The engineers cleaning up the high seas by trapping ship emissions
The shipping industry moves over 80% of global trade – but it's also responsible for more than 800 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions each year. And while new fuels and ship designs may chart a greener course for the future, they do little to help the vast fleet of existing vessels still on the water today.
That's the challenge UK-based engineers Alisha Fredriksson and Roujia Wen set out to solve – and their breakthrough innovation has now earned them a place among the top 10 global selected scientists for the Young Inventors Prize 2025, awarded by the European Patent Office (EPO).
Together, Fredriksson, a Swedish-Canadian climate tech entrepreneur, and Wen, a Chinese engineer with a background in AI and applied mathematics, co-founded in the UK Seabound—a startup that has developed a compact, retrofittable carbon capture system for ships. Unlike most industrial carbon capture systems, which require complex onboard storage or high-pressure tanks, Seabound's device captures CO₂ directly from ship exhaust and binds it with a lime-based sorbent, transforming it into solid limestone pellets. The process is simple, safe, and designed to operate on any commercial cargo vessel.
'If you picture a little rock, it's basically like a sponge for CO₂,' explains Fredriksson. 'When the CO₂ passes over the pebble, it soaks it up – and then it's trapped inside that pebble.'
The system is modular and scalable. It can be installed in standard shipping containers and powered using heat from the ship's exhaust, requiring minimal additional energy. Once captured, the limestone pellets can be offloaded as ordinary cargo, avoiding the need for specialised port infrastructure. The material can either be sold for use in construction or post-processed to release and reuse the CO₂, allowing the lime to be recycled for future capture cycles.
Fredriksson and Wen first met at university and launched Seabound in 2021. Fredriksson had worked in maritime e-fuels, where she saw firsthand the scarcity of captured CO₂ needed for production. Wen's expertise in systems engineering helped them develop a working prototype. 'Initially, people thought it was crazy that we were taking on such a big challenge,' says Wen. 'Until they saw our six-metre-tall prototype actually built. Then they started seeing that it's real – and it's happening.'
Their system has since been tested at sea on a commercial cargo vessel, capturing CO₂ at 78% efficiency and sulphur emissions at 90% efficiency, according to Seabound. The technology not only meets environmental targets, but also offers shipowners a cost-effective alternative to replacing entire fleets – a critical bridge solution for the industry.
'Sustainability means building a world that works for both people and the planet,' says Wen. 'Not just for today but for generations to come.'
The duo's innovation directly supports UN Sustainable Development Goal 13 (Climate Action), offering a scalable way to slash emissions in one of the hardest-to-abate sectors.
Their innovation shows that cleaning up the high seas doesn't have to wait for the future: It can start with the ships already on the water.
Ministers and representatives from more than 95 countries called for an ambitious agreement from global plastics treaty negotiations at the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) on Tuesday.
Negotiations for the UN plastics treaty collapsed in late 2024 with nations unable to agree on how best to stop millions of tonnes of plastic from entering the environment each year. The next round of negotiations is due to resume in Geneva, Switzerland, in August.
The declaration, dubbed the 'Nice Wake-Up Call', identifies five elements that the signatories say are key to achieving a global agreement that is 'commensurate with what science tells us and our citizens are calling for'.
They include a full lifecycle approach, including: plastic production, phasing out chemicals of concern and problematic products, improvements to product design, effective means of implementation, and incorporating provisions that will allow for a treaty that can evolve.
'A treaty that lacks these elements, only relies on voluntary measures or does not address the full lifecycle of plastics will not be effective to deal with the challenge of plastic pollution,' the Nice Wake-Up call reads.
French Minister for Ecological Transition Agnes Pannier-Runacher told the ocean summit in Nice that the declaration sends a 'clear and strong message'.
More than 200 nations met in South Korea last year for what was meant to be a final round of talks on a landmark agreement to tackle global plastic pollution.
But following two years of negotiations, these talks ended without a final treaty after deep divisions formed between countries calling for plastic to be phased out and oil-producing nations. One of the most contentious points was whether there should be a commitment to cut how much plastic is produced or whether waste can be reduced through recycling efforts.
Pannier-Runacher told journalists at UNOC on Tuesday that comprehensive measures covering the full lifecycle of plastics are needed.
'Better waste management and recycling will not help solve the problem. This is a lie.'
The declaration represents a united front from those countries pushing for an ambitious treaty ahead of the resumed negotiations.
Jessica Roswall, EU Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, urged countries to approach the resumed negotiations in August 'through dialogue and with willingness to find common ground'.
With talks in Nice centred around ensuring oceans are protected, an ambitious plastics treaty is key to this goal.
"Every year, over 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced worldwide – one-third of which is used just once,' Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said as UNOC opened on Monday. 'Every day, the equivalent of over 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic is dumped into our oceans, rivers, and lakes.'
Plastic production is expected to triple by 2060, but currently, just 9 per cent is recycled around the world. Around 11 million tonnes of plastic waste finds its way into the ocean each year, and plastic waste makes up 80 per cent of all marine pollution.
Andres del Castillo, senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law, says the Wake-Up Call should be a 'floor, not a ceiling'.
'For the Global Plastics Treaty to succeed, Member States must move beyond vague promises and define how they are going to deliver, including through clear, legally binding measures and a human rights-based approach.
'Come August in Geneva, political statements will not be enough. We must see Member States stand up to petrostate and fossil fuel interests on the floor of the negotiations. Their actions will speak louder than words.'
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