Alkali Earth
Climate Transformation Fund • United States
Harnessing steel industry byproducts
Alkali Earth is a unique project utilizing steel slag, a byproduct of the steel industry, to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. The process involves crushing the slag to increase its surface area and using it in various applications such as on gravel roads. This process converts atmospheric CO₂ into stable carbonate minerals, effectively removing it from the environment. Alkali Earth is currently the only company using steel slag aggregates for carbon removal, providing a low-cost pathway to scale CDR through an industry that already moves gigatons of materials each year.
Durable carbon removal (CDR)
CDR is one of the most crucial solutions to reach and maintain net-zero emissions and limit global warming. To counterbalance fossil emissions from the long carbon cycle, the carbon removed needs to be stored durably. While solutions for durably removing carbon are still nascent, pre-purchasing carbon removal from startups can help kickstart the sector, making it an affordable and climate-relevant solution in the future. When credits or certificates are bought, they will be retired, meaning they cannot be resold and will not be counted as financial instruments.
Enhanced rock weathering (ERW)
Rocks reacting with CO₂ and removing it from the atmosphere is the earth's natural, but slow way of lowering CO₂ levels. It can be sped up by grinding the rocks to a fine powder and spreading it on farmland as a form of mineral fertilizer. It could potentially become a cheap carbon removal method with low energy needs and strong co-benefits.
Durable carbon removal
Namibia
PyroCCS pioneers sustainable industrial biochar carbon removal in the Global South, deploying its own low-cost, robust, pyrolysis systems powered by renewable energy and backed by a digital measurement and reporting solution. These plants efficiently convert invasive acacia bushes in Namibia, a significant threat to the savanna ecosystem, into high-quality biochar, while providing critical employment in regions with high youth unemployment rates. PyroCCS's scalable technology, which they are also offering as a solution to other project developers, not only captures carbon but also supports local agricultural and environmental recovery as well as food security.
Decarbonization
South Africa
CHAI will work on the high impact project of transitioning a portfolio of hospitals in South Africa's Western Cape Province to renewable energy. This could be a high impact measure that is currently not occurring due to the limited capacity of the department of health and because of bureaucratic hurdles to innovative financial and energy contracts. The project has the potential to reduce emissions by hundreds of thousands of tons, and leverages CHAI's extensive experience in health sector procurement and innovative finance.
Nature protection and restoration
Tanzania
This project develops a mobile app for regreening techniques like Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). The app delivers real-time, location-specific advice directly to farmers' phones. This approach reduces intervention costs by eliminating the need for in-person visits to every location. We already support Justdiggit’s regular work since 2021, and now added this project because it builds on proven FMNR methods, increasing cost-efficiency and potential for rapid scaling in dry landscapes.