BENDING THE CARBON CURVE
ACCELERATING SYSTEMIC CHANGE FOR AFRICA
THE VAST MAJORITY OF ALL CARBON RELEASED INTO THE ATMOSPHERE HAS BEEN GENERATED BY THE INDUSTRIALIZED NORTH, YET IT IS AFRICA THAT IS THE MOST VULNERABLE TO ITS EFFECTS
MACROSCOPIC CARBON BENEFITS
POWER PLANT (NATIONAL CO-BENEFITS):
-
Provides Ghana with approximately ~35% more renewable energy (RE)
-
Generates an estimated 1.4% of Ghana’s estimated peak demand
-
Connects directly to the Electric Company of Ghana (ECG) national grid, providing it with baseload renewable power for local consumption
POWER PLANT (REGIONAL CO-BENEFITS)
-
Creates a Metro-Grid for the entire Eastern Region of Ghana
-
Distributes electricity to local private sector customers, leveraging ECG’s distribution network
-
Incurs no transmission costs, or storage costs (more cost-effective than solar and wind)
-
Incurs minimal line-losses, reducing cost
ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND SOCIAL CO-BENEFITS FOR THE AKYEM ABUAKWA KINGDOM (AAK):
-
Protects the AAK from the price volatility of electrical commodity markets
-
Confers benefits of power access – e.g.: lighting for education and safety; energy for hospitals, businesses and IT services
-
Enables cross-cutting benefits – e.g.: jobs for women; improved food security, enhanced education, and improved healthcare
THE CARBON FARMING PROCESS
COMMITMENTS AND PAYMENTS FOR CO2 REMOVAL AND OFFSETTING ENABLE THE REGENERATION OF THE AKYEM ABUAKWA KINGDOM’S DEGRADED ECOSYSTEM INTO PRODUCTIVE AGROFORESTRY LANDS THAT GENERATE COMMUNITY INCOME AND ADDRESS FOOD, WATER AND ENERGY (FWE) NEEDS.
STAGE 1:
ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION
A 10,000-hectare degraded ecosystem is cleared of invasive species, then it is terraformed to repair the water (hydrological) cycle using berms, swales, and irrigation ditches. Phase 1 is an 18 month process.
-
ENHANCED ROCK WEATHERING (ERW), a solution comprised of ground olivine/limestone, is applied across the 10,000ha area
-
BIOCHAR is produced by pyrolyzing (burning/decomposing at elevated temperatures) invasive species of trees
-
BENEFICIAL BACTERIA and MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI are then inoculated into the biochar, which is buried into the degraded soil
-
LEGUMINOUS COVER CROPS are planted and the later mulched back into the soil
-
PLANTING completes the cycle of Stage 1
STAGE 2A:
THE AGROFORESTRY SYSTEM
Sequesters ~4.45 metric tons of Soil Carbon per hectare housing various perennial crops, heirloom sugar cane grasses (C-4 grasses), annual crops and legumes providing permanent jobs for ~5,000 smallholder farmers, half of whom are women. The system provides food security, water restoration and the biomass feedstock for electricity security for the Kingdom.
Stage 2B:
THE BIOMASS POWER PLANT
Built in parallel with the agroforestry system, uses the sugarcane grasses of the agroforestry system that are grown on degraded land as feedstock in order to generate 40MW of renewable baseload power – an amount that is sufficient to power all of the households and businesses in the entire Eastern Region of Ghana.
CARBON VALUE PROPOSITION
CO2e OFFSETTING
BIOMASS POWER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR AN ANNUAL EMISSIONS REDUCTION OF ~196,000 tCO2e = ~ 813,000 tCO2e BY 2030.
CO2e REMOVAL
CARBON DIOXIDE REMOVAL (CDR) VIA SOIL ORGANIC CARBON, BIOCHAR, AND ENHANCED ROCK WEATHERING
SOIL ORGANIC CARBON
CO2 REMOVAL AT SCALE for agroecological integrity and social equity
Designing the farming system as a mixed-use agroforestry complex comprised of perennial and annual crops, sequesters carbon, leverages its functionality, and multiplies its impact.
Soil organic carbon is part of our regenerative agroforestry process.
Strict Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) allows us to properly quantify our net Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) so that we can issue high-integrity carbon credits on the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM).
CARBON REMOVAL METHODOLOGY: SOIL CARBON SEQUESTRATION
-
Multistrata Agroforestry sequesters 4.45 metric tons of carbon per hectare per annum, based on 16 data points from eight sources
-
~4.45 metric tons X 10,000 hectare project = ~44,500 tons CO2e annually
-
Over 20 years = ~890,000 tons of CO2e
SOCIAL-ENVIRONMENTAL: IMPACT & CO-BENEFITS:
-
Advances social and gender equity, by creating >5,000 permanent jobs, ~50% of which are for women
-
Enhances biodiversity and ecosystem integrity, by regenerating and cleaning soil and water system
-
Promotes food and water security, while sustainably producing food crops
BIOCHAR
CARBON REMOVAL AT-SCALE – USING BIOMASS PYROLYSIS
Although biochar enhancement is an integral part of our soil regeneration and agroforestry process, we do not currently sell carbon credits based on this methodology.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT & CO-BENEFITS:
-
Improves soil structure,
-
Increase crop yields, and
-
Stores beneficial bacteria and fungi, adsorbs soil contaminants, and holds water in the soil cleaning it.
SOCIAL: IMPACT & CO-BENEFITS:
-
Regenerating degraded mining lands and soil enables the creation of an agricultural community based upon permanent jobs.
-
50% of the 5,000 smallholder farms on the regenerated land will be run by women, promoting social and gender equity.
-
Biochar is produced using a combination of (1) centralized biochar pyrolysis machines and (2) portable KonTiki kilns, enabling the Project to transfer job and agricultural skills to previously disadvantaged people.
ENHANCED ROCK WEATHERING (ERW)
SPREADING FINELY GROUND SILICATE ROCK ON FIELDS – TO REGENERATE SOIL & CAPTURE CO2
ERW is a nature-based carbon removal technology that uses finely ground silicate rock to permanently sequester atmospheric CO2.
Strict Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) allows us to properly quantify our net Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) so that we can issue high-integrity carbon credits on the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM).
-
Primary materials for ERW (e.g. olivine, basalt, granite, limestone are abundant and easily sourced.
-
Biological activity in our soils catalyses the dissolution of silicate minerals.
-
ERW offers positive agricultural co-benefits including enhanced productivity and crop yields, reduce fertilizer use, improved soil structure and increased water retention.
THE PROJECT INTENDS TO IMPLEMENT ERW AS PART OF THE SOIL REGENERATION PROCESS.
We are currently assessing:
-
Importation and/or local production of ground olivine
-
Importation of glacial rock “flour”
-
Local availability basalt and silicate rock and basalt and silicate-based wastes (e.g. from quarries or from cement production
-
Extraction of silica from the sugar cane bagasse ash (SCBA) generated by the power plant for use in ERW
-
Optimal quantity of ground basalt and silicate-based materials to be used per hectare
-
Puro.earth enhanced rock weathering (ERW) carbon crediting methodology
