Google revealed at this time that it contracted for greater than $100 million in carbon removing credit in 2024, highlighting investments in a broad vary of applied sciences, together with restoration of pure carbon sinks, enhanced rock weathering (ERW), biomass seize and biochar, and direct air seize (DAC).
Google’s investments quantity to roughly 3 times the dedication made by the corporate in March 2024, to contract for a minimum of $35 million of carbon removing credit over the following 12 months, as a part of an initiative by the U.S. Division of Vitality (DOE) aimed toward serving to to scale the carbon removing sector by funding the sector’s improvements and expertise.
Google’s sustainability targets embrace 2030 targets to achieve web zero emissions throughout its operations and worth chain, and to scale back 50% of its mixed Scope 1, 2, and three absolute emissions, on a 2019 foundation. The corporate’s technique to deal with residual emissions embrace advancing the event and deployment of nature-based and technology-based carbon removing options.
In a weblog submit highlighting the corporate’s carbon removing actions, Randy Spock, Carbon Credit and Removals Lead at Google, stated:
“As we work towards our web zero purpose, we purpose to speed up options that maximize our influence for the planet. That’s why in 2024, we contracted for greater than $100 million in carbon removing credit — roughly 3 instances greater than what we pledged final yr — to catalyze carbon removing options that each Google and the world want.”
Thus far, Google’s purchases quantity to almost 800,000 tons of carbon removals. By expertise, biomass carbon removing and storage make up the best share, with agreements with biomass seize tasks by CO280, and biochar tasks by Varaha and Attraction accounting for greater than 344,000 tons.
Google’s largest carbon removing deal, for over 200,000 tons was introduced in December 2024 with enhanced rock weathering (ERW) startup Terradot, and the corporate additionally introduced a 100,000 ton take care of DAC supplier Holocene, along with agreements with river de-acidification-based firm CarbonRun, and DAC supplier 280 Earth. Agreements included unbiased offers, and purchases made by carbon removing purchaser coalition Frontier.
In Might 2024, Google, alongside Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce, additionally co-founded Symbiosis, an advance market dedication (AMC) collaboration aimed toward supporting the event and development of the nature-based carbon removing market, with a collective dedication to contract as much as 20 million tons of nature-based carbon removing credit.
Spock stated:
“We’re inspired by our progress, however the journey to catalyze carbon removing is simply starting. Within the yr forward, we are going to proceed to broaden our assist for carbon removing as a part of our ongoing effort to seek out the options the world wants and maximize their influence on the planet. We’ll additionally stay open to different approaches that may assist drive speedy, near-term motion to mitigate local weather change.”
