[COP30 Presidency | Official Event] CDR & Coffee at the Italian AquaPraça – An Exclusive Evening on ERW & Biochar

​Grounded Solutions & Carbon-Smart Coffee
Scaling Biochar and Enhanced Rock Weathering for Climate-Positive Coffee Farming

​Location & Host

​📍 AquaPraça – Italian Pavilion at COP30, Belém, Brazil
🗓️ November 10, 2025

​At COP30 in Belém, this exclusive session at the Italian Pavilion brings together global leaders in agriculture, climate tech and finance to explore how Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) and Biochar are reshaping coffee-farming systems into durable carbon removals and soil-regenerative engines. From the ground to the global carbon stack, join us for science, policy and impact in motion.

​Full Description

​Grounded Solutions and Carbon-Smart Coffee brings together pioneers from agronomy, climate-tech, finance and international development to explore how two soil-based innovations, Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) and Biochar, can transform coffee landscapes into powerful carbon sinks while restoring soil health and boosting yields.

​Coffee is not only one of the world’s most important crops, especially in the Global South, it also faces mounting pressure from soil degradation, climate variability and input-intensity. These geologic and biologic solutions offer a dual promise: improving soil fertility, water retention and crop productivity while permanently removing CO₂ from the atmosphere.

​Yet unlocking this potential at scale demands more than field trials. It requires supportive finance, enabling policy frameworks, and market pathways that turn climate action into farmer income. That’s exactly the cross-cutting theme we explore: how agronomy meets carbon removal markets; how farmer livelihoods align with global net-zero goals; how stakeholder ecosystems from cooperative to corporate play their role.

​Join us in the floating AquaPraça Pavilion for a dynamic afternoon of expert panels followed by an intimate networking reception overlooking the Amazon riverbank — where coffee, climate and community converge.

​Agenda

​18:00–18:15 Welcome & Opening Remarks Vanúsia Nogueira, Executive Director, International Coffee Organization

18:15–18:30 Keynote Address H.E. Stefano Gatti, Director General for Development Cooperation, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

18:30–19:15 Session 1: Agronomic Innovations & Farmer Co-Benefits
Moderator: Yusuf Khan, Sustainability Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Panelists: Frederico Fernandes G. Bernardez, Director-President, ABREFEN (Brazil), Felix Harteneck, Founder & CEO, InPlanet (Brazil), Olivier Reinaud, Co-Founder & Managing Director, NetZero (Brazil), Andrea Illy, President, illycaffè S.p.A. (Italy)

19:30–20:15 Session 2: Coffee Carbon Credits, Policy & Partnerships
Moderator: Christopher Neidl, Carbon Removal Lead, UN Climate High-Level Champions (UNFCCC) (
Panelists: Ashish Kumar, Strategy & Financing Lead, Mati Carbon (IndiaAfrica), Wietse Vroom, Chairman, Global South Coalition for Carbon Dioxide Removal (GS-CDR) (Global South), Alastair Collier, Founder & Chief R&D Officer, A Healthier Earth (UK)

19:30–22:00 Re-hydrate & Re-mineralize on the Floating Pavilion (Networking Reception) Open informal networking with speakers, delegates, partners

​Vanúsia Nogueira – Executive Director, International Coffee Organization (ICO)
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/vanusia-nogueira-4461a733 (LinkedIn)

Vanúsia Nogueira leads the ICO, representing the global coffee-chain’s voice on climate resilience, farmer livelihoods and sustainability. With deep roots in the coffee sector, she brings firsthand insight into how small-holder growers face the dual challenge of climate risk and global demand. At COP30 she will frame the conversation: why soil quality and carbon removal now matter for coffee’s future — and how the industry must evolve to serve both farmers and planet.

​H.E. Stefano Gatti – Director General for Development Cooperation, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation
LinkedIn: https://www.esteri.it/en/ministero/struttura/dgcoopsviluppo/il-direttore-generale-per-la-cooperazione-allo-sviluppo/

​Ambassador Gatti oversees Italy’s international development programming, guiding partnerships in climate resilience, food security and sustainable agriculture. His keynote will spotlight Italy’s leadership in advancing regenerative solutions and the role of bilateral cooperation in deploying solutions such as ERW and biochar at scale across the Global South.

​Yusuf Khan – Sustainability Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yusuf-khan-8838a3128

​Yusuf covers the intersection of agriculture, energy and ESG for the WSJ from his London base. His experience spans industrial decarbonization, commodity markets and emerging carbon-removal frameworks. In his role as moderator he will steer two panels, challenge assumptions and translate technical solutions into storylines investors, policymakers and farmers care about.

​Frederico Fernandes G. Bernardez – Director-President, ABREFEN (Brazil)

​LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frederico-fernandes-goncalves-bernardez-a7282986/

​Frederico heads ABREFEN, Brazil’s association of soil-remineralizer producers. A pioneer in the “rock-powder revolution,” he has led the scaling of remineralizer application to over 1.5 million tons annually, driving productivity gains and carbon sequestration across Brazilian crops. At COP30 he will share agronomic and economic insights from coffee and other pilot systems where ERW is being deployed as a regenerative, low-input pathway.

​Felix Harteneck – Founder & CEO, InPlanet (Brazil)
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/felixharteneck

​A Forbes 30 Under 30 climate-tech entrepreneur, Felix founded InPlanet to scale ERW in tropical agriculture and deliver certified carbon-removal credits. Under his leadership InPlanet became a global leader in durable removal for agriculture. At COP30 he will present field-trial results in Brazilian coffee systems and outline strategies for farmer engagement and credit-stacking.

​Olivier Reinaud – Co-Founder & Managing Director, NetZero (Brazil)
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/oreinaud

​Olivier leads NetZero’s mission to convert coffee processing residues into biochar, producing soil amendments and certified carbon removals simultaneously. With a scalable, circular-economy model rooted in Brazil, he will unveil how smallholder coffee systems can move from waste streams to carbon-positive value chains.

​Andrea Illy – President, illycaffè S.p.A. (Italy)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/andrea-illy/

​Andrea Illy stands at the intersection of premium coffee, sustainability and value-chain transformation. At the helm of illycaffè, he has championed regenerative models, circular by-product flows and high-quality coffee tied to farmer empowerment. His insight will connect global brand imperatives with frontline agriculture and carbon removal.

​Christopher Neidl – Carbon Removal Lead, UN Climate Change High‑Level Champions (UNFCCC)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-neidl-a561535/

​Christopher brings 20 + years of experience in industrial decarbonization and carbon-removal methodologies. He leads the High-Level Champions’ workstream on scalable removal solutions and is focused on establishing robust market-integrity frameworks. At this event he will moderate the financing & partnerships session and challenge how agricultural removals can credibly meet gigaton-scale ambition by 2030.

​Ashish Kumar – Strategy & Financing Lead, Mati Carbon (India/Africa)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashkr/

​Ashish leads strategy and financing at Mati Carbon, a winner of the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition. Under his remit Mati deploys ERW for smallholders in India and Africa, delivering soil health, yield uplift and monetised CO₂ removals. At COP30 he will provide a business model deep-dive with farmer outcomes, terrain-specific insights and the role of finance in unlocking geologic solutions for agriculture.

​Wietse Vroom – Chairman, Global South Coalition for Carbon Dioxide Removal (GS-CDR)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wietsevroom/

​Wietse leads GS-CDR, advocating for carbon removal frameworks that centre the Global South, equitable benefit-sharing and policy integration. He brings dialogues around host-country NDCs, permanence assurance and technologically-neutral markets. At COP30 he will surface how removal credits emanating from coffee and soil-based systems can embed into global climate policy.

​Alastair Collier – Founder & Chief R&D Officer, A Healthier Earth (UK)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alastaircollier/

​Alastair is a climate-tech innovator focused on biochar production and integration into agricultural and carbon-removal value chains. His company was the official Biochar Partner at COP28 and he will use the stage at COP30 to outline how biochar can transition from niche project to industrial-scale farmer-finance system across coffee and beyond.