A former Durham University student with a world-leading carbon capture idea has secured a $5m international prize thanks to support from Newcastle University students.
Jim Mann, an ecology graduate, says he wants his business, Undo, to become the world's largest carbon remove company.
Northumberland fieldwork carried out in collaboration with Newcastle University has helped give credibility to Undo's process of spreading volcanic dust on farmland - a material that captures a vast amount of carbon from the air and can increase crop yields.
This week, Mr Mann travelled to New York where he received the $5m award from the internationally renowned Xprize competition to scale up the business.
Thanks to Undo's work with Newcastle University, the process known as enhanced rock weathering was shown to make farmland more productive, reduce the amount of harmful phosphates flowing into streams and rivers and capture carbon.
XPrize offered significant sums for projects that could combat climate change and challenged teams to submit ideas that could be scaled up to gigatonne level. The global competition received 1,300 applicants who were narrowed down to 20 finalists from 11 countries over a four-year search period.
Each finalist successfully removed more than 1,000 net tonnes of CO2 in the final year of the competition, meeting XPrize’s demonstration requirements,. Undo will use its winnings to scale from kilotonne to megatonne removals.
David Manning, professor of Soil Science at Newcastle University School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, said: "We are delighted with the news that UNDO won the $5m award from XPrize. We work closely with UNDO on a number of projects, especially engaging our undergraduate and postgraduate students in the potential for enhanced rock weathering to mitigate climate change.
"Research at Nafferton Farm has shown that, in a bad year for crop growth, use of basaltic rock dust gives increased yields, suggesting that it is particularly helpful when plants are under stress.
"At Cockle Park Farm, we have long-standing carbon capture experiments (10 years), which influence the design of research carried out by Undo and other companies. We are also using our unique hydrologically-isolated plots in new experiments with Undo to measure weathering at field scale."
Jim Mann, founder and CEO at UNDO, said: "Being an XPrize winner is a powerful validation - not just of Undo’s scientific rigour and massively scalable operational model but of the incredible academic and agricultural communities behind it all.
"Our collaborative research with Newcastle University is instrumental in advancing this vital climate technology, particularly by demonstrating the agronomic benefits of applying crushed silicate rock to local farmland.
"In a field of truly impressive innovators, this recognition highlights the enormous achievement of taking enhanced rock weathering from the lab and into the field. It's an honour to be part of the winning cohort, united in our mission of creating a liveable planet for future generations."
