Commercial, GHG Emissions  -  March 19, 2021

Shopify pledges to purchase 15,000 tons of carbon removal

Shopify announced March 9 its record-level commitment to purchasing 15,000 tons of Direct Air Capture carbon removal.

This agreement adds a commitment for 10,000 tons of removal by the company Carbon Engineering onto its previous goal of 5,000 tons through Climeworks. Carbon removal technology became a central part of the e-commerce company’s sustainability program, which includes a Sustainability Fund to invest a minimum of $5 million annually into such projects.

Carbon Engineering and 1PointFive are collaborating on the development of an industrial-scale facility that could capture up to one million tons of CO2 each year. Customers would be able to pay to have captured carbon stored away on a mass scale once the facility is operational in 2024. Shopify has agreed to purchase 10,000 tons of CO2 removal from this facility.

“Large-scale DAC-based carbon removal is essential to undo 200 years of burning fossil fuels,” Stacy Kauk, director of Shopify’s Sustainability Fund, said in a statement. “We need others to join us with purchase commitments so we can kickstart the market, scale this technology globally, and start reversing climate change.”

Shopify previously agreed to purchase 5,000 tons of carbon removal through Climeworks’ Orca facility in Iceland.

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