Running Tide first takes

Quick thoughts as the company sunsets and closes down

Photo by Nicole Avagliano: https://www.pexels.com/photo/ocean-waves-2236713/

Hey y’all. Writing this since I got a notification Saturday morning (thanks Neesha Mirchandani!) that Running Tide (RT) is closing up shop. I was going to write about insetting this week (got ~1,200 words teed up - stay tuned) but decided instead to put to words some of my quick takes on Running Tide, since James Temple at MIT Technology Review called this “one of the first big stumbles” in CDR.

Doing this in “Intelligence Brief” style from my previous professional experiences monitoring biopharma news for C-suite employers or clients whenever important events unfolded: 

1. Brief, relevant facts

2. Analysis: what this could mean

3. What’s Next

What happened:

After $50M+ of private investment, Running Tide is ceasing global operations and laying off all staff. Founded in 2017, they were one of the first CDR companies in the world, focused on sinking macroalgae and biomass in marine environments, in Maine (USA) and Iceland. Purchasers include Microsoft, Shopify, and numerous Aggregated or Anonymous buyers; over 27,000 tons were sold, with over 21,000 delivered per CDR.FYI. They are the only non-biochar entry in the top 10 of CDR.FYI’s leaderboard of companies who delivered credits. (Data as of 6/16/24)

Reasons cited from the management team include weakness of voluntary carbon markets, with other media and academic sources questioning the technical feasibility of RT’s process to deliver actual carbon removal.

 What This Means: 

• Stands to reason that any company pursuing marine macroalgae or biomass sinking will face heightened scrutiny. Though unknown how much this would affect the perception of other methods of marine CDR beyond biomass sinking - or non-marine CDR generally - among key gatekeepers. 

• It is unfortunate to see Running Tide go out of business, as they were one of the few Series B funded companies in carbon removal. Praise for their team for having the courage to be of the first CDR startups having been founded in 2017. That said, it’s common that first players in a space yield so that improved versions of their solutions can come to bear - e.g. anyone remember search engines Mosaic, AskJeeves, or WebCrawler? (crickets chirping…)

Where Do We Go From Here

• The former employees of RT will be able to move to other CDR companies and contribute the knowledge of their experiences at the company - I personally hope they choose to continue their careers in removing excess greenhouse gases. What went well at RT, as well as areas of improvement, will be shared to others in the industry. Salvaging the knowledge and experiences that they can publicly share could provide valuable guidance to other companies in CDR.

• If the lesson is that “The problem is the voluntary carbon market is voluntary, and there simply isn’t the demand needed to support large scale carbon removal” - per Running Tide’s LinkedIn post above - then CDR industry leaders should take actions to create such a market where tonnage can be credibly and responsibly transacted at high volume for validated climate impact. Not just for biomass sinking CDR, or general marine CDR, but for all CDR.
  
  The ability to have robust monitoring, reporting, and verification of credits - validated by a third party - builds trust. And trust builds (and maintains) paying customers who derive value from their purchase. As the carbon removal industry matures it would be wise to heed the advice of management expert Peter Drucker: “There is only one definition of business purpose: to create a customer.”

  Adding 6/25/24: Views expressed in this writing are my own and do not represent the position of any employer.