Setting its ambitions high, climate tech startup Alt Carbon recently raised $12 million in investment funding with plans to store away 5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by the year 2030.
Formerly a struggling tea estate, Alt Carbon set its sights upon enhanced rock weathering on tea, rice, and bamboo farmland as a means to remove planet-heating carbon pollution from the atmosphere, according to TechCrunch.
According to a 2024 study published in the Humanities & Social Sciences Communications journal, industrialization and a rising energy demand has multiplied the volume of carbon pollution released in the South Asian region since the 1990s. Since carbon dioxide traps heat in our atmosphere, rising carbon pollution has a hand in exacerbating extreme weather events, threatening our food and water supplies, and overall degrading our environment.
Some parts of the earth — such as oceans and large forests — function as natural carbon sinks, absorbing and storing considerable amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But with pollution at such a large scale, natural outlets aren't enough to curb the effects of human-induced climate change.
As a result, companies like Alt Carbon are finding their own ways to capture carbon. Alt Carbon's rock weathering technique involves spreading a basalt rock dust mixture — abundant in certain parts of South Asia — over farming soil, per a TechCrunch release.
When the atmospheric carbon particles mingled in rainwater interact with the rock dust, they take the form of stable bicarbonate ions in the soil. Ultimately, when washed out to the ocean, these particles "settle as calcium carbonate, locking away carbon for over 10,000 years," according to TechCrunch.
Meanwhile, the micronutrients in rock dust do wonders for the soil as well, boosting its fertility and ensuring that farmers and buyers alike won't come up short.
In addition to its creative carbon storage methods, Alt Carbon is setting an example for companies everywhere by transparently measuring and tracking its carbon removal every step of the way. Carbon credits are a financial incentive for companies everywhere to support environmental restoration — a crucial investment, now more than ever.
"The startup relies on three layers of measurements to understand how much rock is getting weathered and how much carbon is being removed … [using] machine learning-driven modeling to get carbon-removal numbers," reported TechCrunch.
Although Alt Carbon is relatively small at the moment, with only about 25 employees across two labs, we can expect its research and progress to expand significantly with the funding from its recent successful seed round. Its next orders of business include improving its soil sample analysis and data-collection methods, implementing high-efficiency ground sensors to streamline the process.
TCD Picks » Upway Spotlight
💡Upway makes it easy to find discounts of up to 60% on premium e-bike brands
|
Do you think America has a plastic waste problem? Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. |
Definitely 👍 
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
