$441.87
Carbon credits for climate change mitigation. Delivery year: 2025. Currently available: 1,500.00 metric tons.
Lithos Carbon specializes in Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) to permanently remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. By deploying crushed basalt rock on agricultural lands, Lithos accelerates Earth’s natural carbon cycle—a process that normally takes geological timescales—condensing it into just a few years. This method not only sequesters carbon but also helps decarbonize the food system by improving soil health and crop yields.
Lithos Carbon’s technology leverages the natural chemical reaction between rainwater and alkaline rocks. The process involves several steps to maximize efficiency and permanence:
Application: The company sources basalt dust, a nutrient-rich by-product of the aggregate and mining industries, and spreads it across agricultural fields.
Reaction: When rainwater (which is slightly acidic due to atmospheric CO2) hits the crushed basalt, a chemical reaction occurs. The rock dissolves and converts the carbon dioxide into dissolved bicarbonate.
Storage: This bicarbonate eventually washes into rivers and streams, flowing into the ocean where it is stored permanently for over 10,000 years.
Measurement: A key differentiator for Lithos is its “open system” measurement. Instead of relying solely on models, they use a novel empirical technique that combines high-precision elemental soil measurements with machine learning to accurately quantify the carbon removed.
Lithos Carbon’s approach is designed to scale rapidly by integrating into existing agricultural operations without requiring new land or energy-intensive infrastructure. The crushed basalt acts as a direct replacement for agricultural lime, neutralizing soil acidity while delivering essential micronutrients like magnesium and calcium. This improves soil health and has been shown to increase crop yields by 10-40%, providing tangible economic benefits to farmers. The company has already deployed on over 80 farms across nine U.S. states.
Lithos aims to remove gigatons of CO2 annually by leveraging the abundance of waste basalt and the vast availability of global farmland. Because the technology uses existing supply chains and waste materials, Lithos projects a clear path to reducing costs to under $100 per ton by 2030. The company’s focus on empirical verification and farmer co-benefits positions it to capture a significant share of the global carbon removal market.