Cocoa Waste to Carbon Gold

Three Mountains Cocoa Biochar

Cocoa Waste to Carbon Gold

Fighting climate change by converting cocoa waste into biochar, sequestering carbon, and supporting resilient Ghanaian agriculture

Ashanti Region, Ghana

Ghana

For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models

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To keep global warming to 1.5°C, we need to remove 2.8 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually by 2050. Rural smallholder farmer communities in Ghana continue to suffer from extreme poverty and low crop yields due to degraded soil.

Three Mountains Cocoa in Ghana is partnering with Terraton to establish a biochar facility in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Three Mountains Cocoa is a premium organic cocoa processing company that prioritizes farmers’ welfare, the environment, and the communities. The biochar facility converts cocoa pods into biochar, creating a carbon-negative product that enhances soil health and sequesters carbon. The project works directly with smallholder farmers, purchasing agricultural waste to ensure sustainable feedstock sourcing and economic benefits for local communities. Three Mountains Cocoa is projecting to collect 16,295 tons per year of cocoa pods and corn stover from farmers to pyrolyze into biochar. The process sequesters CO2 so it can not contribute to global warming, produces organic biochar that can improve soil health, and generates significant income for smallholder farmers and rural communities from the sale of carbon credits.

The solution will initially serve the 2,000 smallholder farmers that are selling cocoa to Three Mountains Cocoa. These smallholder farmers are predominantly subsistent farmers in rural Ghana living on $4 per day.