INNOVX and NetZero announce a partnership to accelerate deployment of biochar in the Global South
Rabat - Tuesday, October 29, 2024 - INNOVX, Impact Business Builder, a subsidiary of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), announces that it has acquired a stake in NetZero, a French greentech pioneering carbon sequestration via the industrial production of biochar from agricultural residues in the Global South. The announcement was made as part of the Morocco-France entrepreneurial meeting organized on the occasion of the state visit of the President of the French Republic to the Kingdom of Morocco.
In a context where decarbonization has become an imperative to meet the challenges of climate change, INNOVX is willing to foster resilient agricultural models, reconciling food security and innovative solutions with a high environmental impact.
This strategic investment is aimed at accelerating the industrial deployment of the biochar model developed by NetZero for the Global South, particularly Africa. Recognized by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) as a major solution for removing carbon from the atmosphere, biochar also plays a key role in restoring soil fertility. NetZero’s product is made from residual crop biomass and is particularly effective in nutrient-depleted, low-humidity soils.
A strategic partnership for both companies
This partnership is part of a strategy to decarbonize agricultural value chains, in line with INNOVX's ambition to contribute to the fight against climate change by strengthening more sustainable and resilient agricultural systems.
"The partnership with NetZero is part of our commitment to promoting sustainable agriculture, which is essential not only for food security in Africa, but also on a global scale. Together, we are taking a major step towards developing innovative agricultural ecosystems and addressing long-term environmental and social challenges,” emphasizes Amine HOUSSAIM, CEO of INNOVX.
For NetZero, this partnership is part of the company’s strategy of geographical expansion of its activities.
“We are excited to partner with INNOVX, who share our vision of a sustainable future through technological innovation. Together, we will not only accelerate the production and use of biochar, but also help create a sustainable environmental and social impact,” explains Axel Reinaud, Co-founder and CEO of NetZero.
A key technology for soil fertility and carbon removal
Visually similar to charcoal powder, biochar is a soil amendment produced through pyrolysis, a process in which residual biomass is heated at very high temperatures, in the absence of oxygen, to extract and stabilize the carbon captured by plants during photosynthesis.
Once incorporated into soils, biochar improves their fertility in a sustainable way, with an increase in agricultural yields of up to 25%. It also helps correct soil acidity, retain nutrients and water, and strengthen the resilience of crops to droughts and heat waves.
At the same time, biochar is effectively storing in the soil, for thousands of years, carbon initially captured in the atmosphere, thus significantly contributing to the fight against climate change.
A solution to climate, agricultural and social challenges
NetZero’s model is based on the circular and local production of biochar on an industrial scale in the Global South, where unused biomass is abundant and particularly suited to the use of biochar, thus addressing several major challenges:
- Climate – by removing carbon from the atmosphere for millennia;
- Agriculture – by improving soil quality and increasing yields;
- Social – by creating jobs and improving the standard of living of farmers in rural areas.
International recognition for NetZero
Already a recipient of several international awards, NetZero was selected in May 2024 as one of the world’s Top-20 carbon removal projects in Musk Foundation’s XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition. Since its foundation, the company has also benefited from investment from major groups such as Stellantis, L’Oréal, CMA CGM, and more recently infrastructure fund STOA, to strengthen its research and development capacity and deploy new large-scale industrial sites.
This new partnership with INNOVX further contributes to NetZero’s objective of removing over 5 million tonnes of CO 2 from the atmosphere by 2030, while improving agricultural productivity and supporting the transition to more sustainable farming practices.
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About INNOVX
INNOVX is an impact Business builder committed to addressing global sustainability challenges and contributing to Morocco's technological development.
As a subsidiary of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), INNOVX combines the fields of venture capital, technology incubation, and company development to design, develop, and scale up innovative, high-performing technological companies and ecosystems with a strong environmental and social impact.
INNOVX operates in strategic sectors essential to food sovereignty, energy, and digital transition, such as Agriculture, Energy, Chemicals, Digital and Social Innovation.
For more information, visit our website: innovx.ma
À PROPOS DE NETZERO
NetZero was founded in 2021 by Axel Reinaud, Dr. Jean Jouzel, Aimé Njiakin, Olivier Reinaud, and Pedro de Figueiredo. Its mission is to bring at scale biochar, one of the few climate solutions that can durably remove carbon from the atmosphere, as well as one of the few agricultural solutions allowing to reconcile productivity and sustainability.
By leveraging biochar in the tropics along a unique model, NetZero simultaneously tackles three pressing challenges in developing countries: climate change, sustainable agriculture, and overall rural development. The company is present in Cameroon and Brazil, operating mid-size industrial plants and currently working with over 600 farmers.
NetZero is a two-time winner of Musk Foundation’s XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, a recipient of the Efficient Solution label from Solar Impulse Foundation, a Green Tech prize winner of the Tech for Good Awards, and develops carbon removal projects certified under the Puro Standard. NetZero’s mid-term goal is to have removed more than 5 million tonnes of CO 2 from the atmosphere by 2030, while having improved the livelihoods of tens of thousands of farmers.
Learn more at: www.netzero.green