October 6, 2025, Bethesda, Maryland, USA – The Climate Intervention Environmental Impact Fund (CIEIF; cieif.org) is pleased to announce completion of its fourth round of $75,000 grants towards environmental impact analysis for climate restoration projects. The three new grantees:
Acacia Impact Innovation (acacia-ii.com) and HighTechXL (www.hightechxl.com) are, respectively, a Dutch company and a Dutch deep-tech accelerator program working jointly on a technological innovation to achieve large-scale removal of atmospheric methane. They are collaborating with Prof. Matthew Johnson of the University of Copenhagen to investigate a chlorine-based atmospheric methane removal technique using ship plumes as a distinct and attractive reactor class. The advantage of a plume-based approach is that it acts locally and within a limited time (hours), while it is still capable of entraining and processing large air volumes. Compared to other open-air methane removal approaches, they propose that plume-based reactors will be superior in having low environmental impacts that can be controlled, assessed and monitored, and can keep chlorine concentrations within safety limits, even close to the ship’s stack. CIEIF funding will allow the team to conduct expert impact modeling for a hypothetical field test and to obtain a detailed simulation of environmental impacts, as well as to initiate outreach to potentially-impacted stakeholders. The results will then inform them on whether actual field testing is desirable and feasible.
Global Ocean Health (www.globaloceanhealth.org ) is a U.S. NGO based in Washington State that is leading stakeholder outreach and social impact assessment on behalf of marine science researchers working within the consortium Exploring Ocean Iron Solutions (ExOIS, oceaniron.org), based at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. ExOIS is seeking to comprehensively assess the CO2 sequestration technique known as ocean iron fertilization (OIF) in the North Pacific. CIEIF’s grant to Global Ocean Health will enable it to: 1) conduct initial mapping of regional rights-holders, ocean users, and fishing communities that may have concerns about potential effects of ExOIS’s future OIF field experiments and any potential deployment of OIF in the region; 2) lead the engagement with those fishing communities that rely on species and resources that could be affected by the field tests or future OIF deployments; 3) convene North Pacific fisheries leaders as a panel of “citizen experts,” with the purpose of building their knowledge via scenario-based investigation to assess risks, benefits, and management options; and 4) prepare findings and further social research recommendations for peer-reviewed publication. To carry this out, GOH is partnering with the Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal at American University in Washington, DC.
SeaO2 (www.seao2.com) is a Netherlands-based company developing new technologies to achieve scalable marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) through Direct Ocean Carbon Capture (DOCC). SeaO2 proposes Europe’s first commercially-developed, standalone DOCC field test, in Scheveningen Harbor. CIEIF funding will enhance environmental impact assessment, predictive modeling, and stakeholder engagement in that setting. Results from this small test will set the stage for a potential larger North Sea field test by SeaO2 aimed at validating the technology’s gigatonne-scale climate potential.
This CIEIF round has unique features, with one grant primarily funding detailed computer modeling of environmental impacts of a hypothetical field test, modeling that is necessary before proposing a possible real-world field test (Acacia et al.). Another grant does not fund environmental impact assessment or modeling at all, rather it funds just the social impact assessment/engagement phases on a broad scale for potential future field testing, including the comprehensive stakeholder outreach needed before moving forward (Global Ocean Health). Two grants go to teams from The Netherlands; the third to a U.S. team.
CIEIF’s decision-making trio consists of Peter Jenkins, Fund Manager; Renaud de Richter, PhD., Science Advisor; and John Fitzgerald, Legal Advisor. They narrowed numerous applications down based on several factors, including their clarity and their long-term potential for climate benefits. All grantees will publish their impact-related results either in a peer-reviewed journal or as a publicly available report with independent peer review.
More details about all three projects will be made available at cieif.org/current-grants.
CIEIF also is announcing another round of three grants with award amounts of $75,000 each. The deadline for applications is March 15, 2026. Innovative climate intervention projects worldwide in need of funding for focused environmental impact assessment, impact modeling, and/or public-stakeholder outreach are encouraged to apply. Details of the eligibility requirements are at: cieif.org/what-we-do and cieif.org/guidelines-for-grant-applicants/.
CIEIF will issue future reminders of this opportunity. To receive them directly, go to cieif.org/ and Sign Up for Updates.