Why the World's Most Scalable Carbon Removal Comes in a Bag of Fungal Powder — Loam Bio

In this episode of This Week in Carbon, host Rene Velasquez sits down with Robbie Oppenheimer and Josh Shaeffer from Loam Bio, the Australian ag-biotech company that has developed the world's first commercial fungi-based soil carbon inoculant, and is now bringing its first Gold Standard-certified mycosequestration project to market in the United States.Robbie comes from the science side, a soil carbon researcher with deep roots in the peer-reviewed work out of Sydney University that underpins Loam Bio's approach. Josh brings the commercial lens, having worked across both project origination and carbon commercialization. Together, they make the case that mycosequestration, the role fungi play in moving captured carbon into stable, mineral-bound forms deep in the soil, represents one of the most scalable, durable, and frictionless CDR pathways available today.Key topics covered:- What mycosequestration actually is: how dark septate endophytic fungi intercept soil carbon during decomposition and convert it into mineral-associated organic carbon with turnover times of 127 to 2,000 years- Why soil is so important: 123 gigatons of CO2 enter terrestrial ecosystems globally each year — and the opportunity to intercept even a fraction of the 120 gigatons that cycle back to the atmosphere- The inoculant: a dry fungal powder applied to seed at sowing — no new equipment, no change to existing farm processes, seamless integration into current practice- Loam Bio's first issuance: 5,000 Australian Carbon Credit Units on ~900 hectares under the ACU compliance scheme — and a market that immediately gobbled up the credits- The Gold Standard project: a US Midwest commodity crops project currently approaching validation and verification, targeting issuance by end of year- Pre-issuance Silvera A rating — reportedly the highest rating ever earned by a cropland carbon project globally- The scale potential: 4 billion acres of cropland on earth, hundreds of millions in commodity crops like corn, soy, and wheat — and a pathway that is designed to reach it- Co-benefits that matter to farmers: 80% more water infiltration below 10cm, improved nitrogen retention, reduced fertilizer dependency — a direct financial resilience case for family farms- The food security argument: why soil health is not just a carbon story but an existential one for farming communities facing increasing drought severity and climate variability- Data centers and the Midwest: how hyperscalers expanding into agricultural heartlands have a ready-made local insetting opportunity on their doorstep- The insetting frontier: Brazil field trials, global commodity supply chains, and how companies like Nestlé, Unilever, and Kellanova could use Loam Bio's pathway to decarbonize their agricultural scope 3- Why the removal vs. avoidance, engineered vs. nature binary is a false one — and what a portfolio approach actually looks like in practiceA genuinely exciting conversation about a new CDR pathway that is grounded in ancient biology, backed by peer-reviewed science, and ready to scale.🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and more.