Flux, a climate startup based in Nairobi, has made a historical gesture to sell Africa’s first carbon dioxide removal credits using enhanced rock weathering.
This is a technique which involves spreading crushed basalt to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.
The company, founded just a year ago, pre-sold credits for the future removal of 540 tons of carbon dioxide at $370 each.
They were purchased by the Milkywire Climate Transformation Fund via Kenya’s CYNK platform.
Enhanced rock weathering accelerates the natural process by which CO2 is absorbed by certain rocks.
When basalt is spread across large areas, it reacts with rainwater to capture CO2, which is eventually washed into oceans, where it can be stored for centuries.
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The technique also improves soil fertility.
Flux’s project involves spreading basalt across a 600-hectare sugar cane plantation in Kenya, with further plans in Nigeria and Cameroon, where it has signed agreements to spread basalt across 205,000 hectares of cornfields.
Research published in Nature suggests this technique could remove up to 2 billion metric tons of CO2 annually, though large-scale trials are still ongoing to verify its effectiveness.
