HackTrends: Fungi For Future

🍄 What is it?

• Mycelium, the vegetative part of fungi, is being explored and utilised for various applications, including finding carbon capture and storage solutions.

• More than 13BN metric tons of CO2 is passed from plants to mycorrhizal fungi each year — equivalent to a third of all carbon released as a result of fossil fuel emissions. What if we could harness the power of these fungal networks at scale? Proving it’s possible could be an essential ally to hit net zero.

🤔 Tell me more…

• Fungi and plants have already been collaborating for 400 million years in capturing carbon - it’s a totally natural process.

• But now startups are looking at this innate process anew and wondering if it could provide a truly sustainable solution for storing carbon in the ground - where it can’t further pollute our planet.

• From ecological restoration projects to fungi-based soil pellets, the space is heating up…

🤷‍♂️ Why?

• Various different types of mycelial fungi sprawl through the soil beneath our feet, establishing relationships with plants that are mutually beneficial – these relationships are called mycorrhizae, and the microorganisms are called mycorrhizal fungi.

• However, these natural, beneficial microbes have been destroyed by modern agricultural practices including tilling, overuse of pesticides, fungicides and fertilisers, and monocropping. MycoStories founder Marc Violo explained the hope mycelium offers to change things: ‘Diverse communities of fungi have the potential to capture more carbon than monocultures. The diversity of fungi species will impact the efficiency of carbon capture, hence the importance of fungi conservation efforts. Some fungi produce biochar, a type of charcoal that is very effective at storing carbon. This biochar can be incorporated into soil, increasing its capacity for carbon storage as well as its crop fertility.’

• Mycelium forms an extensive network of fine filaments called hyphae. These networks can act as a carbon sink, absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil. It does this by breaking down organic matter and converting it into stable forms, such as fungal biomass. By promoting the growth of mycelium in soil or through other methods, carbon sequestration can be enhanced, helping to mitigate climate change.

• Startups are looking to this space as an emerging sector as mushrooms have hit the mainstream in recent years and the ability to cultivate them at scale has grown more accessible and affordable.

Black = carbon flow
Purple = nutrient flow

🔍 How is it shaping up?

Mycorrhizal inoculants

• Mycelium is being explored as a potential tool for carbon capture through its natural ability to absorb and store carbon. Israeli company Groundwork BioAg manufactures what are known as mycorrhizal inoculants, which use mycelium, or long, microscopic filaments called hyphae, to extend a plant’s root system and allow for hugely improved absorption of nutrients and water. A few years back they raised $11M in VC funding to further their projects - and have since expanded their flagship product Rootella, helping farmers to improve the efficiency of crop production for crops including corn, soybeans and grains among others. Customers in the US can gain carbon credits from their application of Rootella mycorrhizal inoculants coming this year.

Carbon credits

• Canadian company Mikro Tek is also supplying carbon credits based on mycelium sequestration. Mikro-Tek’s core technology is based on an association between a plant’s roots and naturally occurring beneficial microbes called mycorrhizal fungi. When a plant forms a mycorrhizal association, it develops a larger, healthier root system, which enables it to absorb more moisture and nutrients from the soil.

Forest networks

• The healthier a tree is, the more carbon it sequesters. Forests do a great job of this without human input, absorbing a whopping THIRD of the carbon humans around the globe emit each year. But several companies in this space are focusing on mycelium in forest networks to make the impact even broader - Funga (check out our case study below) is harnessing these networks to address biodiversity challenges and climate change. Rhizocore Technologies in Edinburgh is equally forest-focused with its fungal pellets - and the subject of our other case study. Scroll on to find out more… 🌲 

Soil and bio remediation

• Linked to these projects is the idea of soil remediation using mycelial networks. By introducing mycelium networks into degraded soils or deforested areas, the growth and activity of mycelium facilitate the regeneration of ecosystems and can break down toxins in the soil. This, in turn, contributes to the overall carbon capture potential of these restored habitats. Rewilding Mycology is a Scottish organisation that promotes the use of mycelium in rewilding initiatives while SPUN (Society for the Protection of Underground Networks) is an American scientific platform mapping mycelial networks to advocate for their protection and back projects using mycoremediation to battle the climate crisis.

• Also focused on the power of fungi for bioremediation? Novobiom, a Belgium company founded in 2017 who bill themselves as experts in applied mycology and use their expertise to develop tailored mycoremediation programmes for clients.

📈 The figures

• Forest-based mycorrhizal networks around the world currently sequester around 5BN tons of carbon per year – which is equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of the E.U. and Russia put together.

👀 Who? (12 companies in this space)

• Funga (forest fungal networks to fix biodiversity, USA)

• Groundwork BioAg (mycorrhizal sequestered carbon, Israel)

• Loam Bio (carbon sequestration using mycelium, Australia)

• Mikro Tek ( mycelium-based carbon credits, Canada)

• MycoCycle (soil remediation using mycelium, USA)

• MycoMine (soil and wastewater remediation via MycoMining, Sweden)

• Novobiom (expert in environmental mycology and mycoremediation, Belgium)

• Rewilding Mycology (organisation promoting mycology in rewilding projects, UK)

• ReGen (developing healthy soil microbiome with fungi, Israel)

• Rhizocore Technologies (fungal pellets for mycoremediation, UK)

• Spun (project mapping mycelial networks for climate benefits, USA)

• Yphen (producing mycelium to depollute soil, France)

🌲 Case study: Rhizocore 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland, UK
🗓 Founded: 2021

• Goal: Rhizocore promotes ecological restoration through the power of mycelium.

• How: The company’s scalable and environmentally friendly solution harnesses the unique properties of mycelium to sequester carbon while creating sustainable materials for various industries.

• Unfair Advantage: Rhizocore designed specialised growth chambers to cultivate mycelium on organic substrates, such as agricultural waste and forestry byproducts. The team experimented with different species of fungi and different parameters like temperature, humidity, and airflow to enhance the uptake of carbon by mycelium. The end result was the company’s tailored fungal pellets.

• These locally-adapted mycorrhizal fungi pellets enhance tree planting success, and can fit effortlessly into current planting processes, ensuring that new saplings flourish, build resilience to drought, and overcome the mortality rates so often seen across the forestry industry.

• Now: Just this summer, the startup received new funding of £3.5M. Building on their accomplishments, Rhizocore envisions scaling up their operations to have a more substantial impact on carbon mitigation and environmental restoration. They aim to plant as many as 5M trees with accompanying fungal pellets in 2025.

🌳 Case study: Funga

🇺🇸 Texas, USA 🇨🇭Zürich, Switzerland
🗓 Founded: 2021

• Goal: Funga is harnessing the power of forest fungal networks to address the climate crisis. They believe that reintroducing soil microbial biodiversity in the wild can accelerate plant growth by an average of 64%, in turn accelerating carbon capture.

• How: They’re blending modern DNA sequencing and machine learning technology with pioneering research on the forest microbiome to put native, biodiverse communities of mycorrhizal fungi in the right place.

• This then leads to more quality wood created more quickly, more carbon sequestered, and more resilient forests.

• Unfair Advantage: Machine learning combined with DNA data allows them to cherry-pick (or should we say, fungi-pick) the most appropriate varieties of mycelium to put the right fungi in the right places.

• Now: The startup is running a field trial in the UK in collaboration with The Carbon Community to test their approach to fungal intervention at scale.

• Next: Over the next year and a half, the team plans to develop over 4,000sq m of forest microbiome restoration projects in the southern states of the US. The company’s goal is to sequester at least 3BN tons of carbon through rewilding forests by 2050 and will carefully track how much additional carbon is stored through their projects.

🚀 Opportunities

• Renewable and natural: Mycelium is a 100% natural and completely renewable resource that occurs in our environment. This means it can be sustainably cultivated and harvested. Utilising mycelium for carbon capture takes advantage of a natural process without relying on non-renewable resources.

• Low energy requirements: Cultivating mycelium at scale generally requires minimal energy input compared to comparable carbon capture technologies. Mycelium grows on organic substrates, such as agricultural waste or forestry byproducts - or just in the wild. These low energy requirements make mycelium a potentially energy-efficient carbon capture option.

• Carbon sequestration: mycelium is able to capture and store CO2 as a natural part of its growth and metabolic processes. As mycelium expands and develops, it absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere and incorporates it into its biomass.

• Improved soil health: Mycelium can enhance soil health, nutrient cycling, and water retention capacity. Mycelium networks can also promote biodiversity as they provide habitats for various organisms, including beneficial fungi, bacteria, and insects.

❓Risks and remaining questions

• Scaling up: While mycelium has immense potential to sequester carbon, its current implementation is relatively small-scale and may not be efficient enough to make a significant impact.

• Limited longevity: Because mycelium is biodegradable, it can decompose over time, releasing the stored carbon back into the environment. Maintaining the stability and longevity of mycelium-based carbon capture systems is an ongoing challenge and one that needs to be solved to harness the full potential of the technology in this field.

• Infrastructure: Implementing mycelium-based carbon capture at a larger scale would also require significant infrastructure and logistical considerations. This includes establishing suitable growth environments, ensuring proper nutrient supply, and creating systems for monitoring and maintaining the mycelium.

• Barriers to adoption: Philippe Birker, co-founder of Climate Farmers, told Hack ‘The tech is hampered by large agriculture and chemical fertiliser companies focused on ploughing and fungicides, both of which destroy soil health and kill off mycelium, preventing carbon capture benefits in the process. But I have high hopes that through ecosystem service payments for farmers we can scale regenerative agriculture and work with nature and fungi and not against them.’

• Insufficient research: Marc Violo, founder of MycoStories, also added: This field of research is extremely young. We need much more research to identify what type of fungi to use in different soil ecosystems and which strains store carbon most effectively, and how to produce these at scale. There aren’t any long-term, commercial scale fungi based carbon sequestration studies available.’ Marc pinpointed research grants, support from policy, long-term investment support from impact investors and lots of knowledge sharing and open access research as ways to overcome these challenges.

💡The bottom line

• While mycelium-based carbon capture at scale is still in the early stages, its benefits make it an attractive avenue for sustainable carbon mitigation. The value of fungi in restoring ecosystems and mitigating climate change cannot be denied.

• Ongoing research and technological advancements aim to optimise and expand the applications of mycelium in carbon capture and other environmental solutions. The future is fungi-filled!

🔍 Go Deeper

• Check out the 2023 fungi industry map 

• Read this report on Fungi as a Carbon Pool

• Listen to mycology professors Alexander Weir and Russell Briggs as they discuss fungi for carbon capture.

• The LA Times wrote this piece on the topic

With thanks to Susanne Gløerson, Philippe Birker and Marc Violo for sharing their expertise in this report.