What is the 10-questions interview? Regularly, we interview a promising startup or scale-up in the climate & energy tech ecosystem and ask them our 10 questions to showcase their technology, inspire the sector with their ambition and better understand their needs. With our platform (ZERO), we want to put these bold innovators on a pedestal and introduce them to our audience. Do you want to connect with this startup/scale-up, feel free to contact us at info@platformzero.co! 

Robbert, the program manager at SeaO2, brings a unique blend of expertise in software engineering and entrepreneurial leadership. As the subject of this “10 Questions interview,” he shares insights into his role at SeaO2 and the company’s groundbreaking carbon capture initiatives.

1. Could you briefly introduce yourself, who are you and what makes you tick?

I’m Robbert van Geldrop, Program Manager at SeaO2. I’m an entrepreneur who enjoys innovation and going on new ventures. Recently, I figured that we have to use our entrepreneurial power to make the world a better place and I decided to join SeaO2 in 2024 because of that.

2. What is the core of your mission (the bold goal) that you are pursuing?

Our mission is to use SeaO2’s technology to remove carbon at a gigaton scale in the following decades. We do that by removing CO2 from the ocean, after which the ocean takes the CO2 from the air. Removing CO2 from seawater can be an effective carbon capture method as the density of CO2 in ocean water is 150x higher than in the air and the ocean stores 30% of al CO2 worldwide.

3. What are you building/developing with your organization?

We just got started and our next step is to build a pilot plant which captures 250 tons of CO2 on a yearly basis. This plan will hopefully prove that our idea works at scale and that it will also be energy-efficient. It’s an exciting next step for us as it brings a lot of research we’ve done so far together with our partners, into practice. 

4. What makes your team that you are working with, special?

We have a highly talented team who all work with a certain sense of urgency. Time is precious, not only for us as a startup, but in general, as climate change is already here and we need to reverse what we’ve done as humankind. Everyone in the team is aware of that. At the same time, the spirit is extremely positive and entrepreneurial, which is what we need to get things done. 

5. What is your view on our climate challenge and how do you want to contribute?

There’s a huge problem of inertia with decision-makers worldwide and more so here in The Netherlands. It makes me angry from time to time if I hear the excuses on why energy companies refuse to double down on what they promised to do. Most of them seem to be asleep at the wheel. Also, there’s a lack of true entrepreneurship. These companies have billions to invest, but rather optimize for short-term financial gain. We’ve been confronted by this at SeaO2, as some of them pulled out of budding collaboration projects too easily due to a ‘strategic shift in priorities’. 

6. What is your view on your sector and what is needed to accelerate change?

Stop whining and start acting. If you work in a position in which you can make a difference, you should do it or you’ll end up on the wrong side of history. For instance, if you feel ok just operating your coal-powered power plant on a daily basis and not shelving out time to make sure these fossil fuel burning plants stop existing, you’re part of the problem and not part of the solution. I sympathise that it will be difficult and in some cases it may feel too difficult. However, this is not an excuse not to try. It’s innovator’s dilemma at scale, but in this case it’s hurting the environment. 

7. What are some recent highlights that really make you proud?

We raised our seed investment by end of Summer 2024. This makes it possible for SeaO2 to prove our technology at a certain scale and may in hindsight be our 0 to 1 moment. 

8. What is the biggest challenge you see for your company to grow even faster?

We need some of the incumbent companies in the energy sector to work with us or make space for us. This has to happen now. Especially in The Netherlands lack of space is the biggest challenge, for the physical space, access to green power and water in our case. 

9. Are there needs (network, funding, people) that our community could provide?

It’s clear that in order to achieve our mission, we will have to partner with other companies. I think the Platform Zero community consists of people who can be our eyes and ears for such potential partnerships. We’re always on the lookout for where we can deploy our technology for marine carbon removal. 

10. What are the 3 inspiring startups/scale-ups you think we should interview next?

The most recent PortXL program that we participated in had a couple of interesting companies in its cohort. They were all amazing, but for Platform Zero I would suggest to interview HalioGen Power, Omniwind, and Carbon Blue. 

Enthusiastic about SeaO2 or interested in this topic? Then contact us at info@platformzero.co!