Google signs its largest carbon removal deal, pairing methane cuts with rock weathering
A new partnership with Terradot will use rice-farming techniques and crushed volcanic rock across Brazil to cut methane now and remove carbon for decades.
Google and enhanced rock weathering company Terradot have announced what both call Google's largest carbon dioxide removal deal to date and the largest enhanced rock weathering project ever undertaken. Under the agreement, Google will purchase 1 million tons of carbon-dioxide-equivalent methane elimination by 2030, followed by another 1 million tons of carbon removal by 2040.
The project combines two techniques across more than 200,000 hectares of Brazilian rice farms: alternate wetting and drying irrigation, which cuts methane emissions from flooded rice paddies, and the spreading of crushed volcanic rock, which reacts with carbon dioxide over time to lock it away durably. "While most climate solutions focus on either short- or long-term horizons, our partnership will tackle both simultaneously," said Randy Spock, Google's head of carbon removal.
Terradot chief executive James Kanoff said the approach is meant to eliminate the usual trade-off between speed and permanence in climate action by deploying two proven technologies together at large scale. The project is also designed to benefit participating farmers directly, with expected reductions in water costs and improvements to soil health alongside the climate gains.
Based on reporting by Mark Segal for ESG Today. Read the original: https://www.esgtoday.com/google-signs-record-carbon-and-methane-removal-deal-with-terradot/
This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by an editor before publication.
