NextGen, Alt Carbon sign pact to scale Asian CDR from India’s tea plantations

Benjamin Orisemeke

NextGen CDR (NextGen), one of the world’s largest diversified portfolios for permanent carbon dioxide removals (CDRs), announced at the Futures Summit 2024 that it will purchase CDRs from India’s leading CDR developer, Alt Carbon, scaling Asia’s carbon removal market.

NextGen and Alt Carbon were joined on stage by joint venture partners South Pole and Mitsubishi Corporation at the event celebrating the offtake agreement.

Alt Carbon spreads basalt on tea plantations in the Himalayan foothills, where the humid weather conditions speed up the rock’s ability to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and store it in the soil for over 10,000 years. Alt Carbon is integrating its novel method of enhanced rock weathering with traditional farming practices and through NextGen’s purchase, can grow its capacity to improve soil health, undertake carbon removal, while also supporting farmers working in a heritage industry threatened by climate change.

NextGen’s purchase from Alt Carbon also opens the Indian CDR market to a suite of global buyers including Boston Consulting Group, LGT Group, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, SwissRe and UBS.

This is the first purchase for NextGen outside of Europe and the US. The purchase facility’s uniquely diversified approach means major corporations can secure a long-term supply of certified CDRs at the average price of $200/tonne, demonstrating that high integrity removals can be delivered at a price that aligns with corporate procurement targets – a market first.

“Carbon dioxide removal technologies are set to play a vital role in the fight against climate change; it is the need of the hour to support innovative efforts with financial incentives. That’s why we are delighted to purchase from Alt Carbon to not only expand NextGen’s geographic footprint but also complete our portfolio technology mix. Taking a portfolio approach is the best way to manage price and technology risks for CDR buyers, while ensuring high integrity standards are met,” says K. Kartick, Head, NextGen CDR.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has stated that to avoid the worst effects and impacts of climate change, society needs to be actively removing at least 10 billion tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere every year by 2050. Enhanced rock weathering, if scaled, can remove 4 billion tonnes of CO2 on an annual basis, meeting 40% of this climate target.

“As 4th generation tea planters, our aim is to transform our family’s heritage tea estates from being at-risk of climate change impact to become the frontier of climate action through the pathway of Enhanced Weathering,” said Shrey Agarwal, Co Founder & CEO of Alt Carbon.

“Our initiative to set up a state of the art geochemical laboratory in Darjeeling is an integral part of creating a self-reliant local ecosystem. This lab will not only expedite quantification of CDR in a cost effective way, it will also provide tremendous employment opportunities to postgraduate degree holders in science. This is an exciting time to be in Darjeeling! ” added Dr. Sambuddha Misra, Associate Professor at Centre for Earth Sciences (CEaS), IISc, Bangalore.

Historically, CDRs have been unaffordable for most buyers and developed from projects launching from 2030 onwards, which has prevented the market from scaling and realising its full impact.

The deal brings NextGen closer to achieving its goal of contracting certified technological CDRs only from projects that will be at scale in the near-term, producing credits by 2025, unlike most other purchasers in the market.