May 8 – Mati Carbon has been selected as one of 20 finalists to work towards XPRIZE Carbon Removal’s grand prize of $50 million to be awarded in 2025. Mati Carbon’s Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) strategy is focused on the Global South and removes carbon at scale with 10,000 years of permanence. In addition to carbon removal, Mati Carbon’s ERW boosts the climate resilience of smallholder farmers in climate-vulnerable regions such as India, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia.
The top 20 finalists were evaluated and selected over a year from more than 1300 participants by the XPRIZE Carbon Removal team and a group of qualified judges to move forward into the final stage of the competition. Each team was evaluated across three key areas: operations, sustainability, and cost.
Mati, along with the other XPRIZE finalists, presents a viable pathway to reaching megatonne-scale carbon removal by 2030 with the goal of reaching gigatonne scales of removal. Mati also demonstrates operational maturity, having deployed over 40,000 tonnes of basalt in agricultural fields to date, while launching programs to track the environmental and societal impacts of ERW operations in the Global South.
“We are thrilled to be selected as a top 20 finalist for XPRIZE Carbon Removal,” said Mati Carbon CEO Shantanu Agrawal. “With over 5000 registered farmer partners we are on track to deliver >$ 1 million in increased farmer incomes in 2024. We are dedicated to pushing forward climate justice by leveraging ERW technology for climate adaptation for millions of farmers.”
Mati Carbon leverages the natural process of ERW to permanently remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the application of silicate rocks on agricultural lands. This involves the engineered dissolution of powderized silicate rocks in agricultural fields. As the rock powder dissolves, it releases essential nutrients resulting in improved soil quality which passes benefits of higher crop yields, income and food security to farmers in climate-vulnerable regions such as India, Sub Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. This approach not only aids in permanent carbon sequestration (10,000+ year permanence) but also improves soil health and crop productivity, thereby supporting the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in developing countries.
ecently, Mati Carbon completed the first ever delivery of Engineered Carbon Removal tonnes in the Global South. Mati delivered 50 tons of CDR to Frontier buyers in March 2024, from deployments initiated in 2022. Additionally, Mati has just been selected as a CDR supplier by Klarna, Spotify, and others – as a part of the Milywire Climate Transformation Fund.
