Startups are using ‘rock dust’ to make agriculture carbon friendly

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🗞️ Driving the news: Startups like Eion, Lithos, and UNDO Carbon are pioneering the use of rock dust to make agriculture more carbon-friendly through a process called enhanced rock weathering
• This approach improves soil quality while permanently removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping to offset agriculture’s significant carbon emissions

🔭 The context: Agriculture is responsible for over 10% of global carbon emissions, but these startups aim to turn it into a carbon solution
• Eion, for instance, uses olivine, a volcanic rock, to condition soil and capture CO2 permanently when it rains

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: By integrating carbon-removing rocks into farming practices, agriculture could play a major role in tackling climate change, reducing the overall carbon footprint, and enhancing soil health at the same time

⏭️ What's next: Eion plans to expand its operations from Mississippi to the Midwest and beyond, aiming to remove the equivalent of 2 million cars' worth of CO2 from the atmosphere annually by 2030

💬 One quote: “By 2030, Eion will be removing about 2 million cars’ worth of carbon from the atmosphere every year,” said Anastasia Pavlovic, CEO of Eion

📈 One stat: Eion has raised $20 million from investors, including Exelon and Growmark

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