Energy Efficiency, GHG Emissions, Industrial - November 29, 2023
Stripe, Spotify Sign Two Offtake Agreements
Frontier, an advance market commitment (AMC) that aims to accelerate the development of carbon removal technologies, has facilitated a set of direct air capture (DAC) offtakes for carbon removal.
Frontier's founders Stripe, Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, McKinsey Sustainability, and members Autodesk, H&M Group, JPMorgan Chase and Workday purchased this round of offtakes. Aledade, Boom Supersonic, Canva, SKIMS, Wise, and Zendesk will also participate with purchases via Frontier’s partnership with Watershed.
The agreement was signed with CarbonCapture and Heirloom. Frontier buyers will pay CarbonCapture $20 million to permanently remove 45,500 tons of CO₂ by 2028, and Heirloom $26.6 million to remove 26,900 tons of CO₂ by 2030 from its next commercial facility. There are options to purchase additional tons from future projects at lower prices.
These prices account for both the removal itself as well as measuring, reporting and verifying (MRV) that each ton is safely stored and accounted for according to a rigorous protocol.
DAC pulls CO₂ out of ambient air via a recurring cycle of CO₂ capture and release that’s facilitated by a sorbent or solvent. The resulting CO₂ stream can then be coupled with geologic sequestration or mineralization for permanent carbon removal.
While DAC solutions are highly durable, easy to measure and verify, and only take up a small physical footprint relative to other kinds of carbon removal, the challenge is the high cost per ton, which is driven by both capex, as well as the energy required to power the process.
“Getting DAC to gigaton scale requires finding ways to quickly drive down costs,” said Hannah Bebbington, Strategy Lead, Frontier, in a statement. “Heirloom and CarbonCapture are each pursuing creative—and distinct—approaches to doing that.”
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