MEET GECA ENVIRONNEMENT
Quebec, CAN
MELISSA LEUNG, Business Development & Carbon
GECA works with current or future biochar producers across the world, from Canada to New Zealand, and everywhere in between.
Q What resources does GECA provide biochar producers and other clients?
Leung - GECA helps producers optimize their projects through technology selection, market-product fit, and product development. We offer a wide array of services but are specialized in pyrolysis and biochar. Our firm has the capacity to work horizontally on projects and has three teams – 1) engineering and technology, 2) products, soil and environment, and 3) carbon markets. Most projects are multi-disciplinary, enhancing the understanding of change on any aspect of the project and providing solutions that take into account all factors. GECA employs engineers, agronomists, soil scientists, carbon specialists, ESG and sustainability experts.
Q What are the biggest challenges your clients are facing?
Leung -The biggest challenges are 1) selling the biochar and 2) obtaining and closing financing. GECA is now developing brokerage capacity to support our clients in selling their physical biochar. We also work on multiple fronts to help producers gain access to alternative financing methods, such as carbon credit pre-sales and carbon investment.
Q What steps are involved in your approach to project development? How long should clients expect these types of projects to take?
Leung - If a client wants to develop a plant, the process, from business plan inception to commercial operations, would take about 3-5 years. We lead the client through business planning, feedstock, technology, product market, and site selection, permitting, financing, system manufacturing, delivery, installation and commissioning. Of course, each project encounters its own challenges. GECA’s approach is holistic - our engineering, product, environment and carbon teams work hand-in-hand to deliver an optimized, integrated solution.
Q What steps are involved in your approach to biochar carbon removal projects? How long should clients expect these types of projects to take?
Leung - For carbon project development, project length mostly depends on the standard used, the stage of the physical project (i.e. the plant operations), and the structure behind the project. It can vary between three months to two years. The first and most important step is analyzing project characteristics against the available standards. The choice of the standard is critical to many components of the project, such as:
- Timelines - when can you be certified and when can you have certified credits in hand to sell?
- Financials - which standard is best adapted to optimize my net revenue?
- Market - who are the best buyers for my project considering every standard or not?
- Complexity - which standard has the least risk of controversy for my type of project?
These are only some factors to take into account when selecting a standard. After, project development under PDD (Project Design Document) and an LCA (Life Cycle Analysis), auditing (by a 3rd party) will take place. GECA also takes care of commercialisation, including marketing, sales, negotiation and contracting with buyers to reach best terms for each project.
Q Can clients finance the costs of your services?
Leung - Depending on project location and other factors, our clients may be able to obtain grants and subsidies for our services. In Quebec and Canada, GECA can find such programs and apply on behalf of project developers. In the rest of the world, it depends on the availability of local programs. In the carbon space, certain GECA collaborators, buyers and investors may be inclined to finance our service fees for client projects which interest them.
Q Does GECA help clients find investors?
Leung - GECA is not a registered investment broker, therefore it is impossible to broker such deals. However, when possible, we do put entities in contact with each other if there is a potential collaboration opportunity.