In the heart of Cross River State, a quiet climate revolution is unfolding. Releaf Earth, a Nigerian climate-agritech startup, has launched the country’s first operational industrial biochar facility, a project that blends carbon removal with agricultural regeneration.
At its Iwuru plant, the company uses palm kernel shells once discarded as waste to produce biochar, a charcoal-like substance that enriches soil and locks carbon away for centuries. The shells are processed by Releaf’s proprietary Kraken machine, which separates the nut from the shell. While the kernel heads into food supply chains, the carbon-rich shells are fed into a pyrolyser that turns them into biochar through a process called pyrolysis.
“We’re turning waste into value for the environment and for farmers,” says Releaf Earth CEO Ikenna Nzewi. “Biochar improves crop yields while also capturing carbon, creating two revenue streams: from agriculture and carbon credits.”
Releaf says the Iwuru facility alone will remove 40 kilotonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere by 2030, with another 60 kilotonnes projected from upcoming plants. The company has already partnered with agribusiness Thrive Agric to distribute biochar to smallholder farmers across Nigeria offering them a soil-boosting product that also contributes to climate resilience.
Unlike tree planting, which requires decades to sequester carbon and is vulnerable to droughts or wildfires, biochar offers what scientists call “permanent carbon removal.” Once buried, it locks carbon underground for hundreds to thousands of years, a feature that’s drawing interest from global tech giants like Microsoft.
To meet growing demand for traceability in the carbon credit market, Releaf has built geospatial software tools that map its entire supply chain from sourcing palm kernel shells to biochar storage with GPS data and images to verify each carbon credit in real time. The company also works with Riverse, a verification platform, to certify each ton of carbon removed.
Nzewi says the company is targeting two key revenue streams: biochar sales at $400–$600 per ton and carbon credits priced at $150–$200 per ton of CO₂ removed. Biochar is already dominating the global carbon removal space, accounting for over 90% of issued credits in that category, according to Sylvera. Yet Africa, despite its abundant biomass, remains underrepresented.
“Africa produces over a billion tons of biomass each year,” Nzewi notes. “Biochar gives us a unique chance to lead—not just in agriculture, but in solving the climate crisis.”
With climate urgency mounting and Africa’s population and food demand rising, Releaf Earth is betting that what was once considered agricultural waste may just become one of the continent’s most valuable assets.
