A new Canadian climatetech startup is taking aim at one of the world’s toughest carbon challenges: cement production, a sector responsible for more than 8% of global CO₂ emissions—roughly equal to all passenger vehicles on the planet.
Vancouver-based CURA has emerged from stealth with an electrochemical process that can cut cement emissions by up to 85% while lowering both energy use and production costs. Powered entirely by electricity, CURA’s system splits limestone into lime and a pure stream of CO₂ before it reaches the kiln—preventing process emissions at the source.
Unlike traditional carbon-capture methods that treat emissions after combustion, CURA’s approach eliminates them entirely by redesigning the chemistry upstream.
“Cement is one of the hardest climate challenges left to solve—and the world cannot reach net zero without rethinking how it’s made,” said Erin Bobicki, co-founder and CEO of CURA. “With CURA, we’re offering a retrofit-friendly, scalable solution that eliminates process emissions without forcing producers to change their feedstocks or infrastructure.”
CURA’s founding team brings together some of Canada’s most accomplished climatetech innovators: Erin Bobicki (CEO, former VP at Brimstone and co-founder of Aurora Hydrogen), Phil De Luna (CTO, former Chief Science and Commercial Officer at Deep Sky and sustainability expert at McKinsey & Company), Sabrina Scott (COO, award-winning UBC researcher and nonprofit director), and Curtis Berlinguette (Science Advisor, UBC professor, and serial climatetech entrepreneur).
“We believe CURA can become a cornerstone of cement decarbonization,” said De Luna. “Our goal is to make low-carbon cement not just possible, but the default standard—and to help producers achieve deep decarbonization without disruption.”
CURA is developing a 100-tonne-per-annum pilot plant in Canada, with plans to scale to a 10,000-tonne demonstration facility within three years. The company is also partnering with global cement producers and infrastructure developers to validate its process under real-world conditions.
“CURA’s electrochemical approach tackles process emissions at the source while keeping familiar feedstocks and operations intact,” said Ken Carrusca, former VP of Environment at the Cement Association of Canada. “If they deliver at scale, this could become one of the most practical pathways for producers to meet 2030 and 2050 targets.”
Building early momentum, CURA has initiated its first development partnership with an international infrastructure developer and is evaluating pilot sites for its 100 TPA unit. The company was also recently accepted into the Creative Destruction Lab’s Climate Stream in Paris, one of the world’s top programs for scaling science-based ventures.
With industrial partnerships forming and global networks expanding, CURA is moving quickly from lab innovation to large-scale deployment—transforming one of the world’s toughest climate challenges into a made-in-Canada industrial opportunity.