22 Apr 🌍 Earth Day 2025 – A Journey of carbon, hope, and community.

On this Earth Day, we want to celebrate a journey that, for us at Starter, is much more than a technology: it’s a path of regeneration, collaboration, and trust in solutions that grow from the ground up.

It all began with a simple yet powerful question: “What if a handful of carbon could improve the soil and help save the climate?”

From that spark, in 2007, we launched “Be.Bi. – Benefits of Biochar”, the first biochar project in Africa. Since then, with the support of the European Union and The World Bank, and through strong collaboration with local communities—especially women farmers—our work has expanded across the continent.

👉 In Burundi, biochar has proven to be a real game-changer:

• Yield increases of up to +246% compared to control plots.
• Improved soil fertility and food security.
• Significant reductions in fuel costs for families.
• Use of agricultural waste turned into a valuable resource.

Together with the communities, we co-designed the ELSA stove, now in its 3.0 version, locally produced in Bujumbura thanks to Starter Burundi, our newly launched entity dedicated to advancing biochar in the country and in the region.

And now we look ahead: to expanding ELSA into new communities, and to exploring opportunities through carbon finance, with the goal of making biochar a truly scalable carbon removal solution.

On this day, we thank everyone who has walked this journey with us. Because we believe that, by combining science, community, and care for the Earth, we really can make a difference.

Happy Earth Day to all! 🌱