November 2, 2022

photo credit: Lithos

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Sometimes the best answer is found in the simplest approach. Carbon sequestration and reduction is at the forefront of how we address climate change, leading to the development and launch of a range of carbon capture technologies and solutions.

The stakes are high – not only ecologically and socially, but economically, as well. The Institute of International Finance (IIF), sponsored by the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM) with expertise from McKinsey, forecasts that demand for carbon credits has the potential to increase by a factor of 15 by 2030 and a factor of 100 by 2050, with the overarching market being worth more than $50 billion by 2030. 

Seattle-based Lithos is taking a unique approach to generating carbon credits by turning farms into carbon capture centers with the goal of removing 1 billion tons of atmospheric CO2 this decade while also improving crop yields. How, you ask? By using inexpensive volcanic basalt to capture and permanently lock away atmospheric carbon. 

Seed funding for this venture totaling $6.3 million has been led by Union Square Ventures and Greylock Partners, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Carbon Removal Partners, Fall Line Capital, the Carbon Drawdown Initiative, and Cavallo Ventures – representing the first ever climate investment made by both Greylock Partners and Bain Capital Ventures. 

Rock On!

Co-founded in March 2022 by Mary Yap, Dr. Noah Planavsky, and Dr. Chris Reinhard, Lithos replaces traditional agricultural lime by spreading crushed volcanic basalt dust on cropland. Once it rains, a chemical reaction occurs with the rainwater and the CO2 in the air, resulting in dissolved bicarbonate which releases crop-benefitting nutrients into the soil in the process.

Based on decades of academic research, Lithos found that compared to rival carbon capture solutions, theirs is:

More cost efficient and scalable – costing five times less than direct air capture solutions. 

Faster – Lithos’ model significantly accelerates the natural process of rock weathering, achieving in two-to-three seasons what would take 15-50 years in other rock weathering deployments, and up to 1,000 times faster than in nature. 

More effective – Lithos’ platform permanently locks away CO2 with storage lifetimes exceeding 100,000 years. 

Designed for row crop farmers, Lithos’ easy-to-set-up software fine-tunes deployment on a field-by-field and crop-by-crop basis to guard against any negative impacts and to maximize crop yields. The platform generates a custom application that considers variables in soil chemistry, crop nutrition, climatology, particle distribution, and other conditions.

Once spread, Lithos chemically measures carbon removal volume and sells credits to corporations with a share of the proceeds going directly back to the farmer. 

“We don’t just capture carbon,” said Mary Yap, co-founder and CEO, Lithos. “Lithos’ approach is directly valuable to farmers, increasing crop yields and replacing the expensive status quo – agricultural lime – with basalt dust, derived from rock that is safe from heavy metals. Our farmer-first mentality prioritizes both crop safety and yield. The important climate benefits – removing thousands of tons of CO2 and upcycling byproducts of raw rock aggregate used in construction – are a resounding, resulting bonus.”

Carbon capture is not the only benefit of basalt. Secondary benefits include the universal improvement of soil health and the addition of key nutrients for crop production such as potassium, phosphorus, and other micronutrient content that act as certified, organic fertilizing agents.

“Agriculture contributes a quarter of all global greenhouse emissions, representing a critical – and massive – opportunity for process innovation,” said Albert Wenger, managing partner, Union Square Ventures. “Lithos’ process is easy-to-adopt for farmers and doesn’t require new infrastructure or additional land use. This cost-effective, safe carbon removal method is immediately scalable and will have a tremendous impact on food security as it delivers tangible results for combating the climate crisis.”

In the months since its launch, Lithos has rapidly achieved multiple milestones:

~ Built a team with expertise in soil chemistry, freight logistics, agronomy, geophysical modeling, and machine learning.

~ Joined Yara International’s Agoro Carbon Alliance to deploy enhanced rock weathering (ERW) across U.S. farmland, with the first acres to go live this fall. 

~ Already live across 1,000+ acres with thousands more in the pipeline. 

~ On pace to permanently capture more than 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide this year, and has deployed more than 11,000 tons of rock to-date. 

~ And is one of five inaugural global suppliers for Frontier – an advanced market commitment to accelerate the development of permanent carbon removal technologies led by Stripe, Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, and McKinsey. Lithos is Frontier’s largest supplier of credits at 6,640 tons. 

“Lithos uniquely demonstrates how science and software can be leveraged to measurably change and improve the climate as we know it today,” said Asheem Chandna, general partner, Greylock.

“Mary, Noah, and Chris have the research, technology capability and experience to scale Lithos globally,” added Mike Duboe, general partner, Greylock. “With Lithos there is enormous potential to stabilize our food system that is increasingly challenged by climate, demand and overuse — and it’s working!”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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