Nonprofit Will Deploy $1 Million in Catalytic Funding to Advance Carbon Removal, Superpollutant Reduction, and Nature-Based Solutions
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (September 24, 2026) – Cool Effect, a Bay Area nonprofit that supports high-integrity carbon projects around the globe, is announcing the first recipients of The Cool Effect Catalyst, an award up to $1,000,000 designed to accelerate the development and scaling of high-integrity carbon projects.
Launched in 2025, The Cool Effect Catalyst was created to address a critical financing gap in the voluntary carbon market. While many promising carbon projects have demonstrated the potential to reduce or remove carbon emissions, they often struggle to secure the early-stage funding necessary to get off the ground and scale. Catalyst was established to help bridge that gap by providing transformative capital to projects capable of delivering measurable climate and community impact.
“When we launched The Cool Effect Catalyst, we knew transformational climate projects needed funding sooner than traditional financing mechanisms could provide,” said Jodi Manning, CEO of Cool Effect. “Financial awards were supposed to begin in 2027, but we recognize the climate crisis cannot wait, and neither can the innovators developing solutions to address it. We’re proud to deploy catalytic capital to projects that deliver real, measurable impact today while helping build the climate solutions the world will need tomorrow.”
The Cool Effect team has spent the last year evaluating 68 project applications through its rigorous due diligence framework, Carbon Done Correctly. The nonprofit assesses projects against stringent standards for additionality, permanence, financial transparency, long-term viability, and community impact, while also conducting a comprehensive scientific analysis of each project.
Cool Effect recognizes that projects require different forms of support depending on their stage of development. In selecting Catalyst award recipients, the organization mirrored its approach to portfolio balance. This approach includes supporting opportunities for immediate emissions reductions with investments that can unlock significant long-term climate benefits, while maintaining a steadfast commitment to environmental integrity and community outcomes.
The inaugural Catalyst award recipients include:
- Superpollutant Reduction: Superpollutant projects offer the most immediate opportunities to slow warming by eliminating highly potent greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere. Cool Effect has selected Tradewater as the recipient of immediate Catalyst funding. The funding will support the establishment of India’s first Montreal Protocol-compliant ozone-depleting substance (ODS) destruction facility, addressing a critical infrastructure gap in a country that currently has no compliant destruction capacity. Unlike a one-time project investment, this funding creates permanent infrastructure expected to enable the destruction of up to 325,000 tCO₂e annually across its initial projects while providing a pathway to permanently eliminate legacy refrigerants that would otherwise risk being released into the atmosphere. Tradewater is a certified B Corp which identifies, collects, and permanently destroys non-CO₂ superpollutants. Since its founding, the organization has eliminated over 11.3 million tons of CO₂ equivalent.
- Durable Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR): Durable CDR technologies represent a critical long-term climate solution but require substantial upfront investment to accelerate innovation, scientific validation, and deployment. Cool Effect selected Octavia Carbon as the recipient of Catalyst investment for future carbon removal credits to be issued by Isometric and delivered across 2027 and 2028. Octavia Carbon is the first Direct Air Capture company in Africa and the Global South, using direct air capture technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and enable its permanent storage. Through its Catalyst investment, Cool Effect is providing early demand for future carbon removals, helping a pioneering project prove its model, scale operations, and accelerate durable carbon removal capacity in Africa. Powered by Kenya’s renewable energy resources, Octavia is demonstrating that frontier carbon removal technologies can be developed and deployed in the Global South, not just North America and Europe.
- Nature-Based Solutions (NBS): Nature-based solutions play a vital role in climate mitigation while supporting biodiversity, ecosystem restoration and local communities. Because these projects often require extensive development periods and complex verification processes, early investment is essential to unlocking future impact. Following an exceptionally competitive review process, Cool Effect has shortlisted two NBS projects as Catalyst finalists. Both projects will undergo additional due diligence and site visits. The final award recipient will be selected in 2027.
“This Catalyst award will enable us to accelerate the destruction of highly potent greenhouse gases and expand our impact into new regions where the need is significant,” said Tim Brown, Co-Founder of Tradewater. “By investing in proven solutions today, we can deliver immediate climate benefits that will be felt for decades to come.”
Martin Freimüller, Co-Founder & CEO at Octavia Carbon, added “Catalytic funding plays a critical role in helping emerging carbon removal technologies move from demonstration to meaningful scale. Cool Effect’s support will help accelerate deployment while expanding access to durable carbon removal solutions in Africa and beyond.”
In addition to the Catalyst awards, Cool Effect continues to support a global portfolio of high-integrity emissions reduction and removal projects around the globe – such as those developed by Mitti Labs, Charm Industrial, and Value Network Ventures. These projects deliver measurable climate benefits while providing critical economic, environmental, and social outcomes for local communities, demonstrating the ongoing importance of carbon finance in advancing sustainable development.
To learn more about The Cool Effect Catalyst and the nonprofit’s portfolio approach, visit cooleffect.org.
About Cool EffectTM
Cool Effect is a San Francisco Bay Area 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to reducing carbon emissions around the world. Endorsed by 1% for the Planet, its mission is to educate and then inspire businesses and individuals to take measurable action against climate change by purchasing scientifically verified carbon credits from the world’s highest quality projects. It returns more than 90% of each donation directly to its project partners and, since its launch at the Paris COP in 2015, has helped projects receive over $100 million for 12 million tonnes of emissions retired. Like the Butterfly Effect, The Ripple Effect, and others, a single action can have global impact. To learn more, please visit cooleffect.org or follow Cool Effect on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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