Sucking up CO2Rocks that boost crops and trap carbon.
Big Picture
Less than 1% of Earth’s carbon is found in living things. The rest is found in rocks. Over centuries, rocks suck up CO2 from the air and store it stably in carbonate mineral form through a geochemical process called weathering; it currently removes one gigaton of man-made CO2 annually. Accelerating this natural process by grinding and spreading rock could suck up hundreds of gigatons.
How it Works
UNDO spreads crushed basalt on farmlands. Basalt covers over half of Earth’s surface, and mining operations dig up mountains of it as a by-product at just the right size for enhanced weathering. Once the rock powder is amended to soils, the minerals combine with rain to replenish soils with micronutrients, enhance pest resilience, and cheaply lock away carbon from the air stably as carbonate for millennia.
Unfair Advantage
UNDO solves headaches for miners and farmers by turning one’s waste into the other’s profit. Unlike other CDR approaches, UNDO’s enhanced weathering technique doesn’t require new land and even enhances the value of existing farmland. The ultra-low feedstock and operating costs pave the way to one of the most affordable, scalable, and easy-to-verify forms of permanent carbon removal out there.
04
Gigatons CO2e
annual removal potential
JIM MANN CEO & CO-FOUNDER
Jim has a background in ecology and extensive experience in scaling businesses. He’s also an avid ultramarathoner.
MEL MURPHY GEOCHEMISTRY LEAD
Mel holds a PhD in geochemistry. She is an expert in carbon dioxide weathering in basalt rocks.
XINRAN LIU HEAD OF SCIENCE & RESEARCH
XinRan is a multi-award-winning particle physicist. He specialises in detector construction and material assay.
Spreading rock dust on fields could remove vast amounts of CO2 from air
The Guardian
Can ‘enhanced rock weathering’ help combat climate change?
BBC
Enhanced rock weathering: the fastest-scaling carbon removal technology
UNDO