Understanding Promession: The Future of Eco-Friendly Funerals

Every year, millions of people are buried or cremated, but the environmental cost of these practices is often overlooked. In India alone, where traditional wood-based funeral pyres are the predominant method for final rites, cremation is estimated to produce roughly 6.4 to 8 million tons of CO2 every year. That is comparable to the annual electricity use of more than 1.1 million Indian homes.

Promession proposes a different approach. The process uses extreme cold, vibration and freeze-drying to turn human remains into a dry organic powder. Heavy metals can then be separated before the material is returned to the soil.

The global green funeral service market was valued at $622.5 million in 2023 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 8.2% from 2024 to 2030, potentially reaching $1.1 billion. As interest in sustainable death care grows, promession has emerged as one proposed alternative to conventional burial and cremation.

What Exactly Is Promession?

Promession is a proposed method of handling human remains based on freeze-drying. The concept was developed by Swedish biologist Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak. Its name comes from the Italian word promessa, meaning “promise”, reflecting the idea of returning the body to nature with minimal environmental impact.

The method was developed in Sweden as an alternative to cremation and traditional burial. It was also promoted as a way to reduce potential groundwater pollution and save cemetery space in densely populated areas.

Who Invented It and When?

Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak patented promession in 1999 and founded Promessa Organic AB in 1997 to develop the concept commercially. The company went bankrupt in 2015.

Although the original company closed, the concept continued to attract interest and has been discussed alongside related approaches such as cryomation and promation.

How Does Promession Work?

The proposed process begins by cooling the body to approximately -18°C, usually for 24 to 48 hours, before transferring it into a sealed unit called a Promator.

1. Initial cooling: The dead body is cooled to -18°C.

2. Liquid nitrogen freezing: The body is weighed to determine the required amount of liquid nitrogen. The proposed process uses approximately 1 kg of liquid nitrogen per 1 kg of body weight to freeze the body to around -196°C. 

This takes approximately two hours, after which the nitrogen evaporates as gas.

3. Vibration and fragmentation: The extremely cold body becomes brittle and is placed on a vibrating belt, breaking the frozen tissue into small particles.

4. Freeze-drying: The particles are freeze-dried to remove remaining moisture, producing a dry organic powder.

5. Metal separation: Metals such as mercury from dental fillings are separated rather than released into the environment. The process has been discussed in relation to the requirements of the EU Industrial Emissions Directive, which sets limits for pollution affecting air, soil and water.

6. Final burial: The resulting organic powder is placed in a shallow grave, where it can decompose and return to the soil.

Also Read: Wangari Maathai: Legacy of Courage and Green Activism

Promession vs Traditional Burial vs Cremation

A 2017 study commissioned by the City of Paris funeral services estimated the carbon emissions of a single burial at 833 kg of CO2, comparable to driving a private car approximately 4,000 km.

The City of Paris funeral services stated that burial involving a vault and monument could produce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to more than five cremations.

In the US, cremation has been estimated to produce 360,000 tons of CO2 annually, equivalent to powering 31,500 homes for a year. The emissions would theoretically require a forest 20 times the size of Manhattan to offset.

Sources: City of Paris Funeral Services 2017; EarthFuneral.com 2025; Promessa Organic AB.

Life-cycle assessments indicate that environmental impacts can also come from pre-funeral processes such as embalming and the production of coffins and burial materials. Alternatives that avoid embalming and conventional coffins can therefore reduce some of these impacts.

Promession and the Green Funeral Movement

Promession is part of a broader movement towards eco-friendly funerals.

According to figures cited in the original research, 91% of people consider the environmental impact of a funeral important, while 84% would consider a green funeral if it were available.

Other sustainable funeral alternatives include aquamation, terramation and green burial.

Aquamation

Aquamation, or alkaline hydrolysis, uses water, heat, an alkaline chemical solution and pressure to accelerate natural decomposition. It does not rely on fossil fuel combustion and has been reported to use around 5% to 10% of the energy of traditional cremation. It can also allow mercury and other metals to be recovered rather than released into the atmosphere.

Terramation

Terramation, commonly known as human composting, uses controlled biological decomposition to convert human remains into soil-like material. It is legal in several US states.

Green Burial

Green burial uses environmentally conscious practices such as nontoxic preservation, biodegradable coffins or shrouds and natural burial sites. In some cases, a tree sapling may replace a conventional headstone.

Together, these approaches represent growing interest in alternatives to conventional burial and cremation. Promession remains one of the more technologically ambitious proposals.

Also Read: Environment Pollution: कारण और प्रभाव सहित समाधान

What Are the Challenges Facing Promession?

It Has Never Been Performed on a Human

The most important limitation is that promession has never been commercially performed on a human being.

Promessa Organic AB did not progress to human trials, so many claimed environmental and practical benefits remain projections rather than results from large-scale real-world use.

Legal and Regulatory Barriers

Most countries have no legal framework specifically covering promession. Funeral practices are heavily regulated, and introducing a new method requires rules covering public health, environmental protection, handling of human remains and related procedures.

More environmentally friendly funeral methods are emerging, but promession itself has not been widely legalised across Europe, Asia or the Americas.

Commercial Viability

Promession would require specialised infrastructure, including liquid nitrogen systems, freezing equipment, vibration machinery, freeze-drying equipment and metal separation systems. The cost of establishing such facilities could be significant.

The Liquid Nitrogen Question

Liquid nitrogen itself does not create the same type of combustion emissions as cremation, but producing, liquefying and transporting it requires energy.

This means its environmental impact must be considered as part of a complete life-cycle assessment. Advocates argue that promession could still have a substantially lower overall impact than conventional methods, but comprehensive commercial-scale life-cycle data remains limited.

Alternative Funeral Methods: Status in 2025

Sources: Green Burial Council 2024; NFDA 2023; EarthFuneral.com 2025.

Global Interest and the Future of Promession

The idea of promession has attracted international attention. A planned promatorium in Sweden was intended to process approximately 1,500 bodies per year, while South Korea has also been associated with plans involving memorial parks and alternative approaches.

The shortage of cemetery space in densely populated countries such as South Korea has increased interest in alternatives to conventional burial.

Environmental awareness is also influencing funeral preferences. As earlier generations of the green movement grow older, younger generations are increasingly involved in planning funerals for parents and relatives.

As regulations develop and technology improves, promession could eventually become commercially viable. Its proposed advantages include reduced land use, fewer conventional funeral materials and the possibility of returning organic material to the soil.

The Green Burial Council and National Funeral Directors Association already provide environmental standards and certifications for funeral homes, showing that institutional support for greener funeral practices is developing even though promession itself is not yet part of mainstream funeral services.

Promession has also been proposed as a possible method for handling human remains during space missions, giving the concept potential applications beyond Earth.

Beyond Data: What Drives Humanity Toward a Gentler Farewell?

The green funeral movement is not only about reducing emissions and saving resources. It also reflects a desire among some people to return to nature after death and leave a smaller environmental footprint.

Promession applies modern technology to an ancient question: what should happen to the human body after death?

Liquid nitrogen, freeze-drying and vibration mechanics provide possible technical answers, while questions about the meaning of death remain matters of personal philosophy, culture and spirituality.

The spiritual teachings of Saint Rampal Ji Maharaj present the view that the soul’s journey does not end with the physical body. Those interested in exploring these teachings can read Gyan Ganga and Way of Living by Saint Rampal Ji Maharaj.

Promession is still a concept rather than an established funeral service, but it represents a broader question about the future of death care: can we honour the dead while reducing the environmental burden left behind?