Lithos Carbon, a carbon sequestration company leveraging volcanic rocks to trap atmospheric CO2, announced its selection as a fellow in the second cohort of the Compute for Climate Fellowship. This global program, launched by the International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI) and Amazon Web Services (AWS), offers climate tech startups fully-funded proof-of-concept opportunities using advanced cloud computing to address some of the most pressing challenges related to the climate crisis.
Lithos utilizes high-quality, organic byproduct volcanic rockdust sourced from the U.S. to sequester atmospheric CO2. The rockdust is spread across croplands, where it traps CO2 permanently while enriching the soil with nutrients and reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers. Collaborating with leading academics, Lithos is also commercializing advanced techniques to precisely quantify the amount and speed of CO2 removal achieved through its methods.
This fellowship will enable Lithos Carbon to develop computational models aimed at:
• Scaling carbon removal processes,
• Reducing costs to $100 per ton of CO2 within a decade,
• Maintaining rigorous quantification standards and field transparency.
The new computational models may replace labor-intensive soil sampling and laboratory analysis, enabling accurate large-scale carbon removal deployment across millions of acres. With AWS’s computational capacity and engineering support, Lithos plans to unveil a prototype of this model in 2025.
Recent Achievements:
This announcement follows several recognitions for Lithos Carbon in 2024, including:
• Finalist in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal Challenge,
• Semifinalist in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Pilot Prize,
• Awardee of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Carbon Negative Shot Pilot program.
Statements from Lithos Carbon Leadership:
• Mary Yap, CEO:
“Society needs cost-effective carbon removal, and we’re thrilled to work with Amazon Web Services and the International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence as collaborators in scaling our catalytic, data-driven technology. Our mission is to work alongside farmers to transform cropland into carbon removal centers and remove a billion tons of CO2 over a decade. This relationship represents an exciting step in reducing carbon removal costs to $100 per ton. By conducting this pilot, Lithos Carbon and our research partners will lay the groundwork towards megaton and gigaton carbon sequestration while sustaining quantification rigor and transparency. This quantum leap is what’s needed for our industry to scale.”
• Dr. Elliot Chang, Head of Research Partnerships:
“We are incredibly honored to be part of this program, and to accelerate the development of much-needed predictive capabilities in quantifying climate impact from ERW alongside these luminaries of AI research. Our project develops the system and technologies needed to scale outcomes-based carbon removal while responsibly stewarding our natural resources to enrich communities and agricultural lands. To fully realize this new approach, we are using our commercial datasets — already the largest in the enhanced weathering industry — to calibrate a new generation of modeling approaches. We expect these new approaches will drive meaningful cost improvement in monitoring outcomes, delivering verified CO2 removal, and achieving a scalable climate solution which society desperately needs.”
Program Details:
Selected startups will participate in a 2-3 month build, receiving:
• One-on-one mentorship from technical experts,
• AWS credits to cover service costs,
• Access to advanced computing services, including:
• Quantum computing,
• High-performance computing (HPC),
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML),
• Generative AI.
Jon Jones, Vice President and Global Head of Startups at AWS, highlighted the importance of the fellowship:
“We are at a critical juncture, when Generative AI is accelerating ways to solve the world’s biggest challenges, including climate change. It is more crucial than ever that we support innovators who are bringing scalable solutions to life by pushing the frontier of what’s possible with technology. The startups we selected for the Compute for Climate Fellowship represent big, bold approaches to tackling some of the planet’s most urgent challenges, from clean fusion energy, to better ways to track biodiversity, to sustainable textiles, and more. AWS is honored to support these pioneers, equipping them with the latest in AI and advanced cloud computing to help turn their ambitious ideas into positive impact on our planet.”
Read more: Lithos Carbon Renews Carbon Removal Deal With Microsoft
