8. UNDO Carbon

Sustainability Award Shortlisted

In recognition of a sustainability leader that prioritises the health of the planet as part of its company mission.

Startups 100: Sustainability Awards

DEI Award Shortlisted

For the business that demonstrates committed diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative and how it has been embedded in the company.

Startups 100: DEI Award

Founders: Jim Mann
Year founded: 2022
Website: un-do.com

The IPCC says the world needs to extract and store 10bn tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere every year by 2050 to keep the planet habitable. To put that into perspective, a return trip from London to New York generates about 986 kg of CO₂ per passenger.

Like a lot of environmental statistics, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the problem. But, when Jim Mann, founder of UNDO Carbon, first heard this figure, he had a different thought: why not just use enhanced rock weathering?

Put simply, enhanced rock weathering (ERW) speeds up chemical weathering (a process that naturally sequesters atmospheric CO₂ over millions of years) by spreading finely ground silicate rock, in this case, basalt, onto agricultural land.

Once in the soil, the basalt is absorbed by plant roots and microbes, which speeds up the chemical reactions to speed up the storage of CO₂. Right, that’s the science lesson over.

UNDO Carbon has been appointed by Microsoft to remove all of the tech giant’s historic CO₂ emissions by 2050

Having spread more than 140,000 tons of silicate rock across four countries, the startup has so far captured around 35,000 metric tons of CO₂. It’s also become the official ERW supplier of Microsoft, aiming to remove all of the tech giant’s historic CO₂ emissions by 2050.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is another key metric for the organisation. Recognising that rural farmers operate on thin margins, UNDO says its growth objectives are tempered by a desire to support and empower its agricultural partners and communities, bringing them along on the journey to Net Zero.

UNDO’s mission is to spread enough rock by 2025 to remove approximately one million tonnes of CO₂ with its ERW technology. This, it says, will be the first step towards gigatonne scale.

UNDO's growth objectives are tempered by a desire to support and empower its agricultural partners and communities

Last May, the startup raised £9.6m in funding, and secured an additional £800,000 renewal from carbon removal purchaser, Stripe. The injection of capital will be used to scale up UNDO’s ERW program in Scotland as well as its expansion into the US market.

UNDO is capturing carbon as well as the hearts and minds of organisations across the world. Boasting innovative tech, bold ambitions, and a people-first approach to decarbonisation, UNDO’s success is one small step for Mann, one giant leap for mankind.