Salk’s Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI) Garners Widespread Support
New grants are supporting the Institute’s efforts to optimize plants’ natural ability to store carbon and mitigate climate change. This support bolsters the ongoing HPI project focused on model plants that was funded through donations to The Audacious Project in 2019
Bezos Earth Fund donates $30 million to Salk Institute for innovative climate change research
Salk’s Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI) received $30 million from the Bezos Earth Fund to advance efforts to increase the ability of crop plants, such as corn and soybeans, to capture and store atmospheric carbon via their roots in the soil. This work will explore carbon-sequestration mechanisms in six of the world’s most prevalent crop species with the goal of increasing the plants’ carbon-storage capacity. It complements an ongoing HPI project focused on identifying genes for increased carbon sequestration in model plants and then utilizing those genes to enhance carbon sequestration in crops.
The Bezos Earth Fund grant will enable Salk scientists to advance work in plant genetics, genomics, and biochemistry—and use the power of plant diversity—to develop global crops that will increase the amount of carbon removed from the atmosphere and store it deep in the earth’s soil. Members of the HPI leadership team include Salk faculty Wolfgang Busch, Joanne Chory, Joseph Ecker, Julie Law, Todd Michael and Joseph Noel.
Salk and Sempra Energy announce project to advance plant-based carbon capture and storage research
Salk and Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) announced a new project to advance plant-based carbon capture and sequestration research, education and implementation to help address the climate crisis. With its $2 million donation, Sempra will be the lead sponsor of the “Sequestering Carbon Through Climate Adapted Sorghum” project, part of the Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative.
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Salk’s Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI) Garners Widespread SupportNew grants are supporting the Institute’s efforts to optimize plants’ natural ability to store carbon and mitigate climate change. This support bolsters the ongoing HPI project focused on model plants that was funded through donations to The Audacious Project in 2019.