Google has agreed to buy 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide removal credits from Indian startup Varaha, its first deal with a carbon project in India and the largest involving biomass-produced biochar (also called horticultural charcoal or ” black gold” for lands).

The offtake agreement credits will be delivered to Google by 2030 from Varaha’s industrial biochar project in the western Indian state of Gujarat, the two companies said on Thursday.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Currently, the New Delhi-based startup is the only Indian company listed on the carbon removal standard and registry Pure. Earth.

Biochar is produced in two ways: artisanal and industrial. The artisanal method is community-driven, where farmers burn plant residues in conical flasks without the use of machinery. In contrast, industrial biochar is produced using large reactors that process 50-60 tons of biomass per day.

Varaha’s project will produce industrial biochar from an invasive plant species, Prosopis Juliflorausing its pyrolysis facility in Gujarat. Invasive species affect plant biodiversity and outgrow grasslands used for livestock. Varaha will harvest the plant and try to restore the region’s native grasslands, the company’s co-founder and CEO, Madhur Jain, said in an interview. Once the biochar is produced, a third-party auditor submits their report to Puro.Earth to generate credits.

Although biochar is seen as a long-term solution to carbon removal, its permanence can vary between 1,000 and 2,500 years depending on production and environmental factors.

For context: Carbon credits are related to how long carbon can be permanently removed from the atmosphere by paying for emissions with sustainable activities. Greenhouse gases have a long-term effect on the atmosphere, up to hundreds or thousands of years, so any effective carbon credit program must promise a similarly long period of carbon removal. “Permanence,” here, indicates how long carbon remains in the soil before returning to the atmosphere.

Jain told TechCrunch that Varaha tested using different feedstocks and different parameters inside its reactors to find the best combination to achieve permanence of nearly 1,600 years.

The startup is also building a digital monitoring, reporting and verification system, which integrates remote sensing to monitor biomass availability. It even has a mobile app that takes geo-tagged, time-stamped images of geographically documenting activities, including biomass excavation and biochar’s field application.

With its first project, Varaha said it processed at least 40,000 tons of biomass and produced 10,000 tons of biochar last year.

“Even if we do not improve our skills, we have reached a level where we can successfully process 40,000 tons of biomass per year, which means that we can easily reach the target of 100,000 tons of biochar in 2030 ,” said Jain.

He added that each ton of biochar generates 2.5 carbon credits, and the startup aims to achieve 1 million credits per year by 2030.

Carbon credits have gained importance as companies produce greenhouse gas emissions, and each credit is equivalent to a ton of carbon dioxide reduction. By purchasing carbon credits, companies can support sustainable projects in an effort to offset their emissions.

Google set a new record with this deal, as the last significant transaction to remove biochar carbon was Senken and Exomad Green, consists of 81,600 tons of biochar carbon credits between 2025-2028. However, Google’s deal with Varaha pales in comparison to the tech giant’s carbon emissions.

In 2023, the search giant will have full greenhouse gas emissions in the environment 14.3 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (gases)13% more than a year ago. Continued advances in AI development are predicted to worsen these emissions numbers over time, although Google says its goal is within reach. net-zero emissions in all its operations and value chains by 2030.

“Biochar is a promising method of carbon sequestration because it has the ability to scale globally, using existing technology, with a positive impact on soil health,” said Randy Spock, the carbon sequestration leader. of Google, in a statement.

Varaha currently operates 14 tech-driven carbon projects in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Kenya. The startup says it has also moved more than 100,000 small farmers to sustainable practices, helping to offset more than 2 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. It raised $12.7 million in total, incl $8.7 million in a Series A round last year, and is backed by funds including RTP Global, Omnivore, Orios Venture Partners, IMC Pan Asia Alliance Group’s Octave Wellbeing Economy Fund, and Japan’s Norinchukin Bank.