Mati Carbon has been awarded the $50 million grand prize in the Xprize Carbon Removal competition for its innovative enhanced rock weathering program, which locks carbon in soils for thousands of years. The Musk Foundation underwrote the prize, and Mati Carbon's win was announced on Wednesday.

The company's technology is surprisingly simple yet effective. Mati Carbon grinds up rocks that naturally convert carbon dioxide into stable minerals, increasing their surface area to help them absorb carbon more quickly. The rock dust is then spread on farm fields, where it mineralizes carbon and contributes micronutrients to the soil. This process not only removes carbon from the atmosphere but also enriches the soil, leading to increased crop productivity and improved water retention.

Mati Carbon's founder and CEO, Shantanu Agarwal, expressed his honor at being selected among the "luminaries of carbon removal" who competed for the prize. The company's technology beat out other finalists that spanned a range of technologies, from direct air capture to ocean alkalinity enhancement. Runners-up included NetZero, which produces biochar; Vaulted Deep, which processes and buries waste biomass; and Undo Carbon, another enhanced rock weathering startup.

The logistics of Mati Carbon's technology are crucial to its success. The company applies the basalt rock dust to farmers' fields free of charge, with costs supported by a mix of grants and carbon removal credit sales. Mati Carbon expects to deliver around 5,000 to 6,000 metric tons of carbon removal credits this year. Agarwal aims to sell credits for less than $100 per metric ton by the early 2030s, with a long-term goal of dropping the price to $70 to $80 per metric ton.

To validate the credits, Mati Carbon takes eight samples for every three acres of farmland. As its database grows and its models improve in accuracy, the company expects to need fewer samples. The potential impact of Mati Carbon's technology is significant, with around 200 million smallholder farmers worldwide who could benefit from adding basalt to their fields. These small farms, generally less than 24 acres, support about 1 billion people, and deploying Mati Carbon's technology could lead to more than a gigaton of carbon removal every year while increasing farmers' income.

Farmers who use Mati Carbon's technology typically see a 25% increase in productivity from fertilized soils and 50% to 70% increase in degraded soils. The soil amendment also improves water retention, making it a crucial tool for farmers in areas prone to drought. Agarwal cited an example from Zambia, where farmers who used the technology saw a crop grow in areas where others had failed due to drought.

To reach the millions of smallholder farmers who could benefit from its technology, Mati Carbon plans to give free licenses to its enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform to organizations that pledge to share at least 50% of any profits with the farmers they serve. The company currently operates in India, Tanzania, and Zambia, with plans to expand to three more countries this year and eventually encompass much of the Global South.

Mati Carbon is registered as a public benefit company, but what sets it apart is that it is controlled by the Swahili Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Agarwal's goal is to build a market mechanism that allows a large portion of the value to accrue to the farmers, and the Xprize win is expected to help push the company in that direction.

The Xprize win is a significant milestone for Mati Carbon, and its innovative technology has the potential to make a real impact on carbon removal and soil enrichment. As the company continues to expand its reach and improve its technology, it will be interesting to see the long-term effects of its work on the environment and the farmers it serves.