A New Frontier for the Voluntary Carbon Market
BRAZIL, January 6th, 2025 – Today, InPlanet and Isometric announced the first-ever delivery of verified Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) carbon removal credits. Carbon dioxide removal credits were developed and provided by InPlanet, verified by Isometric, delivered to Adyen, and facilitated by ClimeFi. This milestone advances the voluntary carbon market by introducing a new format of high-quality, permanent carbon removal credits for the rapidly expanding global marketplace.
In natural rock weathering, carbon dioxide dissolved in water reacts with elements in rocks, forming a bicarbonate that is securely stored in oceans for over 10,000 years. Enhanced Rock Weathering accelerates this natural carbon removal process by crushing rocks into a very fine powder and spreading them on farmland, to ensure durable carbon removal at scale. Such durability is critical for climate change mitigation as traditional approaches that focus on organic carbon sinks (e.g. forestation) are at risk of storage failure (reversal) as a consequence of climate change, disease or land use change.
Enhanced Rock Weathering offers several advantages, including relatively low cost, scalability, and substantial co-benefits such as improved soil health, greater agricultural productivity, and job creation in rural communities. Moreover, the durability offered by ERW minimizes the risk of future re-release. However, the prior lack of rigorous monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) has hindered the commercialization of this approach.
These first ERW credits, delivered by InPlanet and verified by Isometric’s Enhanced Weathering Protocol, show it is possible to do scientifically rigorous MRV on open systems carbon removal pathways and raise the bar for quality in the EW market. Isometric’s protocol requires direct measurements and statistical confirmation that the weathering process has removed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, ensuring that each credit represents one tonne of carbon dioxide durably removed.
Brazil: an ideal setting for scaling carbon removal and soil restoration
InPlanet is the first carbon removal company to work with the unique conditions of tropical soils to conduct ERW. These credits correspond to their recent deployment at the “Serra da Mantiqueira” project, located in São Paulo State, Brazil, where InPlanet works with local farmers to restore soils and help them to transition to low carbon, sustainable and nature-based agriculture.
With Brazil’s unique conditions, InPlanet projects benefit from an ideal setting for scalable carbon removal. The country’s abundant basalt deposits allow for efficient, sustainable sourcing and transport, and its tropical climate, with high temperatures and heavy rainfall, accelerates the carbon sequestration process compared to temperate regions. This favorable context makes ERW more effective and also brings immediate benefits to farmers, such as enhancing soil health, increasing crop yields and reducing reliance on fertilizers—thereby supporting a sustainable and resilient agricultural future.
“At InPlanet, we’re transforming enhanced rock weathering into a scalable climate solution by partnering with farmers across the tropics,” said Felix Harteneck, Founder & CEO at InPlanet. “In just two years, we’ve established ourselves as one of the most trusted and scientifically rigorous CDR companies worldwide. Now, as we see our vision becoming reality, we’re positioned to remove gigatons of CO₂ , while empowering agricultural communities to build a more resilient future.”
Isometric-verified data from InPlanet’s credits will be anonymized and shared with Cascade Climate, a philanthropic organization advancing scientific rigor in EW. The data will feed into Cascade’s Data Quarry—the first-ever EW data sharing system—which will give researchers the opportunity to access verified commercial data for the advancement of ERW models and other solutions to scale the field.
Eamon Jubbawy, Isometric Founder and CEO, said:
“These world-first Enhanced Weathering (EW) credits are a key step to scaling carbon removal. They bring an unprecedented level of scientific rigor to a pathway that has great potential, but which has lacked robust verification until now. The transparent data behind these credits shows that Isometric’s high quality, verified EW credits represent a tonne of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere and should be a key part of every CDR buyer’s portfolio.”
Paolo Piffaretti, Co-Founder & CEO of ClimeFi, said:
“At ClimeFi, our mission is to provide organisations with access to high-quality, permanent carbon removals. The delivery of the world’s first CDRs from EW is a breakthrough moment, proving that innovative carbon removal technologies can be brought to market at scale. We are proud to have facilitated this first-of-its-kind collaboration, helping Adyen take a significant step towards their climate goals.”
The next frontier for the voluntary carbon market
These first ERW credits prove this natural carbon removal process can safely accelerate to a human-relevant time and scale. Early purchases from catalytic buyers such as Frontier (Stripe & Shopify), Milkywire (Klarna & WRLD Foundation), and Klimate were critical in enabling InPlanet’s first deployments and bringing ERW from the lab to the field to the market. Future deployments and MRV will build on the learnings of these first credits, creating a turning point for carbon markets. Buyers, suppliers and policymakers can view the transparent data behind every ERW credit on the Isometric Registry. The Registry provides a permanent audit trail for all credits issued by Isometric and makes all the underlying information behind every credit public so the data can be reviewed and scrutinized.
About InPlanet
InPlanet is a carbon removal pioneer scaling Enhanced Weathering (EW) technology within the unique conditions of tropical agricultural lands. On a mission to remove gigatons of CO₂ from the atmosphere while regenerating soil, InPlanet’s process is leveraged by farmers to create nutritious food and healthy ecosystems for future generations. Founded in 2022 by Felix Harteneck and Niklas Kluger, InPlanet is a remote-first, people-centered company headquartered in Brazil and Germany.
About Isometric
Isometric is the world’s most rigorous carbon registry, with a mission to build the trust infrastructure needed to ensure the carbon removal industry scales responsibly and fast. Isometric was founded in 2022 by CEO Eamon Jubbawy, who previously co-founded technology companies Sequence, Safi and Onfido (acquired by Entrust in 2024 for $650m). The company has raised over $25 million from leading VCs, including Lowercarbon Capital, Plural, Niklas Zennström (Skype’s co-founder and founder of the VC Atomico), David Helgason (founder of Unity Technologies), Ross Mason (founder of MuleSoft), and Ilkka Paananen (founder of Supercell). In 2024, Isometric was named as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. The company is based in London and New York.
About ClimeFi
ClimeFi is the leading global portfolio manager for permanent carbon removal (CDR) assets, providing the intelligence and asset management tools for contracting and managing CDR purchases. ClimeFi remains steadfast in its commitment toward helping organisations navigate complexities associated with acquiring sustainable assets designed to remove residual emissions to achieve net-zero objectives across industries globally.
Contact:
Jessica Appelgren, press@inplanet.earth
Nicholas Lembo, nick@isometric.com
Megan Hunold, megan.hunold@climefi.com
