Haakon Brunell is the CEO and Co-founder of Carbon Crusher, a Norwegian company turning traditional road construction on its head. Carbon Crusher refurbishes existing roads using bio-based binders and on-site recycling to create carbon-negative, cost-effective, and more durable infrastructure. 

In this episode, Haakon shares how their "Crushing-as-a-Service" model and SkyRoads AI platform reduce emissions, increase road longevity, and drive down costs. He explains why roads are both a climate problem and a climate opportunity—and how Carbon Crusher plans to sequester a gigaton of CO₂ by 2035.

MCJ is an investor in Carbon Crusher, having participated in the company's seed round back in 2022 when it emerged from Y Combinator. Guest hosting for the first time on this episode is MCJ Partner, Thai Nguyen. 

Enjoy the show! 

In this episode, we cover: 

• [02:23] Launching Carbon Crusher out of Y Combinator
• [05:22] An overview of Carbon Crusher
• [06:15] Roads as a climate problem and carbon sink opportunity
• [08:21] Emissions from traditional road refurbishment
• [09:41] Carbon Crusher's 3 pillars: crushing, bio-binders, and AI platform
• [12:52] Why roads are now stronger, cheaper, and greener
• [14:14] Customer mindset in a conservative industry
• [17:49] Origin story from winter-damaged roads in Norway
• [21:12] Performance in both cold and hot weather climates
• [22:53] Customers include cities, counties, and private road owners
• [26:12] SkyRoads AI helps digitize and plan road maintenance
• [28:45] Challenges: regulation and conservative decision-making
• [30:53] Vision: sequestering a gigaton of CO₂ by 2035

Episode recorded on May 13, 2025 (Published on June 23, 2025)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant