Olivier Reinaud (NetZero): extracting carbon from plants with biochar

Olivier Reinaud is Co-Founder & Managing Director at NetZero, a startup bringing carbon removal at scale in the tropics with biochar.

Launched in 2021 with a diverse founding team, including the climatologist Jean Jouzel (IPCC vice chair), NetZero has rapidly demonstrated its technology in Cameroon and Brazil and has been selected in the prestigious Musk Foundation’s X Prize for Carbon Removal.

With $12M raised recently to scale up operations, Net Zero aims to remove 2 million tons of CO2 with biochar by 2030 with a mutually beneficial partnership between all biochar stakeholders:

• Agricultural cooperatives get to valorize cumbersome biomass residues into biochar
• Farmers get that biochar to improve yields and minimize fertilizer use
• Food companies finance biochar production to reduce their supply chain carbon emissions

In this episode, we talk with Olivier about:

• how is grandfather ventured into biochar when climate change was still doubted or ignored by most
• the key role of carbon credits in achieving a net zero world
• how biochar is produced, how does it capture carbon from plants, and what are the benefits for farmers
• Net Zero licensing model and how it will enable this startup to rapidly grow from 2 facilities to hundreds of biochar facilities

Enjoy the discussion!

media knowingly or out of ignorance have skewed opinions on carbon offsets

Great insights on the regulatory and technology fronts. Sad that media has accelerated the negative narrative surrounding carbon offsets.