A German start- up called Carbonsate is burying chipped woody biomass (mainly encroaching bushwood) in sealed pits in Namibia as a form of long-term carbon sequestration, then selling the resulting CO₂- removal certificates.
Key details
- Founders and location: The company was founded by two people from Saxony (Johanna Bröll and Fabian Sperling). Operations are in Namibia (northern Otjozondjupa Region, near Otjiwarongo). The approach uses residual or surplus bush biomass that is chipped and placed in large, sealed earthen pits designed to limit oxygen exposure and slow or prevent decomposition for at least 100 years, keeping the carbon locked away rather than released as CO₂.
- Scale and commercial side: In October 2026 the company opened its third storage facility. It has an agreement with the carbon- credit marketplace Senken to deliver a total of 50,000 tonnes of CO₂ removal by 2028. Certificate prices are reported in the range of roughly €120- 150 per tonne. Buyers have included companies seeking voluntary offsets.
- Context in Namibia: The biomass comes from bush- clearing efforts related to the problem of woody plant encroachment on savanna grasslands (a longstanding land- management issue in parts of Namibia). Similar smaller projects exist (e.g., by a Swiss firm in the same area).
Coverage and debate
MDR reported on the project in early September 2026 (and followed up later), framing it as an attempt to turn otherwise unused residual wood into a climate resource while generating revenue through certificates.
Opinion pieces (e.g., around late October and early November 2026) contrast the Namibian burial approach with Germany’s simultaneous promotion of wood- fired energy, noting for example a planned plant in Chemnitz expected to burn ~100,000 tonnes of wood per year.
Critics (including some environmental analysts) question the durability of the sequestration, potential methane or CO₂ leakage risks if seals fail, local ecological or land-use impacts of large-scale bush removal and pit construction, and broader issues of European firms generating carbon credits from African biomass resources. Proponents present it as a practical, measurable form of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) using available material.
In short, the headline is accurate: a Saxony- based start- up is actively burying wood biomass in Namibia specifically to claim long- term carbon storage and sell related certificates on the voluntary market.
The method remains relatively novel and is part of the wider (and still evolving) discussion around biomass- based CDR techniques.
The German offshore wind industry (not oil and gas) is warning of a jobs crisis, with the industry association BWO estimating that up to about 23,000 of roughly 49,000 existing jobs could be at risk if expansion stalls.
This matches recent reporting from NDR (23 October 2026), taz (21 October 2026), and BWO statements and analyses from mid- October 2026.
Key points from the coverage and BWO- commissioned analysis (by wind:research):
- Current employment is around 49,000 jobs (roughly 31,500 full- time equivalents). In a “value creation crisis” scenario with continued project and order gaps, the sector risks losing a large share of these, figures of up to ~23,000 jobs threatened in the nearer term (e.g., next few years if the pipeline does not recover) appear in reporting, while longer- term projections to 2045 put full- time job losses at around 21,000 (with headcount impacts sometimes cited higher, e.g., ~34,000) and tens of thousands of potential additional jobs unrealized if the 70 GW target by 2045 is missed.
- Suppliers, especially foundation and component makers in coastal states such as Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg- Western Pomerania, face order gaps from around 2028. Example: Steelwind Nordenham (foundations) has work mainly from UK projects into 2027 but anticipates a sharp drop afterward; some firms have already announced cuts.
- Causes include failed or bid- less tenders (none successfully concluded since around June 2025), rising construction and financing costs and interest rates, delayed grid connections, and awarded projects that are economically strained or in limbo. Earlier high bids (e.g., by oil majors in 2023) have become harder to realize under current conditions.
- Longer- term study scenarios also project major revenue shortfalls (tens of billions cumulatively, potentially hundreds of billions by 2045 in a deep-stagnation case) and capacity well below the 70 GW goal (e.g., only around half in a crisis case).
BWO and industry voices are pushing for changes to the Offshore Wind Energy Act (WindSeeG) amendments under debate, including more reliable two- sided Contracts for Difference (CfDs) with indexation and options for developers to hand back uneconomic sites so they can be re- tendered quickly.
Several state premiers (coastal and some inland) have also pressed the federal Economics Ministry on the risks of job losses and lost industrial value creation.
Some early job cuts are already occurring or announced at individual suppliers, but the large “up to 23,000” figure is a forward- looking risk estimate tied to continued stagnation in the project pipeline rather than immediate confirmed mass layoffs. The situation remains fluid as policy talks continue.
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