Yazılar

Amazon Introduces Carbon Credit Sales for Suppliers and Customers

/in /tarafından

Amazon has launched a carbon credit program, allowing its suppliers, business customers, and other companies to purchase credits to offset their carbon emissions. The move comes amid ongoing debates over the role of carbon credits in corporate decarbonization efforts and concerns about ensuring their environmental integrity.

The retail giant emphasized that it follows industry-leading standards where available and is actively involved in shaping more rigorous verification processes when needed. Amazon has previously invested in projects related to forest conservation, land restoration, and carbon removal, but this marks its first direct venture into selling carbon credits.

Kara Hurst, Amazon’s chief sustainability officer, highlighted the company’s ability to use its scale and high vetting standards to drive further investments in nature-based solutions. Early participants in the initiative include Flickr, real estate advisory firm Seneca, and electronics company Corsair.

The Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a key authority on corporate climate goals, recently stated that carbon credits should be limited to offsetting residual emissions—those that remain after a company has made substantial reductions. However, SBTi stopped short of endorsing broader reliance on carbon credits to meet decarbonization targets.

Amazon’s program requires participating companies to have a net-zero target that includes emissions from their supply chains and to publicly report their greenhouse gas emissions. The initiative comes after the Bezos Earth Fund, founded by Jeff Bezos, discontinued its $18 million grant to SBTi in late 2023.

Google Partners with Indian Initiative to Purchase Carbon Removal Credits

/in /tarafından

Google has signed a major deal with Indian supplier Varaha to purchase carbon credits derived from an initiative that turns agricultural waste into biochar, a form of charcoal that removes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and returns it to the soil. This deal, one of the largest of its kind involving biochar, marks Google’s first involvement in India’s carbon dioxide removal (CDR) sector.

CDR initiatives are becoming an increasingly important method for tech companies to offset their emissions. While direct CO2 capture technologies are often expensive, biochar offers a more cost-effective and scalable alternative. Biochar has the added benefit of improving soil health, making it a promising solution for global carbon removal, according to Randy Spock, Google’s carbon removal lead.

Under the agreement, Varaha will convert waste from smallholder farms in India into biochar, which can store CO2 for centuries. The biochar will also be used as a fertilizer alternative. Google plans to buy 100,000 tons of carbon credits through this partnership by 2030. Varaha estimates that India’s agricultural waste could generate enough biochar to store over 100 million tons of CO2 annually.

While CDR solutions like biochar have garnered interest in the global carbon market, some critics argue they cannot replace the need for direct emission reductions. Despite these concerns, Varaha’s CEO, Madhur Jain, believes that even temporary solutions are crucial in combating climate change.

 

Climate Tech Firms Receive $80 Million to Capture Carbon from Paper Mills and Sewage Plants

/in /tarafından

A group of climate-focused companies, including Google, H&M, and Stripe, are set to purchase $80 million worth of carbon credits from companies using innovative technologies to capture carbon emissions. These technologies target two industries: paper mills and municipal sewage treatment plants.

Carbon Capture Technologies in Action

The deals, facilitated by the Frontier coalition, involve the purchase of carbon credits from CO280 and CREW, two firms utilizing oil industry technology and natural processes to remove carbon from the atmosphere.

  • CO280 is using carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology developed by SLB, a major oil field services company, to capture carbon emissions from paper mills. This process captures carbon initially absorbed by trees and emitted during paper production.
  • CREW, a startup from New Haven, Connecticut, employs a limestone-based method to capture carbon from wastewater at municipal sewage plants. By adding carbon-attracting limestone to water, CREW can calculate the amount of CO2 it traps as the water goes through treatment.

Financial Commitments for Carbon Removal

The Frontier coalition, which is composed of major players in the tech and finance sectors, including Google, H&M, and Stripe, aims to support emerging carbon capture technologies by purchasing carbon credits from firms that show promise in reducing atmospheric CO2.

  • The coalition has agreed to pay $48 million for 224,500 metric tons of emissions reductions from CO280, at a cost of $214 per metric ton.
  • Additionally, they will pay $32.1 million for 71,878 metric tons of emissions reductions from CREW, at a higher cost of $447 per ton.

These investments reflect the growing commitment of companies to support climate tech and scale carbon removal technologies, with the hope that costs will decrease over time, eventually making carbon capture more accessible.

A Push for Cost-Effective Carbon Removal

Although carbon removal technologies are still in the early stages, the Frontier coalition is betting on their potential to lower costs to $100 per ton or less in the future. Hannah Bebbington, Head of Deployment at Frontier, emphasized that the deals are part of efforts to retrofit older industries with newer carbon technologies. She expressed excitement about the possibility of scaling these technologies to make carbon removal more cost-effective and impactful.

The growing interest from major tech and finance companies is a signal of confidence in the potential of such technologies, even as the world grapples with the challenges of large-scale carbon emissions reduction.