Ground Transport Group - Gridserve founders launch $100bn tech and funding platform in Abu Dhabi to accelerate CO₂ reductions

The clean tech entrepreneurs behind GRIDSERVE, the UK’s leading electric vehicle (EV) charging business powered by net zero energy, today unveil GIGATONS, a groundbreaking global technology and funding platform designed to accelerate the global transition to net zero.

Officially launched today at Abu Dhabi Finance Week, working with the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), Abu Dhabi Mobility, and major organisations such as ABB. GIGATONS is launched in response to the urgent need to address climate change and deliver the 59 gigatons of annual carbon emission reductions required by 2050, to achieve net zero and keep global temperature rises to within 1.5 degrees of warming.

By harnessing advanced technologies including blockchain, AI, and cutting edge sustainable energy solutions, GIGATONS aims to address three of the biggest barriers to delivering the gigaton-scale carbon emission reductions needed to support net zero; scaling infrastructure to decarbonise transport and energy, mobilising capital to scale new projects that tackle the climate crisis, and boosting transparency to improve trust and tackle greenwashing.

His Excellency Eng Sharif Al Olama, Undersecretary for Energy and Petroleum Affairs at the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, said: “The UAE is committed to driving an all-inclusive energy transition where we involve key actors in our drive to build a sustainable energy ecosystem. Forging partnerships with the private sector is key to achieving our goal. Governments provide the necessary regulatory frameworks and policy support that can guide and accelerate the adoption of clean energy solutions. However, it is the private sector’s innovation, investment, and technological advancements that drive the development and scaling of renewable energy systems. By working together, both sectors can create synergies that not only improve environmental outcomes but also foster economic growth, job creation, and technological leadership in the global market.” He added: “Our partnership with GIGATONS to explore investment opportunities in energy efficiency, green mobility, and digital transformation will go a long way in enabling a resilient, sustainable energy grid and efficient mobility systems that benefit society as a whole. Through such strategic alliances, we can ensure that the future of energy and transportation is both sustainable and economically viable.”

Headquartered in ADGM, Abu Dhabi, UAE, GIGATONS draws inspiration and momentum from the achievements of GRIDSERVE in the UK, which revolutionised the UK’s EV charging network. Today, GRIDSERVE’s Electric Highway charges nearly 250,000 electric cars, vans, and trucks every month with over 6 million kWh of 100% Net Zero energy.

“GRIDSERVE demonstrated how innovation, sustainability, and customer-centric solutions could deliver significant impact,” said Toddington Harper, previously founder and CEO of GRIDSERVE, now co-founder and co-CEO of GIGATONS, CEO GIGASERVE & GRIDSERVE GLOBAL. “With GIGATONS, we are taking this mission global, scaling net zero solutions to deliver gigatons of carbon reductions with the speed and scale required to limit global temperature rises to within 1.5 degrees of warming”.

As part of the company’s unveiling, GIGATONS announces its first global projects:

Delivering a net zero, sun-to-wheel EV charging Partner Network across Australia, in partnership with leading renewable company, Flow Power. The plans will build on the learnings, expertise, and technology developed in delivering and operating GRIDSERVE’s Electric Highway, with the next generation in world class smart connected products and services for both electric cars and electric trucks. This will be delivered in harmony with Flow Power’s local clean energy and project delivery expertise. Multiple sites have already been signed up, with construction due to start in 2025.
The world’s first fully tokenised net zero blockchain mining and AI project, to demonstrate that these technologies which are both fundamental to proving, and accelerating gigatons of carbon emission reductions, can be scaled sustainably.

GIGATONS – a unified platform to build trust and accelerate large-scale decarbonisation – is made up of three business divisions, each designed to tackle the three barriers to cutting gigatons worth of carbon emissions: GIGASERVE will scale the next generation of products and services, made famous by GRIDSERVE in the UK, global – creating ‘plug-and-play’ suites of net zero products that can be rapidly deployed in any market around the world; GIGATECH will use a blockchain and AI platform to tokenize and smart connect capital, real-world assets, and carbon credits; GIGACAPITAL will provide a new investment platform, designed to mobilise the $100 billion in investment over the next decade for transformative global carbon reductions at the required speed and scale.

GIGASERVE: scaling clean infrastructure

GIGASERVE will deliver an integrated portfolio of smart-connected products and services for net zero EV charging and critical power infrastructure. The aim is to deliver world class net zero infrastructure that is cost effective, scalable, and rapid to deploy, to support the decarbonisation of transport and critical power infrastructure in the fastest possible timeframes. Power and transport emissions account for around 50% of the required gigatons of emission reductions.

Responsible for the business development activities for the group, GIGASERVE will continue GRIDSERVE’s legacy of leading-edge innovation. Already, GIGASERVE has announced its first major projects, including the rollout of a net zero EV charging network in partnership with Flow Power in Australia. It is also working closely with world-renowned architects, Grimshaw, to develop the next-generation of electric charging stations, to be deployed globally with partners. In the UK, GRIDSERVE’s Electric Forecourts have been proven to accelerate the shift to EVs, with local EV adoption in some cases growing at twice the rate of the UK average.

GIGATECH: providing transparency and building trust:

GIGATECH’s GIGA Protocol platform incorporates leading-edge smart connected blockchain technology to maximise the user experience, and provide immutable transparency and traceable carbon reductions from green infrastructure projects, boosting trust and tackling greenwashing. Artificial intelligence optimises the efficiency and scalability of these projects, ensuring resources are directed where they can achieve the most significant benefits, both in terms of climate and commercial returns.

The platform is web3 and AI-native, enabling the transition to net zero by supporting tokenized capital, real-world assets, and high quality carbon credits. It is also natively built on Alephium, one of the most advanced blockchains, which combines a unique sustainable Proof Of Work (POW) consensus, with scalability, smart contracts, and security. The transparency, automation, and programmability delivered by the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) will be fully regulated by ADGM’s DLT Foundation.

GIGACAPITAL: mobilising and tokenising $100 billion over the next decade

GIGACAPITAL is a new fintech platform, designed to mobilise $100 billion in investment over the next decade to deliver transformative global carbon reductions. Working in partnership with strategic partners such as Wise Capital Partners, the platform will use an end-to-end Digital Assets Management suite that offers institutional grade digitised finance solutions and manages assets across their lifecycle.

A portfolio of new stable coins will bridge traditional finance (TradFi) with decentralized (DeFi) and regenerative finance (ReFi) to verify carbon impact.

By allowing investors to tokenise every dollar of investment and track the carbon emission reductions that result from the projects and assets they invest in, the platform creates confidence in green investment, helping to crowd in capital for genuinely impactful projects.

Already, the platform – and the green funds it will support – has attracted significant interest – further details on this will be announced in due course.

Heston Harper, previously CEO APAC of GRIDSERVE, now co-founder co-CEO of GIGATONS, and CEO of GIGATECH said: “By combining the latest advances in Web3, blockchain, and AI technology, we are able to provide pervasive levels of trust and transparency to capital, assets, and their impact. GIGATECH’s smart connected platforms provide robust real-time data that unlock lucrative transition era opportunities at speed and scale. Transition Era opportunities are measured in the multi-trillions – we are enabling world leading technology to address humanities biggest ever challenge, that will rival the Moon Shots of the past”.

Abu Dhabi Finance Week

So far operating outside of the public eye to build a strong foundation and network of highly credible partners, GIGATONS is officially launching at Abu Dhabi Finance Week, the MENA region’s most influential financial gathering, in Abu Dhabi General Markets, known as the “Capital of Capital”.