COScan

Our platform offers a monitoring, reporting, and verification mechanism to resolve the inconsistent data of carbon capture and sequestration tax credits through a combination of cryptography and machine learning.

Our solution is a tool that securely verifies the amount of carbon captured and sequestered to the IRS. We propose a web application that feeds directly from the sensors within the capture and sequestration facilities. Using blockchain technology, the sensor data will be secure and verifiable to prevent fraud. This data, along with general data submitted by the company capturing the carbon, will be presented to both the EPA and IRS to avoid any discrepancies. To model the efficiency of the underground reservoirs that the carbon is stored in, we will be using machine learning methods devised by MIT PhD students in the field. 

Carbon Capture and Storage is a proven technology that needs to be scaled up in the next 30 years. To limit global warming to 2°C, 100 gigatons need to be captured by 2050. 40 megatons were captured in 2020. The US federal government provides tax credits to those who capture and store carbon dioxide. Between 2010 and 2018, corporations claimed 59M tons of tax credit to the IRS, while they only reported 3M tons sequestered to the EPA. Last year, an IRS investigation found that 70% of claiming taxpayers failed to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s requirements, resulting in $900 million worth of the 45Q tax credit being improperly claimed. Most of the CCS projects are funded with tax equity financing. Distrust in the system, lack of confidence, and unpredictability of future cash flow deters investors and obstructs the much-needed investments to deploy CCS at scale and reduce climate change.

At the root of it, our solution has the capability to impact the whole world. Warmer temperatures over time are changing weather patterns and disrupting the usual balance of nature. This poses many risks to human beings and all other forms of life on Earth. This is a significant crisis that cannot be solved without trust in the systems that are attempting to solve it. This trust cannot be achieved if there is no basis for it — no verification system. Our solution will bring confidence to CCS technology so that it can become a bigger market and as a result help achieve any goals that the world has in terms of carbon emissions and climate change.

We are in contact with people at the IRS, EPA, DOE, and climate change organizations to assess the issue from their standpoints and how analysis of their data/knowledge can be reflected in our solution. We have set meetings with these agencies/organizations in the very near future.

We have been actively working on this idea for the past 2 weeks for the IAP class StartMIT, though certain team members have been involved with this field/idea for several months/years. We are currently conducting primary market research to build upon our idea with more knowledge of the issue. We have done extensive secondary market research, as well as spoken to academic experts in the field.

The blockchain technology that ensures that the sensor information is secure is a key component of our solution. In order to be trusted by these government agencies, there needs to be a clear way of verifying the numbers that are reported. With blockchain, they can see all the information received from the sensors, with the assurance that it cannot be altered.

We have not yet launched our solution. It is hard to give an exact number for how many people we plan to serve, but we aim to be working with 3 companies that capture and sequester carbon. At this point, there is  immeasurable impact on the general human population.

By improving the marginal costs of CCS, an 1% increase in capacity investment can yield 21 and 56M tons of CO2 captured per year in 2030 and 2050 respectively. We see two sides to the platform: regulators/ tax authorities and carbon capture project companies (taxpayers). We are currently conducting primary market research and our discussions so far involve the Internal Revenue Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Department of Energy and Bureau of Economic Geology. We plan to first validate the product market fit from the IRS and EPA perspective and then the taxpayers, through project tax lawyers, accounting firms and consultants. The PMR with taxpayers will come last. Meanwhile we are developing the first prototype and will design alternatives for A/B testing during February.

We will measure our progress by checking in with our impact goals monthly. Since we are in the beginning stages of development, there is more to do before we can start measuring our impact. As outlined in our goals, we will continue working on our solution with respect to the IRS and EPA, and conduct PMR with the companies we will be working with. We will measure our progress by ensuring we do these things on a schedule. Using the UN Sustainable Development Goals, we align the most with Goal 13: Climate Action. We will use that to measure our progress as well.

A significant barrier will be partnering with the IRS and EPA as a third-party verifier. As we all know, working with the government is not a fast nor simple process, and their cooperation is key to our solution. W will continue creating connections and conducting PMR to make our product more appealing and necessary for them.

Ali Adoudou - MIT Sloan Fellow MBA - 20 years of management and strategy in oil drilling. Subsurface, Operations and Management

Monica Larrazabal - MIT Sloan MBA - 6 years of Management Consulting and Sustainability. Management, Strategy and Sustainability

Lluis Salo Salgado - MIT CEE PhD candidate Thesis: fault detection in multiphase flow in porous media under CO2 injection. Geoscience, Subsurface modeling

Bruke Wossenseged - MIT EECS Undergraduate – Sophomore. Software development, Product Design

Amanial Abraham - MIT EECS Undergraduate – Sophomore. Software development, Cryptography, Sustainability

Ethan Chang - MIT EECS Undergraduate – Freshman. Sensors, IoT, Hardware integration

Our team has a diverse skillset that aligns directly with our solution. 2 of our members have worked in the world of sustainability / energy for numerous years and we are all passionate about the issue.

We are currently working with the MIT Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship. Under their curriculum, we have been developing this solution and plan to seek their guidance in the future as well.

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