Technical Evaluation Report 

Executive Summary

1,000m2 MP deepwater irrigation deployment

Introduction and Technical Background

The problem being addressed

Ocean warming curtails natural upwelling of deep nutrients for primary production in subtropical oceans, limiting seaweed growth for millions of seaweed cultivators. Seaweed communities are collapsing due to production losses and climate disruptions including stronger hurricanes.

Marine Permaculture (MP) enables coastal seaweed communities to not only survive, but to thrive with new value chains for seaweed and  restored production through the supply of deep nutrients and offshore substrates.

Traditional aquaculture and agriculture sectors are being severely disrupted by climate change, impacting food security and livelihoods of billions worldwide. Philippine warming ocean temperatures and declining nutrient levels impair primary productivity and degrade coastal ecosystems. These environmental changes decimate fish populations needed by many coastal communities for sustenance and  livelihoods. Rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, and extreme weather undermine agricultural productivity globally. Climate-smart approaches are needed for food production to maintain yields in the face of these challenges.

The Philippines, home to 120 million people, is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. The country experiences 20 named hurricanes per year, which threaten livelihoods and coastal community safety. These disasters damage critical infrastructure, disrupting people's livelihoods, and displacing vulnerable populations. Nearly half the world's population are highly susceptible to climate impacts such as extreme heat, flooding, and droughts.

Coastal and marine ecosystems are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, with warming oceans, acidification, and deoxygenation causing widespread degradation of habitats from coral reefs to kelp forests. These ecosystems crucially support biodiversity, regulate the climate, and provide livelihoods for millions. However, traditional monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) methods for tracking the health of these ecosystems are limited, hampering efforts to protect and restore  ecosystems. Novel approaches are needed to better quantify the carbon sequestration and other ecosystem services provided by coastal and marine environments.

Collectively, these interrelated problems threaten food security, livelihoods, and overall well-being of billions of people worldwide, particularly in vulnerable coastal regions like the Philippines and Indonesia. Declining marine productivity, extreme weather events, and the degradation of critical ecosystems impact communities that rely on the ocean for their sustenance and economic opportunities. Without interventions to address these challenges, the situation is likely to worsen as climate change intensifies.

The factors contributing to these problems are complex and multifaceted, involving a combination of environmental, economic, and social dynamics. Overexploitation of marine resources, pollution, and unsustainable development practices have all played a role in degrading coastal ecosystems. At the same time, the lack of robust MRV capabilities has limited the ability to quantify the value of these natural assets and drive investment in their restoration and protection.

Current state of art in addressing the problem

Marine Permaculture (MP) is the next generation of seaweed farming with cultivation taking place in the deep open ocean at scale, with very little inputs, to serve mankind’s nutritional needs  and the expanding seaweed market. The global seaweed market, valued at approximately $15B, is expected to grow to $25B by 2028. With so many new applications coming out of the lab and into the market for food, beverages, nutraceuticals, biofuels, bioplastics, biochar, construction products, and more where demand is outgrowing supply.

The world’s oceans represent 70% of the Earth’s surface area and 99% of its livable volume. Oceans are the highest density ecosystems on the planet and are critical to sustaining human life. However, the oceans are on the front lines of climate disruption. To date, they have absorbed 93% of the heat from global warming, so that according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), global sea surface temperatures have already risen  by  more  than 1 °C in the last century. These higher temperatures curtail overturning circulation, reducing nutrients essential to primary productivity and decimating many key ocean ecosystems, such as coral reefs. A recent paper has documented that ocean stratification has increased as much as 5-20%  since 1960 (see Figure 1) (Li et al., 2020). The ocean has been our greatest buffer to growing atmospheric CO2 concentrations, and we have only recently started to understand the extent to which many ocean ecosystems, such as kelp forests, act as significant ‘Blue Carbon sinks.’

                    Figure 1: Graphic from Li et al (2020) showing increasing ocean
                    stratification over the past half century. 

Coastal households in the Philippines culture seaweeds in intertidal and subtidal zones. These households engage in this form of coastal aquaculture because of the relatively higher revenue that can be derived from this activity compared to small-scale fishing. Seaweed farming provides alternative and/or additional income to fishermen, hence, coastal aquaculture generates income for coastal populations without adding to the alleged overexploitation of fishery resources in the country. Traditionally, harvested seaweeds are dried with household technologies and the moist ingredients are wasted and lost.

Most seaweed cultivation limits itself to diminishing regions that still have adequate sources of deep nutrients. While some ventures have experimented with upwelling techniques, the considerable energy expenditure involved poses a significant challenge.

Intertidal seaweed facilities get regularly destroyed by direct Typhoon hits such as Typhoon Rai in 2021, crippling the income of local seaweed farmers who relied on seaweed for their primary livelihoods. Monetary Government support exists, but is inadequate to provide economic recovery, much less growth, due to destroyed cultivation areas, lack of sources of seaweed seedlings and other loss of infrastructure after typhoons.  

Brief description of the proposed technology

Marine Permaculture (MP) may be our best chance to restore life in the oceans and mitigate climate change, while offering food and economic security to billions of people reliant on the ocean for their livelihoods and nutrition.

Marine Permaculture is a form of mariculture that reflects the principles of permaculture by regenerating seaweed forest habitat and other ecosystems in nearshore and offshore environments. Using deepwater irrigation, essential nutrients are accessed from depth in order to enable replete seaweed growth in conditions where seaweeds would ordinarily struggle to grow. Doing so enables sustainable and continuous harvest of seaweeds over large areas of ocean >100m deep, while regenerating life in the ocean.

Over the past 5 years we have leveraged ~USD $6 million of philanthropic funding to bring Marine Permaculture to Technology Readiness Level 7 and Biostimulant to TRL 9. Marine Permaculture arrays are based on submersible , flexible structures located in the open ocean that provide substrate upon which living seaweed is affixed. The HDPE material used in the arrays have been proven as seaworthy at the Natural Energy Lab, Hawaii Authority (NELHA) and other locations for over half a century. With a lightweight, flexible design, Marine Permaculture arrays can be deployed near the coast or further offshore. They can sustainably grow a wide variety of seaweed species, which can be harvested to generate ecologically responsible products such as fish, food, cattle and other livestock feed and fertilizer. We are able to grow multiple species of seaweed on the same line, which we have observed boosts growth. Based on the increased phytonutrients, pigment and other analytical information, deep water irrigation also makes the seaweed more nutrient dense. Integrated mussel cultivation is an option for smaller MPs, and most suitable for close to shore platforms where plankton abundance is higher. Furthermore, Marine Permaculture arrays provide ecosystem services traditionally provided by seaweed ecosystems, including carbon sequestration. 

Tropical seaweed is thus harvested and brought to transportable seaweed biorefineries, where it is processed into multiple products.  The seaweed is processed into liquid components for biostimulants and dry pulp for food and feed applications, providing multiple revenue streams from a single feedstock. The biostimulant is mixed and bottled and distributed to local farmers. The dry pulp can be sun dried or rack dried and milled and used as food and feed ingredients. Any community able to receive 20 ft shipping containers can be established as a seaweed processing hub, increasing revenues for that community and the neighboring seaweed growing communities. Modular biorefineries can be customized to meet the requirements of different end-use applications. 

We have trialed multiple approaches to provide deepwater irrigation, including restoring natural upwelling by pumping cool, nutrient rich water to the surface and deep cycling, which raises and lowers platforms diurnally to provide seaweed access to nutrients at night and sunlight during the day. Results from our trials using both approaches enable replete seaweed growth in offshore conditions where seaweeds would ordinarily fail to grow. Doing so can rescue production in the face of warming temperatures, increase productivity and extend the growing season thereby enhancing yields and even enable cultivation in offshore, nutrient deprived, conditions. Over the past several years, we have developed and trialed the deep cycling approach in the Philippines. Deep cycling takes two orders of magnitude less energy than alternatives. Our technology can operate in conditions that are found in over half of the world’s subtropical and tropical oceans: all waters over 100m deep, representing a 1000X increase in accessible area compared to traditional practices. We are also working on community-sourced Marine Permaculture designs that use mostly local materials and can be locally built  and operated by seaweed cultivation communities. 

MP arrays are designed to be modular and will generate free cash flow at hectare scale. Such designs enable a distributed scaling model whereby hectare-scale platforms can be built thousands to millions of times across tropical and subtropical waters.  

Importantly, Marine Permaculture Arrays can pay for themselves through seaweed production while drawing down carbon from the mixed layer to the middle and deep ocean, providing scaling opportunities independent of carbon pricing.

Potential Benefits of Technology

Detailed technology description

Our innovative Marine Permaculture (MP) solution is the centerpiece of our efforts to regenerate coastal ecosystems and support sustainable livelihoods in the Philippines and beyond.

The MP system is a specialized mariculture platform that combines floating solar-powered platforms with a sinking seaweed cultivation platform. This unique design allows the system to harness the nutrients of the deep ocean to fuel the rapid growth of seaweeds.

Here's how it works: The seaweed platform nightly descends 200 meters  deep, where it accesses nutrient-rich deep waters. By cycling this platform between the surface and the deep ocean daily, the MP system provides ideal conditions for seaweed cultivation without external fertilizers.

During the day, the seaweed platform rises to the surface, receiving abundant sunlight, allowing the seaweeds to fix carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, doubling biomass  every two weeks. At night, the platform sinks, enabling seaweeds to absorb  deep nutrients that fuel their prolific growth.

Importantly, around a quarter of the seaweed biomass produced sinks down to the abyss at 1,000 meters per day, representing a true blue carbon sink, the sequestered carbon being removed from the  atmosphere for centuries.

The  surface solar platform provides renewable energy needed to power the MP. This solar-powered design ensures that the MP operates entirely self-sufficiently, without fossil fuels or grid electricity. To ensure reliable deep cycling, we can incorporate modular redundancy for raising and lowering mechanisms. This eliminates single points of failure by using N units with an additional spare. This allows for hot swapping of faulty subsystems during operation, transforming faults into routine maintenance tasks. 

MP has also been engineered to withstand powerful hurricanes and typhoons. In 2021, our deployment site  survived a Category 5 hurricane. By submerging 5 meters below the surface, our platform retained most of its seaweed. Growth continued immediately after the typhoon passed. Seaweed cultivators across the region lost their entire harvest and seedling supply. We  provided  relief by contributing a portion of our harvest to local seaweed communities. This approach increases cultivable ocean area by 100M km2 in the Pacific Ocean alone.

As seaweeds cultivated on the MP mature, they provide food, animal feed, and other bioproducts for nearby coastal communities. The benefits of the MP extend far beyond just economic opportunities. By stabilizing the base of the marine food chain,  seaweed proliferation helps to regenerate local fish populations and other key species, bolstering the overall health and resilience of the surrounding ecosystem.

To fully leverage MP, Climate Foundation is integrating advanced remote sensing, machine learning, and ocean biogeochemical modeling, allowing us to accurately quantify carbon  removal, nutrient cycling, and other ecosystem services provided by our MP systems - crucial data for attracting investment and scaling this innovative approach.

With its unique design, regenerative capabilities, and robust monitoring framework, our MP transforms marine sustainability, food security, and climate change mitigation. By harnessing the power of the deep ocean, this innovative Marine Permaculture can deliver cascading benefits for both people and the planet.

How does the technology help solve the problem in a qualitatively and quantitatively meaningful way

The open ocean offers a vast area for seaweed cultivation, dwarfing traditional methods.  Seaweed farms could expand from thousands of hectares to millions surrounding each island, a staggering 1000-fold increase. Our technology tackles the problem qualitatively and quantitatively by ensuring continuous nutrient provision for year-round seaweed cultivation. At a depth of 100 meters, the water is 100 times more nutrient-rich than at the surface, fueling the growth of seaweed. Our recorded trials have validated the biological response of seaweeds to deepwater irrigation and demonstrated significant growth rates, in conditions where control seaweed failed to grow at all. The results of seaweed growth rates as determined by weight have been measured under different conditions. The figure below shows Marine Permaculture validation trials between 2020 and 2023 (blue trial, red control). These growth results have been obtained for both deepwater irrigation architectures and have documented a 100-300% increased growth rate compared with controls. These results show that we can not only increase yields but also enable seaweed growth in conditions where control seaweeds would struggle to grow, if at all.

Through our innovative approach of raising and lowering platforms daily, employing modular redundancy and fail-safe mechanisms, we eradicate single points of failure, ensuring uninterrupted operations. 

Additionally, our biostimulant enhances agricultural yields while reducing the need for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) fertilizers, thereby achieving higher growth rates sustainably. The rice farmers in the Philippines are enthusiastic about our new biostimulant product, as it provides 15 to 30% higher rice yields with no increase in NPK fertilizer. Alternatively, we model that our biostimulants can lead to a ~20% drop in NPK fertilizer use while maintaining yields. As nitrate fertilizer represents the most substantial cost component for farmers, this could have a significant impact on the financial outcomes and profitability of terrestrial farming.

Our biostimulant product is currently being tested for application in shrimp and fish aquaculture by promoting healthy plankton growth, with promising preliminary results. The remaining dry pulp can be further incorporated into feed formulations intended for aquaculture and agriculture. Previous feeding trials have shown successful outcomes with fish, shrimp, cattle, goats, pigs and chickens. Our simple production process allows for rapid scaling while using 100% of the biomass available. We estimate that 1 hectare of MP should provide enough biostimulant for 1000-3000 hectares of rice resilience. 

The advantage of technology over existing best practices

We are pioneers in the field of deepwater nutrient supply and value chain creation, leading with cutting-edge technology that addresses present and future challenges holistically. Our platforms utilize materials with a proven track record of seaworthiness over decades. Notably, our architecture withstood a Cat-5 hurricane, with living seaweed thriving on it submerged below the surface. Incorporating such typhoon-resistant structures is crucial for long-term success.

Seaweed biostimulants are traditionally made from temperate brown seaweeds harvested from wild sources thereby limiting sustainable scaling potential. Further, a proprietary blend of tropical seaweeds likely has advantages over traditional temperate brown seaweed formulations (and is more local). By growing seaweeds on our scalable offshore platforms we are able to sell into the huge agricultural market and have significant environmental impact. At-scale offshore seaweed cultivation facilitated by deepwater irrigation has the potential to modernize and scale seaweed cultivation from the mere 2000km2 under cultivation today by opening up new regions. Cultivating seaweed in offshore regions is advantageous as it reduces competition for coastal space with local users and does not impact ecosystems that inhabit nearshore coastal waters, such as seagrasses through shading. 

Furthermore, we presently have the world’s deepest moored seaweed platform, with the largest deep cycling cultivation area at 1/4 acre, providing flexibility in locations and the capacity to sequester carbon at depths of 300 to 1,000 meters. This allows for carbon sequestration for centuries to millennia, securing a sustainable future for generations to come.

We wish to point out that our project builds an economic sustainability model where our platforms will serve as a catalyst for revenue generation across multiple value chains. Currently, raw seaweed markets in southeast Asia can demonstrate the opportunity to transition from low value commodities to higher value semi-refined products. Our added value will be distributed amongst multiple stakeholders in the value chain, including seaweed farmers, fishers, rice farmers and processors. Our project seeks to raise the potential value generated from seaweeds through the biorefinery development and market vertical development as well as increasing seaweed cultivation’s resilience and productivity through marine R&D.

Furthermore, our approach is different: MP represents a systematic approach linking and leveraging different activities and income streams to seaweed mariculture by providing both climate resilience and mitigation outcomes, increasing harvesting seasons, dramatically increasing cultivable ocean area by provision of nutrients that fill value chain gaps in nature. Our approach represents a technological innovation designed with and for some of the world’s poorest people, whose needs are often neglected by innovators. 

MP irrigation has enormous potential to scale across tropical waters. Moving offshore also reduces competition for coastal space with other users. Our simple production process allows for rapid scaling while using 100% of the biomass available. 

We are developing scalable finance models across the Pacific. We are working with partners to develop a leasing model enabling rapid scaling of the technology and its associated benefits, including employment of potentially millions of seaweed farmers, improving food security, ecosystem regeneration and the measurement of carbon export of these regenerative interventions. The franchise organization will be able to provide consistent production nearly throughout the year with deepwater irrigation, independent of climate disruption, since deep cool water is available just a few hundred meters below the platform. The steady production will be favored by offtakers seeking a steady and consistent supply of high quality seaweeds.

Moreover, our innovative new approach which also sinks seaweed carbon to the deep ocean represents a significant change from business as usual. It will be a significant innovation from conventional practices as it will combine the creation of seaweed-based products with carbon measurement into the deep ocean. Doing so can potentially create carbon negative products.

Available third-party reviews of technology

We received external validation of the feasibility of our deep ocean sequestration approach from Coast 4C and Princeton University as part of our winning application to the Carbon Removal XPRIZE. Further, our collaboration with esteemed institutions such as Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Rutgers University, Princeton University, and National Taiwan University underpins our commitment to rigorous scientific oversight. These partnerships facilitate the independent monitoring and auditing of data related to Marine Permaculture platforms, focusing on critical metrics like seaweed senescence, carbon sequestration rates, and species-specific carbon fluxes. 

In a two-year study we aim to quantify the carbon cycling efficacy of our platforms, providing a transparent and scientifically validated framework for evaluating our project's environmental impact. Through this collaborative approach, we ensure that our project's contributions to carbon removal are accurately measured, reported, and aligned with global sustainability goals. 

Further public reviews can be found here:

1. IEEE Spectrum article, 21 December, 2023, “ Pilot project sends kelp and Carbon to the seafloor, “https://spectrum.ieee.org/kelp-farm-carbon 

2. Channel News Asia, October 2023: Sustainability, “Deep-sea solution seeding hope for struggling but essential seaweed farming industry” https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sustainability/philippines-seaweed-farming-food-security-climate-change-3824146

3. Dr David Holmgren, best known as one of the co-originators of the permaculture concept with Bill Mollison, published an article about marine permaculture, and how it uses nature to heal itself 

4. Economist, October 2021: Science & technology, “Floating offshore farms should increase production of seaweed, And they might even help alleviate climate change,” https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/floating-offshore-farms-may-increase-production-of-seaweed/21805108    pdf copy here if needed

Carbon/plastic credits validation and verification if applicable.

Princeton University and the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge University have helped to provide external review for our proposed methodologies for deep ocean sequestration. Our carbon sequestration methodology and analysis are also supported by other third parties, including references in the published literature and the work of Prof. Carlos Duarte and Oceans 2050.

Prof. Carlos Duarte and Oceans 2050 have been developing a methodology with Verra VCS for seaweed sinking carbon sequestration methodology that measures the accumulation of carbon in sediments beneath seaweed cultivation sites. We plan to use elements of Carlos Duarte and Oceans 2050’s methodology submitted to Verra VCS based upon measuring the flux of biomass coming off seaweeds naturally during growth. Based upon this precedent, we plan to expand the methodology to deep ocean sequestration approaches for seaweed mariculture platforms operating in deeper waters offshore. While our approach is based in the deep ocean rather than sediments, the elements of their methodology that measure the flux of seaweed coming off seaweed naturally during growth, like leaves falling from a tree, will be relevant to our methodology. 

The article can be found here:

Duarte, Carlos M., Cebrián, Just, (1996), The fate of marine autotrophic production, Limnology and Oceanography, 41, doi: 10.4319/lo.1996.41.8.1758.

Potential Market and Market Interest

General review of the existing state of the market relevant to the proposed technology

Seaweed is the largest marketable crop in the ocean by tonnage. With over 30 million tons produced in 2015, seaweed accounted for more than a quarter of all total marine aquaculture production. Currently, a handful of Asian countries make up 97% of global seaweed production, with smallholder seaweed cultivators playing a key role in global production. The Philippines and Indonesia are significant seaweed producers that together account for ~31% of global production (FAO, 2021) which employs some three million smallholder seaweed cultivators. 

The global seaweed market, valued at $15B, is expected to grow to $25B by 2028. With only 3-6% global market penetration by biostimulants, the potential is substantial.

Biostimulants have played a key role in the developing market for seaweed, with a $2.6B biostimulant market in 2019 and is expected to grow to +$6B per year in 2026.

Deepwater irrigation is a new and emerging market opportunity for seaweed  cultivation moving to the subtropics and even seasonally temperate latitudes during summer and autumn months as the ocean warms.  Under all global warming scenarios, this deep source of nutrients will be essential for continued seaweed cultivation in the future. Thus marine permaculture has developed the keys to continue production of seaweed and its growth in the coming years.

Women play an important role in the industry, which is one of the few sectors that offers them economic opportunities. However, following decades of growth, seaweed production stagnated in 2015, entirely due to a drop in production in tropical producer nations. A key driver of this downward pressure has been marine heatwaves, as seaweed production is particularly vulnerable to increased incidence of seaweed diseases and epiphytes associated with warmer temperatures (Duarte et al., 2021). Indeed, in some islands of Indonesia seaweed production has dropped as much as 60%, so that seaweed cultivators are resorting to unsustainable fishing practices to supplement their income. Such trends will likely only worsen in the difficult decades ahead, illustrating that without active measures to restore seaweed production, seaweed livelihoods may soon disappear in these regions, exacerbating local poverty and pressure on urban centers. 

Potential market demand for technology

Today’s market demand for commercial species of seaweed is over USD $15B is expected to go to USD $25B annually later this decade for commercially relevant seaweed species. This demand will grow significantly, with some seaweed forecasts as high as USD >$30B by the end of the decade. Thousands of square kilometers are dedicated to seaweed cultivation worldwide, alongside millions of hectares devoted to rice and other crops where applicable. These agricultural amendment areas represent significant segments of the global market, amounting to multi-billion dollar industries.

Our current target markets of fertilizer, food, feed and fish, are all undergoing significant growth, buoyed by sustainability trends among consumers and a recognition among companies and regulators of the need to find solutions to decarbonize the economy. Our beachhead market in the Philippines is seaweed biostimulants. We have already developed our first product, a tropical biostimulant with successful trials with 52 of rice farmers. Developing and commercializing tropical seaweed biostimulants is a significant opportunity to disrupt the global biostimulant market, which has a projected 12% CAGR, driven by growing interest in organic foods.

Potential impact of technology on market

Market adoption of biostimulants offers a lot of room for penetration, with most rice farmers still utilizing only NPK fertilizers. However, considering the vast expanse of rice fields, estimated at 5 million hectares in the Philippines alone, there exists a significant opportunity for integrating seaweed cultivation into agricultural practices as a fertilizer amplifier. By expanding seaweed production, we can create robust value chains across food, feed, and agricultural sectors, thereby stimulating demand and subsequently increasing supply.

Our calculations indicate that each hectare of Marine Permaculture can provide seaweed to refine approximately 250 tonnes of biostimulant annually, valued at around USD $9,000 per tonne. Moreover, the biorefinery process generates an additional 35 tonnes of dry pulp per hectare, with multiple potential uses, including carrageenan markets. This production capacity translates to fertilizing 5,000-8,000 hectares of rice fields per hectare of seaweed cultivation, benefiting numerous smallholder rice farmers. Anticipated revenues from each hectare range from USD $1M to $5M annually, offering transformative economic opportunities for dozens of coastal communities. Moreover, this initiative has the potential to enhance food sovereignty in developing nations, particularly concerning staple crops like rice in the Philippines.

Current Testing or Implementation Status of Proposed Technology

Overview of Current Status

Since 2020, the Climate Foundation has designed, implemented and tested multiple 100m2 Marine Permaculture platforms to validate and improve the biological response of seaweeds to deepwater irrigation through seaweed yield. Building on this success, The Climate Foundation deployed a 1,000m2 platform with an advanced platform design suitable for scaling and are testing a novel deepwater irrigation system that has the potential to reduce the capital costs of Marine Permaculture platforms significantly. Measurements of seaweed growth rates on the 1,000m2 platform have been conducted. The biological response to MP irrigation demonstrates the need to scale up the irrigation to provide year-round seaweed growth critically needed to sustain the livelihood and economies of seaweed communities and help the planet. Our tests demonstrated that deepwater irrigation can provide year-round production of tropical seaweed mariculture and habitat for marine life.

Designs for the commercial hectare-size system are underway. Adopting some best practices from aquaculture, we have succeeded with seaweed mariculture trials, enabling further refinement of MP. Such a stage-gate approach enables us to fine-tune scaling parameters for the hectare-scale techno-economic model projections and further validate the offshore structural integrity. In partnership with the University of Queensland and funded by the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre (BECRC), we model and validate our 0.1-hectare prototype platform’s resilience and hydrodynamic behavior in the Western Pacific, aiming to scale it to support a 1-hectare offshore mariculture production. Further, we are working with the University of Tasmania (UTAS) contributing to a multi-million dollar development effort on submersible seaweed platforms in Tasmania.

Furthermore, we have established a second production site on the island of Bohol in the Philippines Camotes Sea, serving as an early prototype for our transportable biorefinery. We have produced thousands of liters of biostimulant with this biorefinery. During the next year, this biorefinery will have the capacity to process 1.5-3 tonnes of fresh seaweed into biostimulants daily. 

• Latest Testing or Implementation Stage Conceptual Design Information (including, possibly and as appropriate, Block orProcess Flow Diagrams or other general drawings, dimensions, or other information to help us better understand the current status of technology)

In 2023 we launched and operated our flagship 1000 m2 Marine Permaculture platform, a key milestone to building the first commercially sustainable hectare. This platform is proving extremely valuable, allowing us to explore various technical and biological aspects of this technology. The MP platform also made it possible for us to grow and process more seaweed, which in turn enabled us to create our biostimulant, which is helping farmers across the region.

                                                          1,000m2 MP deepwater irrigation deployment

We have developed a process flow diagram for the XPrize for carbon removal, depicted on the left. The diagram comprehensively outlines all processes involved, from system operation to product utilization, taking into account an early-stage platform at the hectare scale (initial 0-10 hectares).

The Climate Foundation has developed an upstream biorefinery, at the first step of the processing chain, in order to develop an organic seaweed biostimulant. Traditionally, seaweeds are dried and the moist ingredients are wasted and lost. Instead, we developed a customized drying process that leaves the plants’ natural live components intact in the biostimulant. Seaweeds contain high levels of gibberellins, auxins and cytokines, which are all plant biostimulants with beneficial effects that give land plants an increased uptake of macro and micronutrients. These plant growth regulators provide resistance to microbes, insects, heat, drought and salinity stresses, resulting in healthier plants and higher yields. Our production process results not only in biostimulants, but also in dry pulp that is useful in a variety of downstream processes and suitable as a carbon export as well.

In collaboration with our partners in the Philippines, we have developed complementary downstream biorefinery capability that produce food ingredients including carrageenan. We have been designing an integrated biorefinery approach that will enable each of these processes to be conducted within a transportable container within seaweed communities and provide high-value products to increase the revenue to these communities. At the same time, with MP deep water irrigation, these communities are able to grow more seaweed and produce higher value products downstream that can be sold for higher revenues.

Together with its partners, the Climate Foundation has access to over 30 partner seaweed communities in the Central Philippines for the rapid deployment of such solutions that can provide accelerated poverty alleviation while delivering climate solutions and enabling transformational climate adaptation for these rural coastline communities.

Transportable container-based biorefineries are being developed to accommodate expected community volumes of seaweed, ensuring that much of the economic value generated is retained within communities, maximizing impact for sustainable development and will minimize ancillary costs and build local value chains.

In 2023, we scaled the production and distribution of BIGgrow, our first viable agricultural biostimulant product made from a combination of locally grown seaweed species. The demand for BigGrow continues to expand rapidly as agricultural communities discover its incredible benefits. Results from our growth trials on rice farms are shown below. In addition, BIGgrow has entered the final stages of the approval process with the Philippine FPA Authority. This authority is responsible for permitting biostimulants, and we are hopeful that our official sales of BIGgrow will soon commence. 

Key actual results obtained from current testing or implementation

Seaweed Growth Trials

The Climate Foundation has conducted growth trials with different seaweed species and strains on the 1,000m2 platform in 2023. The seaweed on the platform was deep cycled daily at night to 110-130m depth to reach the target temperature of 23 +/- 1°C. Test lines were compared to control lines that were growing continuously in surface waters.

Kappaphycus strains tested were Kappaphycus Vanguard, Kappaphycus Tambalang and Kappaphycus Sacol. Additionally the team tested the response of Gracilaria to deep cycling because it is resistant to the ice-ice disease. Some of the growth trials did not perform as well as expected due to ice-ice syndrome affecting our Eucheumatoid strain of seaweeds. Optimization with deep cycling regimens is underway. Further, the team conducted growth tests longer than the usual 45 days and up to 60 days growth cycle as this is sometimes preferred by the processors due to higher carrageenan yields.

Cumulative growth rates ranged from 150-200% per growth cycle for the deep cycled seaweed.  They are plotted in relation to the control lines, which had significantly lower growth rates.

Above on the previous page: Cumulative Growth of Kappaphycus Vanguard and Kappaphycus Tambalang on the deep cycled Marine Permaculture platform (Test 1 and 2) compared to the control lines (Control 1 and 2) over the course of 36 and 50 days, respectively.

Above: Cumulative Growth of Kappaphycus Tambalang on the deep cycled Marine Permaculture platform (Test 1 and 2) compared to Kappaphycus Sacol on the control lines (Control 1 and 2) over the course of 13 days so far. This growth trial is currently ongoing.

Right: Cumulative Growth of Gracilaria on the deep cycled Marine Permaculture platform (Test 1 and 2) compared to the control lines (Control 1 and 2) over the course of 65 days.

Biostimulant Rice Trials

Initial results from Climate Foundation trials in 2021 have shown that by enhancing soil vitality and plant functions, BigGrow enables rice farmers in the Philippines to reduce traditional NPK fertilizer usage by at least 20% while increasing crop yields by 15-30% or more. Some examples showed as high as 90% increase this year. This twin impact of lowering input costs and maximizing harvest outputs delivers major value.

Summary of the results of our trials on organic rice farms in the Philippines in 2021

In 2022, field trials of our BIGgrow biostimulant product continued and we have been ramping up adoption and distribution by local farmers in the Philippines. Results from both trials further validated the potential of our biostimulant as a cost-effective ecological replacement to harmful conventional fertilizers. Developing such value chains is crucial to ensuring that sustainable economic returns can be generated from Marine Permaculture to make our technology self-sustaining. Furthermore, we also started with vineyards in France as an entry to EU markets.

No additives

Just Fertilizer

Just BIGrow

BIGrow and Fertilizer

Images of our biostimulant trials in 2022 on Chinese cabbage, pechay crops

Building on this success, rice growth trials in 2023 have been conducted across a diverse spectrum of soils, rice varieties, cultivation methods, and environmental conditions. These biostimulant trials consistently demonstrate a significant increase in yield with less fertilizer usage. Excluding outliers, the yield improvement of the biostimulant trials ranged from 20% to 130%, for test regions vs controls, concurrently with a fertilizer reduction of an average of >48%, exceeding the results from our previous trials. It's noteworthy that all areas were subjected to nearly two months of unusually heavy rainfall during the 100-day trial period.

Furthermore, we are currently scrutinizing the parameters that distinguish farms achieving outstanding results from those experiencing only marginal improvements. This analysis will enable us to predict the impact of biostimulants on specific soils and cultivation practices in the future and will enable us to suggest fertilizer reduction on a case-by-case study. 

Above on the previous page: Results of the 2023 rice growth trials: Number of rice sacks harvested per hectare in test fields owned by 18 different farmers in different farms around the island of Bohol treated with BIGgrow biostimulant and a reduced amount of NPK fertilizer compared to control sites where standard levels of NPK fertilizer was applied.

Above: Increase in rice harvest per hectare for fields that were treated with BIGgrow biostimulant compared to control sites. Reduction of fertilizer use (liters per hectare) in rice plots treated with BIGgrow biostimulant compared to control sites.

Discussion of the significance of the results obtained from current existing testing or implementation

Our trials validate the biological response of seaweeds to deep cycling and demonstrate significantly increased growth rates, often in conditions where control surface-irrigated seaweed failed to grow at all.

It emphasizes the need to scale up the irrigation to provide year-round seaweed growth critically needed to sustain the livelihood and economies of seaweed communities and help the planet. Our tests demonstrated that deep cycling can rescue year-round production of tropical seaweed mariculture and provide habitat for marine life.

Our biostimulant trials have demonstrated the unique benefits of our tropical seaweed blend, offering rice farmers increased yields and reduced nitrate fertilizer costs, addressing their economic challenges.

We have already demonstrated several seaweed value chains ready to scale revenue at present. These value chains comprise high-value food products based on seaweed, seaweed feed supplements, bulk commodity dried seaweed sales and biostimulants. Later, the sale and commissioning of MP structures; marketing to ports, governments, fishing villages, hotels, and commercial farm fishing operations; seaweed feed supplements; novel markets for edible seaweed for human consumption); pigments and other growth markets could provide long-term sustainability. If volatile market conditions cause demand in our primary market to decline, we can shift production to other revenue streams to service growth markets.

Description of how these actual results were used to develop commercial design parameters, CAPEX/OPEX estimates, and economic estimates for commercial scale facilities

The Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) integrated crucial insights from our trials, incorporating seaweed growth rates and seasonality data. Through observation of various species thriving on the platform, we gained valuable insights into potential value chains and growth rates, enriching our understanding. Operational details, including labor requirements, were meticulously derived from our growth trials and incorporated into the TEA, ensuring comprehensive coverage. The TEA presents hectare size variations for Marine Permaculture in three scenarios, reflecting different assumptions and acknowledging the evolving nature of array design and operational aspects as the system matures. Biorefinery estimates are grounded in our firsthand experience, providing realistic projections. The majority of data stem from our extensive on-the-ground experience, augmented by insights from our Filipino staff, boasting decades of expertise in the seaweed industry.

Technical Feasibility Study for Single Commercial Manufacturing Unit

As we progress in our discussions towards the finalization of the contract, we aim to ensure transparency and integrity in all our interactions. We have already demonstrated manufacturability of thousands of liters of seaweed foliar biostimulant, which has demonstrated great value chain applicability to rice and other crops including chinese cabbages, mangoes, bananas, and pineapples. The Biorefinery has proven to be a reliable production of biostimulant with multiple factories on multiple Islands. 

Finally, the deep water irrigation equipment has been further improved to significantly boost crop yields each season. This system provides deep cycling of nutrients, ensuring they are consistently available to plants throughout the growing cycle, leading to diagonal yield increases meaning substantial increases season after season. Detailed design information can be shared during the due diligence process pending reaching consensus on project investment terms, including a more detailed per-unit economic analysis for each hectare.

Remaining Open Questions

• Basis and Methodology

• Conceptual Design Overview & Design Considerations

• Design Elements Sections (as many as required) with each section including appropriate raw materials, utilities, equipment, outputs/products, etc.

• Overall Feasibility Design Results including feedstocks, major equipment lists, products, utilities, mass and energy balances, etc.

Capital & Operating Cost Estimate for Single Commercial Manufacturing Unit

We are pleased to offer you a detailed Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) and are more than willing to guide you through its various components, providing clarity and insights. Please feel free to schedule a call with us, where we can discuss the TEA in detail and address any questions or concerns you may have. Your interest and engagement are highly valued, and we look forward to further fruitful discussions as we work towards a mutually beneficial partnership.

Basis and Methodology

As our system advances from the developmental phase to commercialization phase, the projected costs for our commercial hectare-sized system are based on our current designs. To accommodate various growth and cost scenarios, we have incorporated three distinct scenarios into our assumptions: conservative, nominal, and aggressive. Moreover, our scaling model incorporates a technology maturity factor during the initial years to address potential decreases in seaweed production due to early crop growth rates and uninvested system assets. While our designs are current, they may undergo further refinement based on the outcomes of new technology trials and the specific deployment location. Unlike land-based systems, oceanic systems must consider a range of deployment locations, each with unique parameters to consider. Our assumptions are tailored to operations in the Philippines and the Southeast Asian region , accounting for local labor costs and part costs. As we continue to refine our designs and projections, we remain committed to ensuring the scalability, efficiency and effectiveness of our system in various deployment environments.

Estimate accuracy, exclusions, and key issues and unknowns

Our cost estimates draw from a combination of sources to ensure accuracy and reliability. While some estimates rely on standard industry values, others are derived from real costs identified through comprehensive market analysis. Specifically regarding seaweed cultivation costs, we leverage the expertise of our core team members, who possess decades of experience in the Philippine seaweed growing industry. However, it's important to acknowledge certain uncertainties, such as future price developments for seaweed products or the actual scaling of deployed platforms.To address these unknowns, we maintain a proactive approach, consistently updating our estimates as we gather new insights from ongoing technological developments and trial results. This commitment to staying informed ensures that our projections remain as precise and relevant as possible throughout the development process.

Construction and start-up schedule

For simplicity in the Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA), we make certain assumptions regarding capital costs and operational timelines. We assume that capital costs are budgeted in the previous year and that each hectare remains operational for the entire year, although in reality, construction and deployment are ongoing processes throughout the year. 

Our phased approach involves the gradual deployment of hectares: the first hectare becomes operational in Year 1, followed by the second hectare in Year 2, and the third hectare in Year 3. Each iteration incorporates improvements gleaned from the previous one. Subsequently, deployments will triple each year. Prior to deployment, subsystems will be assembled with delivered kits onshore before being towed to the actual deployment site and connected. This systematic approach ensures efficiency and allows for continuous improvement throughout the project's lifecycle.

Overall facility capital and operating cost estimate

The table below presents a comprehensive overview of projected product revenues and costs per hectare of Marine Permaculture annually of the development scenario A in three prediction categories (conservative, nominal, and aggressive). Scenario A comprises manual harvest and deep deep cycling in 2025.  Direct costs encompass operational expenses.

The table below features a more detailed cost breakdown of the direct costs, showing the nominal prediction for Scenario A, including all operational and harvesting costs.

Economic Estimate for Single Commercial Manufacturing Unit

Basis and methodology

The Climate Foundation has extensive experience in conducting techno-economic analyses of seaweed platforms, comprising revenue streams, cost modeling and carbon sequestration services.

The Climate Foundation has been researching and exploring multiple value chains for tropical seaweeds as well as brown kelps temperate seaweed species and identified half a dozen different revenue streams, notably covering food, feed and fertilizer. The deepwater irrigation platform architecture developed by the climate Foundation has been designed to support most species of seaweeds across tropical to seasonally temperate waters. Initial samples of dry pulp post-processing have been tested by multiple offtakers, including a Fortune 500 company.

Moreover, our first product, a tropical seaweed biostimulant, has been field tested with successful results indicating that our products can obtain a 15-30% yield increase for a staple crops like rice with organic agriculture or maintain yields with conventional agriculture while reducing the need for NPK fertilizers by up to 20%. Early sales for our products have been conducted in the western Pacific. Our biostimulant is currently in the process of being approved by relevant regulatory agencies in the Philippines. Early field trials of our product on European agriculture have begun for potentially entering the export market. We have also begun exploring the potential for entering higher value markets, such as nutraceuticals and hydrocolloids. 

Climate Foundation’s techno-economic analysis and business models have further been refined in collaboration with our advisory board, which includes many leading business developers and through three startup Enterprise accelerator programmes in which we have participated (including DFATs Blue Economy Challenge,  Sustainable Ocean Alliance’s Ocean Solutions Accelerator 5th Cohort, Hatch.blue and Third Derivative as part of The Rocky mountain Institute based in Colorado, USA, Vancouver CDL). We also participated in WWF’s OceanX incubator, which provided us with valuable resources to transition MP into a viable business. In Australia we work at the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Center (CRC) and Marine Bioproducts CRC.

Base-case economics

While we haven't conducted a sensitivity tornado with our current economic model, we've identified parameters warranting closer scrutiny. Our model is sufficiently automated to facilitate internal scenario trials, which we've undertaken. However, we did perform a sensitivity analysis for our Carbon removal X-Prize application, which we were successful in winning, specifically for our mega-tonne scenario in carbon sequestration. Although no single parameter emerged as significantly influential, we observed variations in the cumulative impact of numerous parameters collectively.

Commercial Diffusion

Analysis of number and location of sites needed for meaningful impact

We estimate that gigaton-scale sequestration will require 140K km2 of Marine Permaculture. With deepwater irrigation, seaweed cultivation can  access 200M km2 of mostly empty ocean, providing vast scaling opportunities. While current architectures are moored, future iterations using sea anchors may be deployed in the very deep waters of the open ocean.

As with the megatonne scale, we envision modular replication of hectare platforms. Millions of units can serve millions of existing subsistence seaweed farmers. Such a scaling model enables significant cost improvements. We also envision developing larger, autonomous systems that may be up to 1km2 or 100 Hectare in size. We are exploring the possibility of co-locating platforms in and around offshore oil platforms with our partners Blue Symbiosis. Annually tripling the area under deepwater irrigation results in  gigatonne sequestration by 2036.

Logistics and availability for such number: infrastructure, major equipment, raw materials, outputs/products, market conditions and limitations

Access to capital to enable scaling could be a significant factor, however this should be mitigated by profitable revenue streams that should facilitate conventional investment. Market saturation for biostimulants may be a limiting factor as at the gigatonne scale we would be producing ~2B tonnes of biostimulant, which is significantly greater than the global use of nitrogen fertilizers. However, there are ~12 seaweed value chains we could pursue to diversify our production and provide other sources of revenue by servicing other seaweed growth markets. 

Environmental impacts from sinking macroalgae biomass to the deep ocean may also be a limiting factor, reflecting the need for ongoing monitoring. We plan to monitor deep oxygen levels as well as surface algae, which are the main concerns to keep an eye on. Having distributed production systems that can be moved to ensure the impacts are distributed will help spread any impacts across a larger area. If widely distributed, we anticipate that such impacts can be minimal and that the ecosystem services provided will outweigh any possible harm. We expect the typical ocean currents to broadly distribute seaweed even on a fixed platform in deep water, especially since the radius of the platform is so large.  

Environmental and Ethical Risks

Potential negative impact on food and water resources (supply & safety)

Very little freshwater will be required as the seaweeds do not require washing with freshwater and very little is used in biostimulant production. Our water use will be similar to that of a small manufacturing facility. Further, to apply the biostimulant, the farmer has to dilute one liter biostimulant with 100 liters of irrigation water. In most cases this does not represent additional water use as the water would be needed in any case for irrigation. 

As far as marine resources are concerned, we are in fact improving food and water resource availability, as seaweed provides nutrition and improves regional water quality while growing. Indirectly, our seaweed biostimulant contributes to preserving the quality of water resources by minimizing the use of harmful contaminants.

Potential environmental impact through chemical pollution of land, water, and air (carbon and other pollutants) as well as noise and visual pollution

To comprehensively address potential risks to people and the environment, we have engaged in detailed risk assessments and strategic planning. Recognizing potential hazards such as marine mammal entanglement and the spread of invasive species and diseases, we are committed to careful system design and the cultivation of a diversity of local seaweed species. We are also mindful of the environmental hazards posed by waste materials, committing to the use of environmentally responsible materials that can be recycled or disposed of responsibly.

In addressing concerns about ocean hypoxia related to seafloor macroalgae storage, our approach includes careful monitoring of deep ocean oxygen levels through regular measurements. As we scale, we aim to mitigate environmental impacts through a distributed scale-up of movable platforms, which helps avoid concentrating impacts in one area. Moving offshore will further minimize potential impacts, especially in relation to fish spawning grounds and benthic ecosystems.

Our commitment to minimizing environmental impacts includes ongoing assessment and adaptation of our strategies. This proactive approach ensures that as our project scales, we remain vigilant in protecting marine ecosystems and the communities dependent on them, balancing the urgent need for carbon dioxide removal solutions against the imperative to preserve marine health and biodiversity. 

Overall, we expect that Marine Permaculture will have a net positive effect on ecosystem health. Through the cultivation of seaweed, we can improve regional water quality, by reducing acidification and excess nutrient levels in the epipelagic ocean. Furthermore, the introduction of seaweed biostimulants can reduce fertilizer usage, lower nitrous oxide emissions, decrease fossil fuel demand for fertilizer production, and help prevent eutrophication in marine ecosystems by minimizing fertilizer runoff.

Waste management, recycling and utilization of renewable energy

The main raw materials needed for the project include recycled HDPE for pipe construction, steel frames, bamboo, wood, steel, aluminum, fiberglass, and wood for various boats. The major environmental hazard our platforms could pose is from waste materials. In order to reduce these impacts we are using environmentally responsible materials that will be recycled or disposed of responsibly at the end of their life.

Marine solar powers the depth-cycling Seaforestation platform that makes up our key component, offshore solar energy will be used with small batteries to overcome intermittency barriers. A very small amount of energy will be required for depth cycling (<1kWh per day).

Gasoline is presently used to power boats needed to deploy and recover the platform. However we plan to move to electric propulsion, once hectare scale deployment is reached.

The processing site will comprise 50% solar energy from PV sources and 50% of energy from the local grid to overcome energy intermittency. Conservatively, for the LCA we assume that the energy is sourced from coal given that our deployment site is in the Philippines.

Potential Fairtrade concerns

As we expand our operations, including infrastructure development and habitat conversion, we will maintain our commitment to sustainable and ethical practices. This includes minimizing supply chain impacts and ensuring fair labor practices. 

Our goal is to continue reform of the seaweed supply chain globally, promoting fair trade and sustainable practices that benefit both the environment and local communities, by enabling coastal communities to establish and grow their own businesses. By doing so, we contribute to a sustainable economic ecosystem that respects and promotes labor rights, safe working conditions, and access to education and training. Our commitment extends to supporting collective bargaining and unionization efforts, ensuring that workers have a voice in their employment conditions. Through these actions, we aim to create a model of development that prioritizes not just economic output but also the well-being and rights of workers, setting a new standard for responsible and inclusive growth in the seaweed cultivation industry.

Potential weaponization and military dual-use

Marine Permaculture does not involve weaponization. By showcasing cultivation in the Spratly Islands, we can assist the Philippines in asserting their rights in the region by demonstrating their cultivation of seaweed there. 

Life cycle analysis of the overall project

We have estimated the life cycle analysis at 10 to 20% of the total carbon sequestration. This life cycle assessment has been verified by the Carbon XPrize judges. We anticipate that with economies of scale, greater efficiencies will reduce our emissions on a per hectare basis and consequently improve the emissions intensity per tonne of CO2 removed. 

Anticipated efficiency improvements include bulk shipment of materials, autonomous energy provision as we build our own processing facilities that reduces our reliance on local national energy grids which may be carbon intensive in regions of the Global South. Further, our plan is to change to electric propulsion of our boating fleet.

Some processes will likely become more emissions intensive with scale. In particular, moving offshore will increase transport emissions associated with bringing pressed biostimulants to shore for processing and packaging. We will mitigate this impact by moving our processing offshore as we scale and enable sinking of the remaining seaweed as it is being processed.  Part of the technology evolution is to further automate and enable it to rely upon sea anchors rather than moored anchors, but that is not a necessary part of the baseline minimum viable product and thus we are focusing on the key path to a sustainable hectare. 

Further, we are collaborating with Argonne University on a new improved Life Cycle Assessment with our previous work as a basis. 

Other Risks and Barriers, Issues and Unknowns—as many as appropriate. Might include:

• Technological issues and uncertainties

• Raw materials availability and sustainability

• Major equipment manufacturing capacity availability

• Other limitations such as manpower, support services, etc.

• Effect of extrapolation from one commercial manufacturing unit to multiple such units for the purpose of global Diffusion

• Potential legal, political, financial, Patent infringement and other relevant issues

• Competition from similar or equivalent technologies