KEY POINTS
- Flux has launched Africa’s first carbon dioxide removal credits, utilizing crushed basalt.
- The credits were pre-sold for $370 each, based on future CO2 extraction.
- Flux plans to expand its carbon removal efforts to Nigeria and Cameroon.
Nairobi-based climate firm Flux has made a groundbreaking move by offering Africa’s first carbon dioxide removal credits, utilizing crushed basalt to absorb the climate-warming gas.
Sam Davies, co-founder and CEO of Flux, highlighted the potential of this approach, stating, “Flux is the first company to do this, and it has huge potential across the continent.”
“We recognize that significant carbon reduction will be required in the future, and large-scale, long-term carbon removal strategies are essential.”
Despite promising data from 2020 suggesting the technique could remove up to 2 billion metric tons of CO2 annually, large-scale trials are ongoing to confirm its effectiveness.
A Bloomberg report states that Flux established itself about a year ago and pre-sold credits based on the future extraction of 540 tons of CO2 through accelerated rock weathering. The Milkywire Climate Transformation Fund purchased these credits for $370 each in a sale on Kenya’s CYNK platform, designed to assess market interest.
Accelerated basalt weathering explained as a CO2 removal technique
The accelerated weathering process grinds basalt rocks and spreads them over large areas. Rainfall and natural weathering of these fragments capture CO2, which flows into the seas for long-term storage. This method removes CO2 and improves soil fertility.
Expansion plans for carbon credits in Nigeria and Cameroon
Flux’s proposal includes spreading basalt over a 600-hectare sugar cane plantation in Kenya and has agreements to extend the method to Nigeria through a government initiative and to collaborate with a Cameroonian agribusiness to cover 205,000 hectares of cornfields.
