- Partnership
agreement to scale carbon removal through a breakthrough Enhanced Rock
Weathering tech process.
- Alt
Carbon to generate high-quality, durable Carbon Removal (CDR) credits.
London, UK : Mitsubishi Corporation (MC),
and Alt
Carbon, a Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) company, announced a
partnership agreement to scale the removal of carbon dioxide in South Asia. The
agreement between the two parties will generate high quality, durable, carbon
removal tons that have been created through a breakthrough Enhanced Rock
Weathering (ERW) tech process.
“Removal of carbon dioxide is critical to meet net-zero emissions by
2050. With Alt Carbon, we have a formidable partner with highly innovative
technology in a breakthrough Enhanced Rock Weathering process that locks carbon
in the ocean sink. From removing carbon, helping local farmers, and stringent
testing measures to generate CDR credits, Alt Carbon is uniquely positioned to
capture the ERW market. MC's commitment to decarbonization is unwavering and
reflects our dedication to a sustainable future, as we scale the CDR industry
through our collaboration with Alt Carbon in ERW,” said Tadashi Sawamura,
GM, Carbon Management Dept., Mitsubishi Corporation.
Alt Carbon deploys a process called ERW that takes crushed basalt rock
and spreads it on large swathes of agricultural land. The rock’s natural
reaction with rainwater pulls the CO2 from the air & stores it in the soil,
thereby improving crop yields. This dissolved inorganic carbon ultimately
reaches the ocean via river networks and remains locked in the ocean for
10,000+ years.
ERW is one of the novel techniques for Carbon Removal (CDR) that has
been advocated by the The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a
critical tool for reaching Net Zero by 2050. Alt Carbon is tapping into the
increased demand for high quality, durable, traceable, carbon removal projects
– and it’s operating in a growing market. Alt Carbon’s in-house MRV, team of
scientists from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the Darjeeling-Climate
Action Lab (D-CAL) make it one of the leading carbon removal companies in the
Global South, ideally placed to remove CO2 at a gigaton scale.
“Having an institution like Mitsubishi Corporation recognise and support
our efforts entrenches our belief in the science and technology behind ERW for
carbon removal. In 15 months, we have rigorously tested and modelled our
operations and technology in the single pursuit of removing carbon dioxide.
This is just the first step, but it feels like a giant leap as MC partners with
us to make India a hub for carbon removal,” said Co-founder & CEO Shrey
Agarwal, Alt Carbon.
Alt Carbon
is the first Indian headquartered company to receive a prepurchase agreement
from Frontier,
an Advance Market Commitment to purchase $1+ billion of permanent carbon
removal by 2030. As part of this agreement, Alt Carbon received $500,000 for the
purchase of high quality, durable carbon removal tons that have been generated
through the Enhanced Rock Weathering process. The participating buyers included
Stripe, Shopify, Alphabet, Meta
and Watershed
(on behalf of Match).
Alt Carbon also became the first ERW company globally to receive an offtake
agreement from the South Pole & Mitsubishi-led NextGen
buyer’s coalition.
In order to meaningfully undertake climate action, we require gigaton
level projects — i.e. projects that have a shot at removing 1 billion tons
of CO2 every year. Alt Carbon is targeting reaching up to 500,000 hectares of
land in North East India’s tea belt by 2030, as part of the Darjeeling Revival
Project, removing upwards of 5 million tonnes of CO2 every year. Beyond that,
the company aims to scale up its operations in South Asia to further work
towards its goal of removing 1 billion tons of CO2, each and every year.
Notes to the editor
Media images can be found here. For further
information please contact the Alt Carbon press office: Adithya Venkatesan on adithya@alt-carbon.com
or +91 94811 74420
About Alt Carbon
Alt Carbon is a co2 Removal (cdr) company based out of India
transforming Darjeeling’s struggling tea industry from being at-risk from the
effects of climate change, to becoming pioneers for climate action. Alt Carbon
is on a mission to capture vast amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere. Its
ambitious goal is to remove 5M MT of CO2 by 2030, with the ultimate aim of
reaching a billion tons - for good. For more information please
visit https://www.alt-carbon.com/
or follow via LinkedIn.