Our strategies / Planetary Health
Planetary Health
In focus: Genomines
Regenerative metal production through phytomining
Theme | Clean |
Subsector | Materials |
Strategy | Enable |
Round | Series A |
Location | France |
PLANET Score | 30 |
UN SDGs | SDG 12, SDG 13 |
Genomines exemplifies Forbion’s BioEconomy investment thesis: foundational biological innovation that delivers both, environmental impact and industrial relevance. Its phytomining platform has the potential to redefine how critical metals like nickel are sourced, contributing to climate mitigation while restoring land and improving the sustainability profile of global supply chains.
The challenge: critical metals have a heavy environmental footprint
Nickel is a critical input for the global energy transition, particularly for electric vehicle batteries and low carbon infrastructure. However, conventional nickel mining is among the most environmentally intensive extractive activities, characterized by:
- High greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per ton of nickel produced.
- Long development timelines (often more than a decade to reach production).
- Significant land disturbance, deforestation, and long-term soil degradation.
- Complex remediation requirements after mine closure.
As demand for nickel continues to grow sharply, the environmental impact of traditional mining represents a structural constraint on achieving global climate and biodiversity goals.
Genomines’ solution: mining with plants
Genomines is pioneering phytomining, i.e. the extraction of metals using plants to offer an alternative to conventional mining. Phyto-mining uses special hyperaccumulator plants that naturally absorb metals from soil and store them in their leaves and stems. These plants grow on ultramafic or serpentine soils, which come from metal‑rich rock and contain unusually high levels of nickel, cobalt, and chromium; often ten times more than normal farmland. Because these soils are toxic and poor on nutrients, most plants can’t grow there, leaving only a few highly adapted species able to survive.
Genomines uses a proprietary digital tool to find land worldwide with the right climate and ultramafic soils. They then test the soil to locate areas with enough nickel; typically 0.2% to 1.5%. Once land is selected, they prepare it for growing their chosen hyperaccumulator plants. Because these plants are sterile, Genomines first propagates them in vitro and then strengthens them in nurseries before planting them in the field. As they grow, the plants absorb nickel into their above‑ground parts. Genomines’ technology boosts both plant growth and nickel uptake while still working within normal farming practices. After harvesting, the biomass is heated to create a nickel‑rich bioconcentrate, which is then sold into existing refining processes to make standard nickel products like mixed hydroxide precipitate or nickel sulphate.9
Forbion BioEconomy co-led the Series A of Genomines driven by the fundamental conviction that Genomines’ technology harnesses plant biotechnology to extract resources essential for clean energy technology, leverages underutilized assets, and fundamentally changes the way we extract critical metals.”
Alex Hoffman, General Partner Forbion BioEconomy
9. Source: Bidra Innovation Ventures, Nucleus Capital, World Fund, Forbion (2026). Beyond the drill: How biology is reshaping the mining industry
Positive impact on environment10
By decoupling metal production from extractive mining, Genomines offers a scalable pathway to cleaner critical materials at a time when supply security, climate impact, and biodiversity protection need to be addressed simultaneously. The company’s approach demonstrates how biotechnology can unlock new resource pathways while reducing pressure on ecosystems and lowering lifecycle emissions of clean‑energy technologies.
Substantial greenhouse gas emissions reduction
According to company’s assessments, its plant‑based nickel production can avoid approximately 11 to 62 tons of CO2‑equivalent emissions per ton of nickel compared with conventional laterite mining routes, depending on the benchmark used. At scale, Genomines estimates that replacing conventional nickel production with phytomining could materially contribute to decarbonizing an industry responsible for a meaningful share of global industrial emissions. Lower‑carbon nickel directly improves the embedded emissions profile of electric vehicles, batteries, and clean‑energy infrastructure.
Land regeneration and soil remediation
Unlike conventional mining, Genomines’ phytomining operations:
- Do not require excavation or blasting.
- Operate on low‑value or contaminated land unsuitable for food production.
- Gradually reduce metal concentrations in soils through repeated harvest cycles.
This approach allows metal extraction to be combined with progressive land restoration, rather than long‑term ecological damage. Phytomining reframes metal extraction as a regenerative land‑use activity, aligned with biodiversity protection and responsible land stewardship.
Reduced water and chemical intensity
Genomines’ system relies on plant growth rather than mineral processing at high temperatures or pressures. According to company disclosures, cultivation requires limited synthetic fertilizer inputs, supported instead by microbiome optimization. Downstream processing focuses on low‑impact recovery techniques, with the stated ambition of carbon‑neutral processing over time. Lower water use, fewer hazardous chemicals, and reduced energy demand materially decrease environmental risk compared to conventional mining and refining.
Efficient use of natural resources
Genomines’ enhanced plants achieve high nickel concentrations in dry biomass and can be harvested multiple times per year under suitable conditions. This enables meaningful metal output per hectare without permanent land conversion. Because the bioconcentrate integrates directly into existing refining infrastructure, no parallel industrial system is required. This “plug‑and‑play” model accelerates adoption of cleaner metals while minimizing additional infrastructure and environmental burden.
Overall, Genomines represents an emerging class of biologically-enabled extraction systems that treat metal production as a hybrid agricultural-industrial process. Their technology integrates plant biology, agronomy, and established metallurgical infrastructure into a coherent, operational system. Once validated at scale, this model could substantially diversify the geographic supply and reduce the environmental impact of primary metal production.
Source and image credit: Genomines.
10. The environmental impact claims are based on Genomines’ disclosures and estimates, and independent third party sources. Avoided emissions figures are comparative estimates against conventional laterite nickel mining and have not yet been externally assured.