$1M in farmer income and an Africa expansion

Just the gist

Short on time? Here’s what you need to know for this update:

• 🌱 Celebrating a $1M income boost for smallholder farmers — Our partner is on track to increase farmer incomes by $1M by the end of this year, thanks to the co-benefits of enhanced rock weathering.
• 🤝 Highlighting recent recognition and partnerships — Our partner has caught the attention of several award-granting organizations and corporate partners for their carbon removal in the Global South.
• 🌍 Gaining traction in sub-Saharan Africa — Our special fundraiser is bringing enhanced rock weathering to Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya, and Nigeria. Check out the thank you letter from our partner's CEO.

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Celebrating a $1M income boost for smallholder farmers

In the fight against climate change, an unexpected hero has emerged: crushed volcanic rock. Our Enhanced weathering on rice paddies project is sequestering CO₂ at a remarkable rate while transforming the lives of smallholder farmers in the Global South.

Our project partner, Mati Carbon, has ongoing deployments now reaching 60,000 tons of basalt dust spread across fields. 6,000 local farmers are also registered, with an increasing interest from locals who have seen positive results. By the end of this year, Mati Carbon's efforts will have boosted smallholder farmer incomes by over $1M through improved crop productivity and reduced need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

But how does spreading rock dust actually help farmers? The basalt improves soil health, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides to cut costs for farmers and increase crop yields. Earlier this year, Mati Carbon's chief science officer Jake Jordan collaborated with scientific advisors to publish a groundbreaking paper on enhanced rock weathering that goes into more detail.

The study found that enhanced weathering led to a cumulative carbon dioxide removal of 10.5 tonnes ± 3.8 tonnes of CO₂ per hectare over four years. The study also found that maize and soybean yields increased by 12 to 16% due to enhanced weathering effects on soil, highlighting the agricultural benefits of this approach.

As Mati Carbon moves forward, they’re taking these findings into account, maximizing the potential for CO₂ removal while supporting sustainable agriculture practices.

Highlighting recent recognition and partnerships

In March, our partners achieved a major milestone by delivering 50 tonnes of carbon dioxide removal as part of a pre-purchase agreement with Frontier. This groundbreaking delivery marks the first carbon removal delivery of the Global South, signaling a significant advancement in climate efforts.

Then, in May, our partners were selected as the top 20 finalists for the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, seeking innovative solutions to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Mati Carbon also secured a spot among 24 semifinalists from over 500 applicants for the Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Prize from the United States Department of Energy.

Klarna, Spotify, and other leading companies have also chosen Mati Carbon as a carbon dioxide removal supplier through the Milkywire Climate Transformation Fund.

Their partnerships with Milkywire and other organizations like Wren will expand enhanced rock weathering deployments, delivering permanent carbon removal at scale while boosting smallholder farmers' incomes.

Gaining traction in sub-Saharan Africa

Our project partner has seen great success in India, and they are now looking to expand to new regions. We are currently running a Wren Slingshot fundraiser to kick-start carbon removal operations in sub-Saharan Africa. We’ve already made a significant impact, with more room to tackle the urgency and obstacles of carbon dioxide removal. Here's a firsthand account from Mati Carbon's CEO:

Hello Wren members,

Zambia is currently facing one of the worst droughts in years, and our initial operations have been challenging due to limited electricity availability—only four to five hours per day. Seeing the direct impact of climate change in these regions gives us even greater focus and determination to scale our operations.

We are so grateful to share that, with your support and through our partnership with Wren, we've successfully raised $63,000 so far through the Slingshot campaign to help expand our mission. This fundraising effort, supported by the Wren community, is allowing us to bring our mission to Zambia and Tanzania. With operations now fully underway, we have onboarded more than 500 farmers and already deployed in 35 farmer fields.

Your generosity is very critical to our efforts to improve food security and fight climate change, one smallholder farm at a time. A special thanks goes out to Ben Stanfield, the entire Wren team and all the supporters for contributing to the campaign. Your contributions are making a tangible difference, and we couldn’t be more grateful.

Thanks to your efforts, we have been able to start our first Africa office in Zambia, with five local personnel already engaged to support Mati operations. We are currently working to do the same in Tanzania.

To everyone in the Wren community—thank you. Your belief in us has fueled our progress and empowered us to push boundaries.

Warm regards,
Shantanu Agrawal, CEO, Mati Carbon

We’re excited to continue helping our partners scale their operations and increase our collective impact. Your support is crucial in helping us expand our reach, benefiting farmers while tackling the climate crisis together.

That's all for this update! As always, thank you for your support.
— the Wren team 🧡