Green leader: We can remove carbon at scale… if we work with nature

Carbonsate keeps CO2 out of the atmosphere by combining nature’s own carbon cycle with engineered storage solutions. Johanna Bröll explains.

Reaching net zero will require more than cutting emissions. Even the most climate-conscious companies will have residual emissions they cannot eliminate. Those remaining tonnes of carbon dioxide must be removed from the atmosphere.

The challenge is that most carbon removal technologies are still expensive, complex, or tied to specific geographies. At the same time, demand for credible, durable solutions is rising. Carbonsate
uses biomass storage to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and creates carbon credits that companies can purchase to offset unavoidable emissions from their activities.

To understand biomass storage, it helps to know about how plants interact with the carbon cycle. As they grow, trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air, locking it in their leaves, branches and trunks, collectively called biomass. When plants rot or burn, that stored carbon is eventually released back into the atmosphere.

The idea of preventing biomass from decomposing to keep its carbon locked away is well known. But Carbonsate’s method makes this natural principle work reliably, affordably and at scale. Its proposition is simple: take carbon that plants have already absorbed from the air and store it in a way that keeps it out of the atmosphere.

Transparent monitoring

Carbonsate’s storage sites are sealed with specialist materials and fitted with sensors that track factors such as gas concentration and humidity, transmitting the data directly to the cloud. This creates a transparent monitoring record that can be shared with independent auditors and buyers of carbon credits.

Because the system is decentralised, it can be built wherever suitable woody biomass is available, from forestry residues to invasive species harvested during ecosystem restoration. That reduces transport distances, lowers costs, and enables projects in remote places.

The company’s process follows independent third-party certification standards for long-term biomass storage, ensuring that each project is monitored, verified, and transparent. We issue carbon credits to buyers only after the carbon is demonstrably secured.

In Namibia, Carbonsate has completed the first phase of a project that stores 1,000 tonnes of CO2. The biomass comes from encroaching bush, vegetation that spreads aggressively, displacing native grasslands. Harvesting it not only provides feedstock for carbon storage, but also helps restore savannah ecosystems. The second project phase is now in preparation.

Another project in Cameroon combines biomass storage with solar energy and community-driven development to address both environmental and social challenges in the country. The project utilises wood residues from a sawmill for long-term carbon storage, while solar panels on top of the storage site provide electricity to the village.

Alignment with sustainability goals

Buyers of carbon credits are drawn to the combination of affordability, credibility, and alignment with their sustainability goals. They secure carbon credits early to lock in price and availability, while signalling to stakeholders that they are taking measurable action.

The Namibia project is an indication of Carbonsate’s larger ambition: to remove millions of tonnes of CO2 annually through projects on multiple continents. The company expects that costs will drop below $100 per tonne by 2030, a level many analysts see as critical for mass adoption of durable carbon removal.

Biomass storage will not solve climate change on its own. But, advocates say, it could become a significant part of the carbon removal portfolio, particularly as it can be implemented quickly, close to the source of biomass, and without the heavy infrastructure of some other methods.

The climate challenge is urgent. Companies want to act now, and they need solutions that make a real and lasting difference. The fact that Carbonsate’s method works by harnessing nature’s own logic is what convinces them.

With each new site, Carbonsate aims to prove that durable carbon removal is practical and affordable. Carbon stored today will remain locked away, far from the atmosphere, for generations to come.

Johanna Bröll is co-founder and CEO of Carbonsate