Indian biochar startup Ground Up has secured a pre-purchase agreement with carbon dioxide removal (CDR) accelerator remove.
This agreement comes after Ground Up’s successful enrollment in the India-based branch of the accelerator and its successful progression to the second stage of the program called Global Leap.
Besides providing growth support and networking for early-stage CDR developers, remove also engages as a buyer of carbon removal credits with the companies that make it to the advanced Global Leap stage of the program.
As part of this stage, accelerator participants gain access to over $17,000 (€15,000) in a purchase agreement intended to back startups as they demonstrate real commercial traction and gain visibility for their carbon removal work.
This is the second recently announced agreement between remove and an accelerator participant, coming a week after the news of a pre-purchase agreement signed with Carbonway.
Ground Up specializes in the construction and deployment of industrial biochar production facilities. The company partners with the largest agricultural ecosystems in India, joining efforts on restoring soil health and removing CO2 at scale.
The company is behind India’s largest biochar production facility, called Project Nandani. Launched as Ground Up’s pilot deployment, the plant serves to convert sugarcane residues into biochar while also tackling atmospheric CO2 emissions.
Relevant: remove Looking To Back The Next CDR Cohort In India Through Its Accelerator Program
What motivated remove for this agreement with Ground Up?
Talking about the key factors behind the pre-purchase decision, remove shares that the selection process covers a range of criteria, and the two things that stood out most about Ground Up are the “farmer first” approach and traceability of operations.
Ground Up designs its local activities around farmer needs, partnering with the agricultural ecosystems and returning biochar to the soil, where it boosts soil health and helps filter the atmosphere from carbon emissions.
The company manages this process end to end, covering the steps from residue sourcing through production to field application, testing every batch and relying on independent verification for its carbon removals.
Commenting on the pre-purchase agreement, Ground Up shared, “Indian agriculture operates at a scale global CDR is only beginning to reach. That is the scale Ground Up is built for and measures against.”
Read more: ProClime And Cadira To Mobilize Global Investment Into India-Based Biochar
