we are making companies and entire regions energy and fertilizer autarkic. at the same time, we are slowing climate change through CO2 removal and can even reverse it.
our attitude
We are a group of people who accompany each other to make a change. We do things differently and love the challenge. Because for us, this is not a job, for us it is a vocation. We want to generate an impact and have fun doing it. We don't separate work & life, but professional & private. We rely on each other and build our company on all our shoulders. At the same time we respect the private life of others and their limits. Because for us the whole person counts, not just his resume and title. Our motivation drives us. We have all made mistakes along the way, learned and gained a lot of experience. This makes us professionals, in our aspirations and our skills. Combined, these heterogeneous superpowers give us the strength for change.
our team
our history
Our founder Michel has always been committed to the expansion of renewable energies (e.g. at Stadtwerke München or the battery and electromobility pioneer sonnen ). Although he was already at the forefront of renewable energies at sonnen, it became increasingly clear to him after the birth of his first son that climate-neutral electricity alone is not enough to stop or even reverse climate change. In addition to the absolutely necessary avoidance of greenhouse gases, we also need large-scale solutions to removeCO2 from the atmosphere. This is how he came up with biochar and founded Kohlekumpels in 2021 together with Sophie, whose implementation strength he had already learned to appreciate through their joint collaboration at sonnen, and 4 other comrades-in-arms. The aim of Kohlekumpels was to make the use of biochar economically and ecologically worthwhile for agriculture. To this end, food grown on soil mixed with biochar was given a price premium and a climate-positive label, thus financing the use of biochar. However, this price increase requires a change in society, which was difficult to implement in times of corona and the Ukraine crisis and the resulting inflation - at the same time, it became increasingly clear that it is essential for a greater spread of biochar that the costs for the use of biochar fall. To achieve this, the world needs significantly more pyrolysis plants and, above all, pyrolysis plants that can work with the cheapest possible and otherwise poorly utilized biomass. And it was precisely at this point that an inventor turned to the coal miners with his knowledge and experience from over 25 years of building and developing pyrolysis plants (he calls them "multi-fuel gasifiers"). "At the age of 85, he felt it was time to pass this knowledge on to a younger generation." After intensive examination of the technology and the pilot plant to date, it was clear to us: this technology has the potential to become another game changer in the field of CDR (carbon dioxide removal)! And so the decision was made very quickly: this technology must be made ready for series production and scaled up, because this is how we can really make a difference - that was the birth of autarkize!