Making Earth Cooler Using Rocks

ClimeRock, a start-up from France, removes CO2 and restores degraded lands, primarily agricultural soils. They achieve this with a solution called Enhanced Rock Weathering, or ERW for short. Our columnist Markus Sekulla learned about ERW while talking to the founders Antoine Davy and Arthur Chabot. ClimeRock takes part in the Carbon Removal ClimAccelerator programme of EIT Climate-KIC that is supported by Munich Re and ERGO.

Hi Antoine, Hi Arthur, please introduce yourselves: Who are you and what does ClimeRock do?

Antoine: We are Antoine and Arthur, the co-founders of ClimeRock. We are French engineers and have been good friends for a long time. We started ClimeRock last summer in August 2023, so it's quite new. In a few words, we remove CO2 and restore degraded lands, primarily agricultural soils. We achieve this with a solution called Enhanced Rock Weathering, or ERW for short. This involves spreading fine silicate rocks, usually basalt in our case, across large areas of land such as croplands and pastures, using them as fertilizer.

Can you tell me a little bit about your backgrounds?

Arthur: I graduated as a materials engineer and have primarily worked in different innovation fields, mainly in tech, starting with the cloud and then moving into AI. I've also founded a start-up in the mobile industry, so this isn't my first time as an entrepreneur. However, recently with Antoine, we decided to fully dedicate ourselves to addressing climate change due to the urgency of the issue. My skills in materials sciences, AI, and digital technologies are now focused on climate science and carbon dioxide removal.

Antoine: I'm an industrial engineer, and I come from a city in the west of France. My background is more in operations, particularly in mining. I've worked for a French company called Imerys, which owns quarries and plants, where I focused on managing and optimising operations in Europe and Latin America. What I particularly like about our current work is the strong link with agriculture since I come from a family of farmers.

How many people work for ClimeRock, and where are they based?

Antoine: So far, it's just the two of us, but we plan to grow over the next few months, starting with hiring people for our science and operations teams. We are based in the Île-de-France region, near Paris. However, our operations are mainly located in the Massif Central, a former volcanic region where we have a lot of feedstock.

Can you describe what ClimeRock does as if I were a four-year-old child?

Arthur: Sure. Imagine the Earth is getting hotter, like it's boiling, and that's causing lots of natural disasters. What we do at ClimeRock is like putting a big sponge in the air to soak up CO2, the thing that's making the Earth hotter. We use rocks to do this. These rocks turn the CO2 in the air into something called bicarbonate, which is not causing damage to the climate anymore. This bicarbonate flows with water through the ground until the rivers and the oceans. So basically, we're trying to make the Earth cooler by using rocks.

And where do you get the rocks you use?

Arthur: We get the rocks as a byproduct from aggregate quarries. They extract rocks for making roads, buildings, and concrete, which generates a lot of dust. So we use this powdered rock as a raw material for our carbon removal process. That is the circular aspect of what we do: turning waste into a useful product for farmers.

What do you see as the biggest challenges for start-ups in the GreenTech field?

Arthur: The biggest challenge for start-ups in carbon removal is demonstrating the credibility and effectiveness of their solutions in the voluntary carbon market. This market has faced skepticism in the past, and start-ups like ClimeRock are working to establish rigorous methods backed by science to ensure the quality and reliability of carbon removal. However, high-quality carbon removal certificates often come at a higher price compared to traditional carbon offsets, so convincing buyers can be challenging. Education and awareness about the differences between various carbon removal methods are essential for overcoming this challenge.

Do you believe humanity still has a chance to solve the climate crisis?

Antoine: While the situation is urgent, we remain optimistic about humanity's ability to address the climate crisis. There are positive signs of increasing awareness and action at various levels, from individuals to governments. Although we're already late in reducing emissions, innovative solutions offer hope for mitigating the effects of climate change.

Arthur: We need to reduce far more of our emissions. More important than doing carbon removal, we need to leave the oil and gas in the ground and not extract it anymore. Keep in mind, it's much more difficult to remove carbon than to extract it. It's crucial to act swiftly and decisively to transition to a greener economy and prioritise long-term sustainability.

Interview: Markus Sekulla