UP Cat­a­lyst is plan­ning to expand its pro­duc­tion of syn­thet­ic graphite and car­bon nan­otubes in Oulu

Maar­du, Esto­nia / Oulu, Fin­land – 10 June 2026. Eston­ian deep-tech com­pa­ny UP Cat­a­lyst is advanc­ing plans to pro­duce bat­tery-grade graphite and car­bon nan­otubes from CO₂ emis­sions in Fin­land. UP Cat­a­lyst and Finnish ener­gy com­pa­ny Oulun Ener­gia have signed a Let­ter of Intent for the util­i­sa­tion of cap­tured CO₂ emis­sions from one of Oulun Energia’s facil­i­ties in Oulu, Fin­land.

UP Cat­a­lyst pro­duces bat­tery-grade graphite and car­bon nan­otubes from cap­tured CO₂ emis­sions using CO₂ molten salt elec­trol­y­sis tech­nol­o­gy. New facil­i­ty, tar­get­ed to become oper­a­tional in 2031, would sup­port the pro­duc­tion of approx­i­mate­ly 20,000 tonnes of sus­tain­able bat­tery-grade graphite and car­bon nan­otubes annu­al­ly. The project would help strength­en local sup­ply chains and reduce Europe’s depen­dence on import­ed graphite, which is need­ed for defence, e‑mobility, and the green tran­si­tion.

Fin­land has emerged as a strate­gic loca­tion for UP Catalyst’s scale-up due to its strong indus­tri­al base, avail­abil­i­ty of com­pet­i­tive clean ener­gy, and grow­ing impor­tance with­in the Euro­pean bat­tery val­ue chain.
“Fin­land offers a very strong foun­da­tion for indus­tri­al scale-up, with a reli­able ener­gy grid, com­pet­i­tive clean ener­gy, strong indus­tri­al infra­struc­ture, and clear sup­port for clean tran­si­tion tech­nolo­gies. 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.

Oulun Ener­gia is one of Finland’s largest ener­gy com­pa­nies, pro­vid­ing elec­tric­i­ty, heat­ing, and ener­gy infra­struc­ture ser­vices for house­holds and indus­tries. Through the col­lab­o­ra­tion, the par­ties will eval­u­ate oppor­tu­ni­ties relat­ed to indus­tri­al inte­gra­tion, ener­gy infra­struc­ture, and the util­i­sa­tion of cap­tured CO₂ from Oulun Ener­gia plants to sup­port future large-scale pro­duc­tion of sus­tain­able car­bon mate­ri­als in Oulu Indus­tri­al Park.

“The col­lab­o­ra­tion with UP Cat­a­lyst aligns with Oulun Energia’s strat­e­gy, where we aim for strong growth through the green tran­si­tion, as well as our mis­sion to recy­cle mate­ri­als and strength­en the vital­i­ty of North­ern Fin­land. Through this col­lab­o­ra­tion we also seek to sup­port greater sov­er­eign­ty in crit­i­cal mate­ri­als and to help build new, sus­tain­able indus­try in Fin­land,” said Kim­mo Alat­ulkki­la, Head of New Busi­ness at Oulun Ener­gia.
The par­ties intend to explore the con­di­tions for estab­lish­ing UP Catalyst’s first large-scale graphite pro­duc­tion facil­i­ty in Oulu, with a long-term vision of com­menc­ing con­struc­tion before the end of the decade and tar­get­ing oper­a­tions in the ear­ly 2031s.

The €47 mil­lion clean tran­si­tion tax cred­it grant­ed by Busi­ness Fin­land ear­li­er this year sup­ports UP Catalyst’s planned expan­sion in Fin­land.

“Fin­land offers one of Europe’s most com­pet­i­tive envi­ron­ments for scal­ing break­through sus­tain­able inno­va­tions like UP Catalyst’s project. Turn­ing emis­sions into high-val­ue mate­ri­als and strength­en­ing strate­gic sup­ply chains is exact­ly what we need to remain glob­al­ly com­pet­i­tive while meet­ing our cli­mate tar­gets,” said Markku Kivistö, Head of Indus­try, Cleantech at Invest in Fin­land, Busi­ness Fin­land.

The col­lab­o­ra­tion aims to strength­en local bat­tery mate­r­i­al pro­duc­tion and reduce depen­dence on import­ed fos­sil-based mate­ri­als.

“At Busi­nes­sOulu, we wel­come UP Cat­a­lyst to explore the techol­o­gy city Oulun kaupun­ki — City of Oulu as a loca­tion for indus­tri­al scale-up. We have lega­cy on world-class demo facil­i­ties and also on-going dis­cus­sions with new ones. The region offers strong capa­bil­i­ties in clean ener­gy, indus­tri­al sym­bio­sis and RDI ” says Janne Hietanie­mi, Key Account Direc­tor, Cleantech and Indus­try at Busi­nes­sOulu.

“We are com­mit­ted to con­nect­ing Up Cat­a­lyst with the local ecosys­tem from chem­i­cal indus­try and cir­cu­lar econ­o­my actors to defence-relat­ed val­ue chains to sup­port the devel­op­ment of sus­tain­able car­bon-based mate­ri­als and new indus­tri­al oppor­tu­ni­ties.“

About UP Cat­a­lyst
UP Cat­a­lyst is a Euro­pean deep-tech com­pa­ny pro­duc­ing sus­tain­able graphite and car­bon nan­otubes from cap­tured CO₂ emis­sions using its pro­pri­etary Molten Salt Car­bon Cap­ture and Elec­tro­chem­i­cal Trans­for­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy. Recog­nised as a Strate­gic Project under the EU Crit­i­cal Raw Mate­ri­als Act, UP Cat­a­lyst is scal­ing pro­duc­tion of low-car­bon bat­tery mate­ri­als for the glob­al bat­tery and advanced mate­ri­als indus­tries.

About Oulun Ener­gia
Oulun Ener­gia is one of Finland’s largest ener­gy com­pa­nies, pro­vid­ing sus­tain­able ener­gy and cir­cu­lar econ­o­my solu­tions with a team of around 300 pro­fes­sion­als. As a fore­run­ner in the ener­gy and cir­cu­lar econ­o­my sec­tor, the Oulun Ener­gia Group pro­motes a carbon‑neutral future by invest­ing in renew­able ener­gy sources, prod­ucts that reduce car­bon foot­prints, and intel­li­gent solu­tions. Oulun Ener­gia also acts as an enabler of region­al vital­i­ty and sus­tain­able growth, and its goal is to achieve net zero by 2040 in line with the Sci­ence Based Tar­gets ini­tia­tive (SBT) guide­lines.

Read the source media release pub­lished by Busi­ness Fin­land here and Up Cat­a­lyst media press release here.