check it out! - A SNEAK PEEK BEHIND THE SCENES OF OUR BIOCHAR PRODUCTION
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We were grateful to be invited to give the first keynote at the inaugural bioenergy track of the annual Asia Clean Energy Summit.
We shared our experience of practical pathways to scale Southeast Asia’s role in global decarbonization through inclusive, circular bioeconomy models grounded in our region's understanding of Gotong Royong - mutual aid and friendship.
In Arukah's experience, abundant agricultural biomass can be harnessed effectively to cut emissions and advance inclusive growth, without compromising food security. We also had the opportunity to share how our proprietary AI and computer vision-enabled digital tracking enables high-integrity verification and access to global markets, including a first in market computer vision tracking system for biochar plants.
Arukah's core focus on poverty alleviation, with a first in market 50% carbon revenue share to farmers for investment grade biochar and biogas projects has unlocked both policy support and reliable biomass supply - and increasingly global partnerships.
Our conviction is the SE Asian, Gotong Royong approach will be key to unlocking the circular bioeconomy at scale - watch this space!
Thank you to the organisers and the very expert audience for an engaging dialogue.
And if this model resonates with you as a buyer, financier or agribusiness / cooperative, please do reach out to explore collaboration at pathbreakers@arukahcapital.com.
We are grateful to have shared Arukah’s vision at the 6th World Congress on Agroforestry in Kigali, Rwanda—the first time this landmark event has been hosted on the African continent. Our deepest appreciation to HE Dr. Bernadette Arakwiye and Dr. Eliane Ubalijoro for the invitation and for their visionary leadership in advancing high-integrity climate action from the Global South.
At Arukah, our model is built on a singular conviction: that poverty alleviation and high-integrity climate action are essential complements. In the Global South, climate prosperity must be shared at the roots. To ensure this, we commit 50% of carbon revenue directly to participating farmers—a model that has already shown up to a 450% improvement in carbon reduction compared to unpaid controls.
Our findings echo the observations of regional pioneers like the One Acre Fund: when farmers see tangible income gains, they choose trees. The economic case is clear—fruit and nut trees can deliver 8–10x higher income (within just 3 years of purchasing and planting seedlings) compared to traditional cash crops like maize.
By bridging the gap from local farmer action to global carbon markets - and back to local farmer incomes, Arukah ensures that the ecological value created by farmers is converted into the sustainable income needed for regenerative agriculture to thrive.
With over USD 1 trillion in sustainable finance seeking credible deployment, blended finance and catalytic partnerships are the only way to scale agroforestry at the speed the planet requires.
At this intersection, we see a critical role for “translators”—those who can bridge the gap between complex climate science, rigorous field practice, and institutional global capital. Rwanda, much like Singapore, is poised to be a global hub for the bioeconomy—small in geography, but bold in ambition and global collaboration.
We look forward to building these friendships and partnerships across borders. Because ultimately, big dreams are only made real when we build them together. 🌍
Organised by Puro.earth in partnership with the Carbon Business Council, the APAC CDR Summit 2025 brought together key voices shaping the future of carbon removal across the region.
We were grateful to be spotlighted by Puro, a Nasdaq subsidiary and leading carbon removal registry globally, on the Biochar Breakthroughs panel, moderated by Ms YingYing Chen from Standard Chartered, alongside fellow innovators and practitioners working at the frontier of durable CDR.
We discussed some of the unique challenges to scaling biochar projects (not least logistics), and also the pivotal role of Asia in scaling carbon removal—thanks to its abundant land, biomass potential, and climate innovation, especially in high-impact communities like those we work with in India and Cambodia.
Arukah also had the opportunity to share our high co-benefits model, focused on a 50% income share to participating smallholders, and scalable use of biochar for farming yield improvement. Other panelists shared promising emerging uses for built environments, including green steel. Throughout we also agreed on the critical role of high integrity MRV for building trust in global markets for project quality - including digital MRV, which is a key focus for Arukah.
Thank you to the organizers and all participants for the meaningful exchange - we are looking forward to scaling the next Gigaton from Asia together.
With livelihoods at the heart of our model, Arukah leverages digital MRV, biometric ID systems, and licensed digital payment infrastructure to ensure transparency, traceability, and trust. This foundation uniquely positions us to unlock large scale, high integrity, nature-based climate mitigation from the Global South, while supporting the development of more resilient, inclusive, and community-driven food systems.
At the annual Future Food Asia forum organised by ID Capital partnering with IFC, A*Star, and leading industry players like Adisseo and Buhler, Arukah was grateful for the opportunity to share on a dMRV panel our approach and findings to date on the critical importance of aligning climate action with farmer incentives to deliver high integrity climate mitigation at scale.
Arukah’s insight and conviction is farmers are not incidental beneficiaries but instead core agents to scale and sustain change in our region’s agrifood systems.
Designing and scaling large scale systems change will require situating and incentivising them as such. At Arukah, enabled by our integrated end-to-end dMRV platform — currently the only dMRV approved globally by Gold Standard for biogas — we channel 50% of carbon credit revenue directly to farmers for verified project participation.
We shared key findings from our project in household scale biogas production from livestock manure - namely, a measurable increase in motivation and participation when farmers can earn payments in proportion to their activities.
For instance, in A/B tests run in India since 2H24, we fully metered all digesters and all aspects of the project were similar except for farmer-level payments. Based on our initial findings, farmers in villages with no payments for verified biogas processing dropped off usage significantly over time. In contrast, usage is sustained and even increased over time where farmers are paid for verified processing.
This demonstrates that tangible and equitable economic incentives are critical to sustaining and scaling farmer action at scale.
We enjoyed the rich discussion with fellow panelists and conference participants, and we look forward to many fruitful collaborations to come. Please do reach out to us if you share our vision and would like to partner as a carbon credit buyer or project financier.
We were delighted to join the inaugural Asia Impact Forum organised by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN).
On panel with Accion Venture Lab and AquaExchange Agritech, we had an action oriented discussion focused on measurable outcomes and practical solutions for scaling earnings for smallholders - with both farmer-centric business model design to unlock sustained behavior change, and pragmatic sequencing of products for commercial financeability.
Arukah had the opportunity to share our experience with digital tracking as an enabler for scalability, building trust in project integrity, and also how our commitment to a 50% gross carbon revenue share to participating farmers can unlock both better performance (5x paid vs. unpaid in biogas example in a global first dMRV pilot with Gold Standard) and scale (biochar partnerships underway).
Hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Arukah was invited to participate in a regional workshop to share insights on our approach to carbon markets as a scalable source of climate financing in agriculture - enabled by digital tracking, as well as our biochar plans across the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).
We are grateful for a rich set of discussions and next step partnerships, and look forward to contributing at scale to the post-processing traceability of agriculture supply chains across our region.
In our presentation, we shared the immediate and measurable impact of our project design across decarbonisation, food security and poverty alleviation. And in a vibrant post-presentation discussion some key items were discussed that are both barriers in scaling biochar in the GMS, as well as scalable business opportunities -
First, there are limited regional lab testing capabilities, despite the deep technical expertise in our region.
Second, biochar fertiliser standards and know how are currently not widespread beyond specific markets, but member countries in the GMS have so far been very open and willing to share.
Finally, Arukah shared our approach of absorbing upfront costs at the high risk phase of the project to partner with groups that are new to this space, as long as they are open to our inclusive business model featuring a 50% gross carbon revenue share to farmers. While buyer-focused project design and high frequency digitalised MRV can unlock more purchasing to our region - the entry barriers of minimum scale and upfront costs remain significant. We discussed our approach, and also continue to welcome new partners - please do reach out if this is an area of interest!
