A big thank you to Co-axis and Singapore Sustainable Finance Association (SSFA) for convening this important discussion on scaling biochar in Southeast Asia with blended finance! 

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Southeast Asia stands at the intersection of global agricultural scale and climate vulnerability, yet remains virtually absent from durable carbon removal. 

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It was a privilege to have the opportunity to share our experience on where blended finance is optimally targeted to scale Southeast Asia’s durable carbon removal (CDR) and climate-smart agriculture opportunity - 

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Arukah was established on the principle that scalable, sustainable markets are the foundation of large scale poverty alleviation, and we apply market discipline to our design of carbon credit projects and associated financial instruments. Our starting point is farmers and agribusinesses are core stakeholders, so just as Grab and Youtrip build their products - technology and business model - to match the needs and user experience for their customers, we focus our project design accordingly.

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Where blended finance can uniquely catalyse our region:

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📈 Market-Based Scalability: Applying market-based mechanisms - we structure carbon credit revenue very intentionally to develop self-sustaining markets. Our 50% commitment to farmers systematically builds them into new value chains for waste optimisation, while all products are paid for and sold - i.e., no “free” because free is not a market. This ensures that interventions scale only where there is  long-term product-market fit and sustainable real economic value. 

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There is also a role for instruments that capture the market stage - e.g., Southeast Asia is relatively newer to global durable carbon removal, so spot sales are a likely monetisation focus at an earlier stage of a project - subject to meeting undersupplied market demand criteria, a long-term offtake may not yet be a fixed requirement for scalability. 

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This relates to a next component:

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🔗 Trust Infrastructure: Funding digital MRV (dMRV) infrastructure bridges market and delivery risks, providing buyers and financiers continuous, tamper-evident data, and the assurance for entering new, first-time markets for them.

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By pairing catalytic grants with traditional finance, we can build scalable, long-term resilient climate solutions. Arukah is unlocking this frontier with a business model we believe is long-term resilient with a 50% direct smallholder revenue share, and co-products that are distributed and validated at market-determined pricing.

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Join us - If you’re keen to anchor business models and infrastructure that equip farmers and drive regional transition to climate-smart agriculture, please reach out at pathbreakers@arukahcapital.com! 

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