Winner Of Musk-backed 50m Carbon Prize Plots Agri Revolution

US-based company Mati Carbon collected a 50m cheque last week after winning the grand prize in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition. The prize, sponsored by Elon Musk's philanthropic foundation, is the world's largest scheme to incentivise technologies that remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Mati Carbon picked up the award in recognition for its enhanced rock weathering technology. Its solution, which it has pioneered in India and is now piloting in Zambia and Tanzania, is intended to generate carbon credits through durably removing carbon from the atmosphere while improving soil health.

"It's a win-win for the farmer, it's a win for the climate, and it's a win for the companies which are buying these credits," says Shantanu Agarwal, the company's founder and CEO.

The technology speeds-up a process that occurs naturally but takes thousands of years. In nature, as certain types of rock are exposed to the atmosphere, chemical reactions take place that eventually lead to the formation of mineral compounds such as limestone. In this way, carbon is removed from the atmosphere and sequestered in a mineralised form.

Enhanced rock weathering involves crushing the types of rock that react best with CO2, such as basalt, so that the surface area of the rock that is exposed to the atmosphere is increased. The powder is then spread onto fields, where it reacts with CO2 in the air and water. As well as sequestering carbon much faster than would happen naturally, this process also releases important nutrients that boost soil fertility.