Capture6 Secures Project-Level Financing to Advance Phase 2 of Project Monarch

Capture6 has secured project-level financing from RSF | Regenerative Social Finance, supported by the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (iBank), to advance Phase 2 of its Project Monarch carbon removal and water recovery facility in Palmdale, California. The non-recourse financing structure reflects growing confidence in climate infrastructure that delivers measurable benefits for communities and the environment.

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Project Monarch is housed within the Pure Water Antelope Valley Demonstration Facility, in partnership with the Palmdale Water District. It is the first advanced water treatment plant in California to house an integrated water management and carbon capture system. Purewaterav Once Phase 2 is operational, the facility is expected to remove approximately 25,000 tons of CO2 per year, deliver up to 40% savings on brine disposal costs for local ratepayers, and create jobs across the Antelope Valley region.

What Phase 2 Will Do

Phase 2 scales Capture6's core technology: converting brine, one of the most costly and environmentally challenging byproducts of water recycling, into usable freshwater while removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In its second phase, Project Monarch is designed to recover more than 50% of the input brine as freshwater while removing CO2 from the atmosphere.

The demonstration facility is expected to be operational by 2026, with plans for an expanded full-scale facility by 2030. Capture6 Capture6 broke ground on the project in June 2024, with California Natural Resources Agency Deputy Secretary of Water Nancy Vogel among the speakers.

A Climate Finance Milestone

The non-recourse, project-level structure of this financing is significant. Unlike corporate financing backed by a company's balance sheet, project-level debt is secured by the project's own assets and future cash flows. It's a structure typically associated with mature infrastructure, and its use here signals that institutional lenders are starting to treat carbon removal as a commercially viable asset class.

RSF | Regenerative Social Finance has been mobilizing capital toward mission-driven organizations since 1984, channeling more than $1 billion into businesses and nonprofits through investment notes, donor-advised funds, and loans. iBank was created in 1994 to finance public infrastructure and private development that promote a healthy climate for jobs, contribute to a strong economy, and improve the quality of life in California communities. Together, they form a public-private financing structure that gives Project Monarch both impact credibility and institutional backing.

Background on Project Monarch

Capture6 and Palmdale Water District announced Project Monarch in June 2023 as the first fully integrated water management and CO2 removal facility of its kind, designed to produce freshwater resources and increase carbon removal simultaneously.

The project has received an $8 million grant from the California Energy Commission under its Commercialization Industrial Decarbonization Program, one of the largest state-funded direct air capture investments at the time of the award. At the June 2024 groundbreaking, Ethan Cohen-Cole, CEO of Capture6, said: "We're thrilled to work with Palmdale Water District on this innovative project that addresses PWD's local needs in terms of brine management and freshwater production, while drawing carbon out of the atmosphere."

About Capture6

Capture6 is a water-positive carbon removal company based in California and New Zealand, developing and commercializing highly scalable approaches to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The company currently has four water-positive carbon capture facilities announced across three continents, with projects in development across the U.S., South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, and the Middle East. Learn more at capture6.com.