Kenya-based direct air capture company Octavia Carbon just locked in a new offtake agreement, facilitated by Carbon Direct. It’s the latest signal that demand for DAC credits from the Global South is real — and growing.
Octavia’s Hummingbird pilot in the Kenyan Rift Valley has been running 24/5 since October 2025. Their Gen 2 system captures atmospheric CO₂ and stores it permanently underground through a partnership with carbon mineralization company Cella. They recently activated a cryogenic tank for liquid CO₂ storage — a meaningful technical milestone for any DAC operation, let alone one running in East Africa.
Why This Matters
The CDR market has a geographic concentration problem. Most DAC investment flows to North America and Europe. Octavia is building world-class capture infrastructure where the geology is ideal — the Rift Valley offers abundant geothermal energy and geological storage sites. That’s not a compromise; it’s an advantage.
Carbon Direct’s involvement matters too. Their scientific diligence process is among the most rigorous in the market. When Carbon Direct facilitates an offtake, it carries weight.
CDI has invested in Octavia Carbon because we believe DAC shouldn’t be a rich-country monopoly. Kenya has geothermal power, the right geology, and now a team proving they can build and operate capture systems at a level that attracts top-tier facilitators.
The Bigger Picture
Offtake agreements are the oxygen of the CDR industry. Without committed buyers, projects can’t secure financing, can’t build, can’t scale. Octavia said it plainly: “Offtake agreements translate climate ambition into deployable infrastructure.”
This deal comes the same week Boeing signed a 40,000-tonne procurement through Carbonfuture and Canada launched a $100M removal coalition. The market is clearly moving from pilot-phase curiosity to structured, financeable commitments.
For DAC in Africa, the question was never “can it work here?” — the geology and energy answers have always been yes. The question was whether buyers would commit. They are.
Source: Carbon Herald