About Us - 280 Earth

Human-caused emissions are increasing global temperatures to destructive levels. Reducing fossil fuel dependence is an important piece of the puzzle, but it doesn’t address the billions of tons of CO₂ already in the atmosphere from legacy emissions.

Engineered CO₂ removal must be part of the solution.

Our team is united by a common goal: to significantly and permanently remove carbon emissions, securing a better atmosphere for future generations.

We believe the most important ingredients in solving the climate crisis are size and speed. From the beginning, our engineers and scientists have collaborated on both the DAC equipment and sorbent material so each component of our process fits seamlessly together. This allows us to focus on scaling up quickly.

We are operating our 500-ton/year plant and building our first 5,000-ton/year module.

The 280 Earth team has 25+ technical staff from various disciplines of chemistry, mechanical engineering, software, and environmental fields, most of whom have worked together since 2018. After four years of lab-scale prototyping and testing, 280 Earth spun out of X, The Moonshot Factory in 2022.

We’ve since built out a management team with deep expertise in project development and project finance. Our construction/operations team, based in The Dalles, brings experience in large infrastructure and energy sector development.

Made in America

280 Earth takes pride in designing our process and sourcing our equipment in America. We proudly hire locally.

John Pimentel

CEO

John co-founded, built, managed, and invested in multiple businesses in renewable energy and sustainability including utility-scale wind and solar projects, biofuel manufacturing, on-site wastewater treatment, used oil recycling, municipal solid waste recovery, biomass gasification, lighting efficiency, and Direct Air Capture. He was a consultant at Bain & Company and served as Deputy Secretary for Transportation for California.

Jacques Gagne

CTO

Jacques founded 280 Earth’s research and development team at X, the Moonshot Factory. Since 2018, the team has developed the mechanical, chemical, and software innovations used by 280 Earth today. Prior to his work in Direct Air Capture, Jacques started his own engineering consultancy, Gecko Design, which he owned and operated for over 20 years. Gecko joined X in 2014, bringing their years of product design and manufacturing expertise to the factory.

Greg Bohannon

CCO

Greg leads 280 Earth’s commercial team, project development, and carbon credit sales. He has spent the last two decades working exclusively with project developers in the sustainable infrastructure sector. Greg has worked with many earlier stage climate tech companies and first build projects. He co-founded Greenrock Capital in 2004 and was previously a partner at Pantheon Ventures.

Darren Bonnstetter

Senior Advisor

Darren co-founded 280 Earth's business operations in 2022. He has broad experience leading multibillion-dollar initiatives from prototype to product to implementation, building teams across multiple industries with a focus on profitability. Darren completed his MBA at Harvard Business School and his MS in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University.

Gideon Yu

Chairman of the Board

Gideon Yu is the Chairman of the Board of 280 Earth. Gideon is a co-owner of the San Francisco 49ers football team, and was previously the team president, the first president of color in the history of the National Football League. Prior to his career in professional sports management, Yu served as the chief financial officer of both Facebook and YouTube as well as the senior vice president and treasurer of Yahoo.

Careers

We are always looking for top-notch engineering talent and experienced project development leaders to join our California team. We’re also building out future projects with driven and knowledgeable construction/operations professionals.

If you’re interested in building a sustainable climate future with us, explore our career opportunities on LinkedIn. If you don't see a perfect match right now, we're always accepting resumes at careers@280.earth for future consideration.