Holcim invests in 44.01 to scale CO₂ mineralisation storage

By Nathan Brooks

Holcim has made 22 investments through Holcim MAQER Ventures, including its new backing of 44.01. The cement producer said the deal will fund 44.01’s scaling and international expansion. Holcim said it also marks the next step in an established commercial relationship.

The relationship gives the investment a different starting point from a first-time venture bet. Since July, the companies have tested the system under live industrial conditions at Fujairah. The capital now supports broader deployment, while the UAE pilot supplies an operating reference for assessing the pathway across Holcim’s operations.

44.01 develops mineralisation technology that injects captured CO₂ into naturally reactive ultramafic rock formations. According to Holcim, the process mineralises the CO₂ into stable carbonate rock.

Since July, Holcim and 44.01 have run a pilot under live industrial conditions at Holcim’s Fujairah cement plant in the United Arab Emirates. Holcim said captured CO₂ is now safely stored underground and mineralised into solid rock.

What is the Fujairah pilot testing?

The Fujairah pilot puts carbon storage within a working cement plant. Holcim described the project as running under live industrial conditions, with CO₂ stored in rock formations near production. The focus is storage close to production when the geology is right.

Ram Muthu, Head of Operational Excellence at Holcim, put the strategic case this way:

“Holcim’s investment in 44.01 builds on our existing project in the UAE, where together we are already storing captured carbon in rock formations near our Fujairah plant.”

“44.01’s breakthrough technology enables storage close to production given the right geological conditions, advancing decarbonisation in line with Holcim’s NextGen Growth 2030 strategy.”

“This pathway can help us manage captured carbon at inland sites across our operations where access to offshore storage may be limited.”

According to Muthu, the pilot demonstrates storage close to production under industrial conditions. The wider commercial opportunity depends on geology, while the strategic rationale sits inside Holcim’s NextGen Growth 2030 strategy.

For practitioners, the key issue becomes site geology and transport access. Holcim’s claim is specific: where reactive geology exists, captured carbon can be managed inland even when offshore access is limited. The qualifier “given the right geological conditions” defines the operating boundary for any rollout.

What does this change for inland cement sites?

Holcim says the pathway could help its inland operations manage captured carbon where access to offshore storage is limited. The condition is local: 44.01’s technology needs naturally reactive ultramafic formations and the right geological conditions. For site teams, that narrows the immediate screening exercise to geology, storage proximity and the limits of existing offshore access.

Holcim said the investment supports 44.01’s international expansion and advances decarbonisation in line with NextGen Growth 2030. For Holcim, that makes the venture part of its operating strategy, not only a financial investment. The Fujairah pilot supplies the live industrial setting in which the two companies can test that proposition.

Holcim described the backing as a valuable addition to its growing portfolio of digital and decarbonisation technologies. That portfolio sits within the company’s open innovation ecosystem, operated through Holcim MAQER Ventures, its corporate venture capital and open innovation unit. Holcim said the unit has made 22 investments to date and works to scale technologies for the built environment.

Holcim also identified the other investors in 44.01:

• Breakthrough Energy Ventures
• Equinor Ventures
• Air Liquide Venture Capital
• Siemens Financial Services

The investment therefore links the Fujairah pilot to 44.01’s scaling and international-expansion phase. The forward test is whether the Fujairah operating model can travel to other suitable sites. For Holcim, the potential benefit is a near-production storage route for inland operations; for 44.01, the test is whether geological and operating requirements can be replicated at scale.