Startup Founder Grows Hemp in His Office - and a New Way to Remove Carbon from the Sky
Tao Climate founder, Gary Byrnes, grows hemp in the company's Dublin office.
Dublin-based Tao Climate, recently named among the Sunday Business Post Hot 100 Startups, is literally growing the future of carbon removal.
DUBLIN, LEINSTER, IRELAND, November 6, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Gary Byrnes, CEO and founder of Tao Climate, has taken the company’s mission quite literally by growing hemp plants beside his desk. The goal isn’t just decoration. It’s demonstration.
“Hemp absorbs more CO2 per hectare than any forest,” Byrnes explains. “We’re showing, leaf by leaf, how nature and technology can work together to clean the atmosphere. Growing hemp in the office is just my way of keeping us close to our purpose.”
The lighthearted experiment comes as Tao Climate celebrates two major milestones:
- Selection to the prestigious Sunday Business Post Hot 100 Startups list for 2025.
- Nominations in two categories at the Irish Aviation Industry Awards for innovation and sustainability.
But behind the humour lies a serious breakthrough. Tao Climate is building the technology that enables scalable, verifiable carbon removal for industries that need it most - aviation, maritime, and data centres.
By combining natural carbon sinks such as hemp with advanced AI and satellite monitoring, Tao Climate helps EU companies generate certified carbon removals that count toward ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme) compliance. The result is not just climate progress but measurable cost savings for 2025 and 2026.
“Every company in the EU ETS has a choice,” says Byrnes. “They can keep paying more for emissions, or they can help remove carbon directly and get verifiable credit for it. Our platform makes that simple, transparent, and scalable.”
The company’s approach has already attracted the attention of global partners and investors, including Google Startups for Sustainable Development, Enterprise Ireland, and the European Space Agency. Tao Climate’s goal is to make carbon removal as visible and reliable as financial reporting - a core principle of its upcoming MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification) platform, which brings satellite imaging, AI and blockchain together to deliver trust and transparency.
As Byrnes jokes, “If growing hemp at my desk gets people talking about real climate action, I’ll call it a success. We’re not just decarbonising industries. We’re growing proof that the future can be green - and profitable.”
ENDS
Editors' Note: Growing hemp may require a license, or even be illegal, in some territories - especially petrostates - because hemp can do almost everything fossil fuels can do, but without melting the planet.
About Tao Climate
Tao Climate is a Dublin-based climate tech company using industrial hemp, satellite monitoring, and AI to deliver high-integrity carbon removal solutions. Its technology demonstrator, FlyGuiltFree.com, connects travellers directly to verified carbon removal projects, while its B2B technologies enable airlines and airports to integrate carbon removal into their operations and customer offerings, and also remove large-scale emissions at less cost than the EU ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme).
Contact
Gary Byrnes, CEO
Email: gary@taoclimate.com
Phone: +353 87 249 3051
Website: https://taoclimate.com
FlyGuiltFree: https://flyguiltfree.com
Gary Byrnes
Tao Climate
gary@taoclimate.com
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