Mitsubishi and Alt Carbon Expand CO₂ Removal Efforts in South Asia

March 24, 2025 | Source: Alt Carbon via KnowESG

Mitsubishi Corporation has partnered with India-headquartered carbon sequestration firm Alt Carbon to scale up large-scale carbon removal operations in South Asia. The two firms will partner on Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW), a natural process that removes and stores atmospheric CO₂. Alt Carbon will apply this technology to produce high-quality carbon removal credits, which companies can buy and use to cancel their emissions.

Carbon removal through Enhanced Rock Weathering
ERW is a technique where basalt rock is applied to the land. When rain water hits the rock, it holds CO₂ from the air, creating dissolved carbon that will travel to the ocean. This method sequesters carbon in oceanic environments for more than 10,000 years. Aside from lowering atmospheric carbon, ERW also enhances the fertility of the land, raises farm output, and assists local farmers through increased resilience against the climate.

Alt Carbon has partnered with premier Indian institutions, such as the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the Darjeeling-Climate Action Lab (D-CAL), to promote research and carbon removal innovation. Alt Carbon has also been recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for contributions towards global net-zero goals.

Scaling Up Operations and Global Partnerships
Alt Carbon is scaling up operations with strategic collaborations. It is the first Indian member to become part of Frontier, a billion-dollar programme for irreversible carbon removal. Global corporations like Stripe, Shopify, Alphabet, Meta, and Watershed have already invested in Alt Carbon's ERW-based carbon credits so far, making $500,000.

The flagship of the company, Northeast India-based Darjeeling Revival Project, will plant an area of 500,000 hectares in 2030 and aim at removing five million tonnes of CO₂ every year. With scope for expansion into the future, Alt Carbon also aims to remove one billion tonnes of CO₂ from South Asia and emerge a dominant force among the carbon removal businesses.

Challenges and Future Prospects
Although ERW technology holds promising prospects for mass-scale removal of CO₂, its feasibility rests on mass use, efficient application, and policy encouragement. The partnership with Mitsubishi is likely to expedite the deployment of ERW, increase carbon credit production, and contribute to the global battle against climate change.

Mitsubishi Corporation's investment highlights the increased attention of giant corporations towards carbon removal solutions at scale. As the demand for premium carbon credits surges sky-high, schemes such as Alt Carbon's ERW project hold potential to emerge as a critical part of world net-zero missions.

Conclusion
Mitsubishi Corporation's tie-up with Alt Carbon is an important move toward the upscaling of carbon removal operations in South Asia. Using ERW technology, the project is set for large-scale capture and storage of carbon and agri-sustainability. Based on deep corporate and scientific network leverage, Alt Carbon will become an important player in the carbon sequestration industry with huge implications for climate change mitigation and sustainability of the environment.