expertise with scientific depth. Those are the ones worth backing in 2025 and 2026 before the market heats up again.

In other words, if you believe that more than 80% of global GDP being covered by net zero regulations will actually drive corporate spending on carbon removal, and you think getting in before mandatory compliance deadlines hit makes sense, then the setup is fairly clear. The technology exists, the regulations are coming, prices are still negotiable, and valuations haven't priced in the full market opportunity yet.

That's the pitch, anyway. And unlike a lot of emerging market stories, this one has actual timelines attached to policy implementation rather than vague promises of future adoption.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.