UP Catalyst's Nordic handshake in Oulu
TALLINN - UP Catalyst has signed a pre-agreement with Finnish utility Oulun Energia to build a factory that turns carbon dioxide emissions into battery materials to ease Europe’s reliance on Chinese graphite imports.
The deal highlights how Nordic energy infrastructure is becoming a magnet for clean-tech startups looking to scale laboratory technology into heavy industry.
The Core Deal
- The Plan: UP Catalyst will capture CO₂ emissions from an Oulun Energia plant and process it using molten salt electrolysis.
- The Output: The facility targets an annual production of 20,000 tonnes of sustainable, battery-grade graphite and carbon nanotubes.
- The Timeline: The companies plan to begin construction before 2030, with operations launching in 2031.
The project lands amid an aggressive push by the European Union to secure domestic supply chains for electric vehicles and defence. China currently controls over 70% of the world's graphite production, leaving European automakers vulnerable to export controls.
"Through this collaboration we also seek to support greater sovereignty in critical materials and to help build new, sustainable industry in Finland," added Kimmo Alatulkkila, Head of New Business at Oulun Energia.
Finland has emerged as a strategic hub for the European battery value chain due to its cheap, reliable, clean energy grid and existing industrial infrastructure. The expansion is backed by a €47 million clean transition tax credit from the state agency Business Finland.
"Finland offers a very strong foundation for industrial scale-up... This collaboration is an important step in understanding how industrial CO₂ emissions, energy infrastructure, and local partnerships can help enable the next generation of critical raw material production in Europe," said Rait Maasikas, CEO at UP Catalyst.
