NetZero

Agricultural activities contribute significantly to global carbon emissions, while soils in tropical developing countries often suffer from poor fertility and low resilience. Traditional methods to improve soil quality rely heavily on fertilizers, which can be costly, environmentally damaging, and insufficient to address climate change. There is a pressing need for solutions that simultaneously remove carbon from the atmosphere and enhance agricultural sustainability.

NetZero addresses this challenge by scaling the production and use of biochar—stable carbon derived from agricultural residues through pyrolysis—in tropical developing regions. By sequestering carbon in soils for centuries, biochar provides durable carbon removal, while also improving soil health by enhancing water and nutrient retention, correcting acidity, and supporting microbial life. Its use reduces or even eliminates the need for fertilizers, boosts crop yields, and strengthens resilience, making NetZero’s approach a transformative solution for both climate mitigation and sustainable agriculture.

NetZero supports multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals by promoting sustainable agriculture, reducing emissions, and enhancing carbon removal.

NetZero's model brings multiple positive impacts to local communities. Biochar improves farmers’ standard of living through higher yields, lower fertilizer expenses, and better selling prices. NetZero’s production process generates surplus renewable energy, which is converted into electricity, improving access to energy in rural areas. Turning crop residues into biochar, rather than burning them or leaving them to decompose in the fields, reduces air pollution and methane emissions. Additionally, biochar durably removes carbon from the atmosphere, contributing to climate change mitigation.

NetZero’s project has technology development at its core, with the aim to develop a containerized solution for pyrolysis of agricultural residues. This involves significant hardware development, requiring design (CATIA) and simulation (SIMULIA) capabilities.

Once designed, NetZero will need to industrialize the manufacturing of the equipment, leveraging DELMIA.

NetZero's production systems also rely on data capabilities (NETVIBES) for remote monitoring and optimization.

And, given the decentralized nature of its production system, NetZero will leverage the remote capabilities of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform (3DEXCITE and CentricPLM).

NetZero is collaborating with a broad range of institutions, in particular:

Universities, with two main focuses: first on agronomic research, to optimize the impact of biochar on a variety of crops and soils. NetZero has already signed several such partnerships with leading universities. Second on pyrolysis technology, to help improve the core processes as well as the product quality.

Players of the agri value chain: NetZero is forging partnerships to deploy its end-to-end model in a broad range of supply chains (coffee, cocoa, sugarcane, palm etc), in order to optimize yields and decarbonize crop production through lower use of fertilizers and carbon removal.

Industial corporations: NetZero is building partnerships with world-class industrial groups to industrialize its solution and support its roll-out at scale.

Companies with strong climate ambitions: NetZero has already established several long term partnerships with leading global companies willing to move rapidly to net-zero emissions. Such partnerships give these companies access to NetZero's high quality carbon removal credits to neutralize their GHG emissions.

Financial institutions: NetZero is partnering with such players to fund the production units  and provide financing solutions to farmers buying the biochar, in order to facilitate the technology and product adoption by a broad range of potential users (cooperatives, large farms, etc.)