Exclusive: Frontier, the group of big companies jump-starting carbon removal markets, has brokered $11.7 million in new purchase deals with the startup 44.01.

Why it matters: It's Frontier's first purchase using a promising but nascent method that turns CO2 into rock, potentially opening up new locations for permanent carbon storage.

• The process involves injecting CO2 into rock formations, triggering chemical reactions that transform it into stable, solid minerals.

Driving the news: The agreement is for around 21,000 tons of removal between 2028 and 2031.

• The company intends to draw CO2 from a wastewater treatment plant for injection into rock formations on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates.
• But the tech could also help scale removal methods by expanding permanent storage options, especially in places where conventional underground storage is too expensive or impractical, Frontier said.

State of play: 44.01, which was founded in Oman and is headquartered in London, works with an abundant form of rock called peridotite.

• The company — which takes its name from the molecular mass of CO2 — dissolves captured CO2 in water and injects it deep into the rock.
• This speeds a "natural reaction with magnesium silicate minerals that locks the CO₂ into stable, solid carbonates," Frontier said.

Zoom out: The CO2 volume in this deal is small, but it offers an early opportunity to show whether the technology can work at commercial scale.

• Peridotite and other formations that can react with CO2 this way could potentially store over 5 billion tons annually, according to Frontier.
• The technology could also provide a storage option for CO2 captured from industrial operations like cement and steel production, Frontier said.

"What's amazing about this project is, because it will be one of the first continuous injection trials and pilots, it will de-risk in-situ mineralization anywhere around the world," Frontier head Hannah Bebbington Valori said.

Catch up quick: Frontier vets carbon removal startups and facilitates purchase deals on behalf of founding members and other companies.

• It was founded in 2022 by players including Google, Shopify and Stripe, and includes Autodesk, H&M Group, and Workday.
• Frontier also works with other buyers through a partnership with the corporate sustainability platform Watershed.

The bottom line: "This small offtake is really the key stepping stone to commercializing in-situ mineralization, and building out the in-situ mineralization infrastructure in the same way that we have with conventional geologic storage," Bebbington Valori said in an interview.

↔️ The last 24 hours have brought mixed signals for the fate of the Senate's bipartisan permitting deal.

• State of play: Both major auto industry trade groups now back the bill, with the Alliance for Automotive Innovation joining a multi-industry letter.
• Friction point: Via Punchbowl's Josh Siegel, Reps. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and Mike Levin (D-Calif.), both "influential clean energy hawks," are seeking changes and also don't trust the administration.
• What they're saying: Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) tells The Washington Sun that he's working on amendments related to tribal preservation. But he's "hawkish on taking big steps in the direction of clean energy, even if it's a mixed bag."

🖥️ Venture Global, a big U.S. LNG exporter, is getting in on the data center boom with plans to provide behind-the-meter, gas-fired generation.

• Catch up quick: This morning it announced an agreement with turbine maker GE Vernova and energy services contractor Baker Hughes for "up to 16 new, 720 MW power island units and associated power transformer equipment."
• State of play: Venture said it builds on its existing operations that already supply "Island Mode" power to its own facilities, and that the new projects would be on land it already owns.
• The bottom line: Venture joins a growing list of companies large and small looking to snag a piece of AI's surging needs for power. The Wall Street Journal has more.

🛢️ Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is pressing the World Bank to drop its restrictions on upstream oil and gas finance, saying it would help expand energy access in Africa.

The big question is ... do you believe it can fly?

State of play: Elon Musk is expected to reveal the long-awaited Tesla Roadster at an event today in Texas, about nine years after first teasing that it will use rocket technology to lift off the ground in some capacity.

• "I think it might be one of the most spectacular demos ever," Musk said in April on an earnings call.
• "The new Tesla Roadster can fly," Musk said on X in 2024.
• He promised in 2017 that the new Roadster would cost $250,000 and would go 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds, reaching a top speed of 250 mph, which would be higher than the top recorded speed on the F1 circuit.

What we're watching: The Roadster is expected to be a highly engineered, extremely fast, super expensive version of Tesla's very first car — a two-seat sports car that put the company on the map, proving it could build an EV at a time when industry experts doubted Musk's automotive bona fides.

• Musk first revealed a new Roadster prototype in 2017, saying it would reach the delivery stage in 2020. Some customers placed deposits years ago — and the company is currently accepting $50,000 deposits.

Yes, but: Even as he readies to show it again, it's still unclear when it'll actually go into production.

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U.S. inflation picked up in September as soaring energy prices added to already stubborn price pressures, the Labor Department said yesterday.

Why it matters: The latest Consumer Price Index shows that the inflation fight is far from over — and makes further Federal Reserve interest rate hikes more likely as Americans struggle with higher costs.

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"Higher energy costs are beginning to seep into broader services prices, increasing the risk that this inflation burst will persist."