Blue Carbon wins KPMG Nature Positive Challenge

Brisbane ocean tech company first ever to win main prize and people’s choice award 

MEDIA RELEASE

BRISBANE, January 29 — Queensland ocean-restoring climate-tech company Blue Carbon has won the $100,000 Prize and the $20,000 People’s Choice Prize at this year’s KPMG Nature Positive Challenge.

The annual Challenge supports innovative eco startups to build scalable businesses that have a positive impact on nature and the environment. 

This year’s Challenge recognises Australian startups using AI and circular models to deliver measurable environmental outcomes. 

Blue Carbon’s oPod™ system are designed to monitor, cool and oxygenate ocean water using self-powered buoys powered by solar and direct wave motion. Their ocean tech is amplified by a rapidly developing an in-house AI layer that turns sensor data into site-specific forecasts and decision support, helping customers anticipate events like stratification, low oxygen, and bloom risk.  

“Winning the KPMG Nature Positive Prize is a catalyst for Blue Carbon. It will help us scale passive, ocean-powered systems that support healthier marine ecosystems while reducing energy demand across ocean industries. We look forward to working with KPMG, with its international reputation and reach, to advance pilots and partnerships, so more organisations can benefit from measurable, nature-positive solutions in real-world operations.” said Dr Ana Novak, CEO of Blue Carbon. 

Andrew Yates, CEO, KPMG Australia said: “This is the first time that one company has won both of the monetary prizes in the KPMG Nature Positive Challenge. Our judging panel, and our people, were clearly impressed with how Blue Carbon is tackling some of the biggest issues facing ocean ecosystems. Blue Carbon stood out for its novel technology and integration of artificial intelligence to accelerate the monitoring and regeneration of natural systems, moving us closer to a resilient, nature-positive economy.”

KPMG CEO Andrew Yates’ quote: KPMG media release. 

CEO Dr Ana Novak with the oPod 003 at Triabunna, Tasmania, shortly before sea trials in November, 2025.

What Blue Carbon does

Blue Carbon builds passive ocean infrastructure, amplified by AI, to protect food, water and ecosystems.

The company’s goal is to decouple food and water security from energy by providing work for the ocean in the ocean, bypassing the energy supply chain for ocean and coastal industries.

The company’s oPod™ platforms harness waves and solar energy to pump ocean water without fuel or grid power.

The technology is being piloted with aquaculture operators to reduce heat stress, stabilise water conditions, and cut operational risk. It’s also piloting ‘direct ocean desalination’ to produce drinking water straight from the sea.

Momentum building for Blue Carbon

Blue Carbon is a Qualified Team in the $119 million XPRIZE Water Scarcity competition for its work in producing direct ocean desalination, a double Earthshot Prize nominee, and winner of the Accenture Australia Product Innovation Award at the 2025 Brisbane Lord Mayor’s Business Awards. 

Blue Carbon Products

oPod Mini™ : A compact, solar-powered ocean data buoy (under 40 kg) that profiles the water column in real time and streams 24/7 data from surface to depth (up to ~100 m, site-dependent).

Mini can integrate up to nine water-quality and oceanographic parameters and delivers remote dashboards, alerts, and AI-assisted insights—building the ability to anticipate local conditions and produce practical daily forecasts for operations. Find out more about oPod Mini™ .

oPod Aqua™: A wave-powered upwelling/downwelling system that moves seawater through the water column without diesel, grid power, or shore-based infrastructure.

Aqua enables fuel-free pumping and mixing for aquaculture and desalination intake support, and provides a pathway to targeted interventions where temperature, oxygen, and stratification become limiting—such as fish-depth oxygen management, heat stress mitigation, and selected bloom-risk scenarios (site-specific). Find out more about oPod Aqua™.

oPod Air™ : A wave-powered compressed-air system being developed as a renewable alternative to conventional marine air compressors for aeration and coastal applications.

Designed to reduce operating cost, noise, and local pollution while cutting emissions by replacing diesel or grid-powered compressor use (performance and deployment configuration subject to pilot validation). Find out more about  oPod Air™.

About Blue Carbon

Blue Carbon is a Brisbane-based ocean technology company founded in 2022. We develop wave-powered systems that help industry operate more efficiently in the ocean—improving water quality and resilience for aquaculture, desalination, and coastal operations—while delivering measurable benefits for marine ecosystems.  

Blue Carbon’s partners include the CSIRO, Griffith University, AMPTO, James Cook University, the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Hong Kong Carbon Trading Centre. 

Find out more about the oPod system here.