Heavy industry produces the materials that the modern world runs on. It also produces around a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. Cement alone accounts for roughly 8% of global CO₂, a share that has barely moved in decades. Most of the plants responsible are old, complex, and still running on control systems that were never built for the world they operate in today.
This week, Dominic Shales speaks with Buffy Price, co-founder of Gigaton, the AI company replacing control software in energy-intensive industries. Formerly known as Carbon Re and spun out of the University of Cambridge and UCL, Gigaton has just announced a $26 million Series A led by Plural, taking total funding past $35 million.
Buffy explains how Gigaton's self-learning platform takes autonomous control of industrial processes, delivering up to $3 million in annual operational savings per plant for customers including Adani Cement, Heidelberg Materials, and Holcim. She talks through the journey from recommendation dashboards to direct plant control, the rise of dark factories in China, and the company's plans to expand from cement into steel, glass, and petrochemicals.
They also discuss what it takes to raise a Series A in the current climate investment market, how CBAM and ETS are shifting producer incentives, and why carbon capture and AI process control are complementary rather than competing solutions.
Find climate tech news, analysis, and interviews at Climate Solutions News.
Chapters:
00:00 The Impact of Heavy Industry on Climate Change
03:02 Gigaton's Mission and Ambitions
06:11 Funding and Financial Viability in Tough Times
08:48 Automation and AI in Cement Production
11:54 Cultural Shifts in Industry and AI Adoption
15:11 Global Expansion and Market Strategy
17:57 Policy Impacts on the Cement Industry
21:10 Expanding into Other Hard-to-Abate Industries
23:53 Buffy's Journey and Vision for the Future
","author_name":"RESET Media"}