Rice husks in Cambodia are mostly burned in open fields. That’s not just a waste of carbon — it’s a source of black carbon emissions, a local air quality problem, and an agricultural loss. Arukah Capital is doing something more interesting with them.
Arukah has issued the first CO₂ Removal Certificates (CORCs) in Cambodia under the Puro.earth Biochar Carbon Removal methodology. It’s their first-ever issuance, and it marks a new geography for Puro.earth’s now-global biochar supplier network.
The facility
Arukah began operating what it describes as the largest biochar facility in Southeast Asia in 2025. The feedstock is agricultural residue — primarily rice husks — that would otherwise be incinerated in the open air, repurposed as biomass fuel, or used as livestock bedding. None of those alternatives lock carbon away.
Biochar does. The process converts that organic material into a stable carbon form that resists decomposition for hundreds to thousands of years. The production process also generates useful co-products: wood vinegar and syngas, both used locally.
The farmer revenue share
Here’s a design detail that matters: Arukah shares 50% of gross carbon revenue with the smallholder farmers who supply the agricultural residues. That’s not a PR footnote — it’s a business model that aligns the incentives of carbon buyers with rural agricultural communities. If carbon credits are worth more, farmers earn more.
The company has set a target of 1 million tonnes per year of climate impact by 2030. That’s ambitious from a standing start, but Southeast Asia’s agricultural waste streams are vast and largely untapped for carbon removal at scale.
Digital MRV
Biochar’s credibility problem in carbon markets has historically been measurement — how do you verify what was produced, where, and with what feedstock? Arukah has built dMRV (digital monitoring, reporting, and verification) infrastructure into its production process. Continuous digital monitoring is becoming the baseline expectation for high-quality credits, and having it from day one positions the company better for future regulatory frameworks.
Puro.earth’s network
Puro.earth now has 20+ biochar suppliers in 13 countries. Cambodia is a new data point on that map — not just geographically, but in terms of demonstrating that the methodology works at the intersection of tropical agriculture, smallholder supply chains, and digital MRV.
The global biochar market is still fragmented. Most facilities are small. Most are in Europe or North America. Southeast Asia — with its massive rice, sugarcane, and palm agricultural systems — represents a different scale of feedstock availability.
The question isn’t whether the feedstock exists. It does, at enormous scale. The question is whether biochar facilities can absorb it fast enough, at sufficient quality, to generate credits the market will buy. Arukah’s first CORC issuance in Cambodia is evidence the infrastructure to do that is being built.