Is Biochar a Good Business Model?

Today’s guest is Jason Aramburu, CEO and co-founder of Climate Robotics. 

Earth’s soils contain 14 times more carbon dioxide than the atmosphere. To harness this natural resource, Climate Robotics is using existing technologies and converting crop residue into biochar before sequestering it deep in the ground for thousands of years. The company uses advanced robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate and automate this process. The end result allows farmers to turn waste on their fields into carbon sinks while improving the health of their soils. Jason has an extensive career focused in leveraging technology for improving agricultural productivity. His background spans from smart irrigation and soil sensoring to agricultural technology and robotics. 

Cody and Jason have a great discussion about Jason’s background, biochar's origins as an indigenous practice dating back millennia, the chemistry of biochar, the Climate Robotics solution and his company's business model. As one of the most peer-reviewed CDR technologies, biochar is poised to make a substantial impact in carbon sequestration. 

In today’s episode, we cover: 

• [2:11] Jason's background and how he got involved in carbon sequestration 
• [3:15] History of biochar as an indigenous practice 
• [7:55] Origins of Climate Robotics 
• [11:55] An overview of biochar 
• [20:52] Biochar and enhanced rock weathering 
• [24:02] History of biochar in the U.S, how it's being used today and challenges 
• [28:36] What Climate Robotics is building 
• [32:25] How automation fits into the company's technology 
• [36:15] The company's business model 
• [43:45] Carbon credits and cost relative to other sequestration methods 
• [48:10] Funding to date and future plans 
• [50:04] Patents and how Jason protect's the company's technology 
• [53:06] Biochar's permanence and scalability

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Episode recorded on August 12, 2022.

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant