Key facts
- Google's largest carbon-removal deal backs a project in Brazil run by Terradot.
- The project aims to cut methane emissions from rice farming and capture atmospheric carbon dioxide.
- It is the largest enhanced rock-weathering project to date, covering over 200,000 hectares.
- The initiative is the first at scale to combine methane abatement and carbon removal.
- The project will generate 1 million metric tons of methane-abatement credits by 2030 and 1 million tons of carbon-removal credits by 2040.
- Google invested in Terradot in 2024.
Google has entered into its largest carbon-removal agreement to date, supporting a project in Brazil run by developer Terradot. The initiative, located in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul across more than 200,000 hectares, aims to accelerate the natural process of rock weathering to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide while simultaneously reducing methane emissions from rice farming.
This project is notable for being the largest enhanced rock-weathering initiative on record and the first at its scale to combine both methane abatement and carbon removal. According to Randy Spock, Google's head of carbon removal, tackling methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is crucial for slowing global warming, but long-term carbon dioxide removal is also necessary to address accumulated emissions.
The project is expected to generate 1 million metric tons of methane-abatement credits by 2030 and 1 million tons of carbon-removal credits by 2040. Rice paddies are a significant source of global methane emissions, accounting for 10% to 12% of the total, according to the U.N. Environment Programme. Addressing methane is anticipated to be a key focus at upcoming COP31 climate talks.
Big Tech companies, including Google, are facing pressure to increase investments in clean energy and carbon removal to offset emissions from operations like AI-driven data centers. Google has been an investor in Terradot since taking an equity stake in 2024. While the exact price of the credits was not disclosed, a previous Terradot deal in 2024 for 90,000 tons of carbon removal implied a price of approximately $300 per ton, significantly above the $100 per ton target many developers aim for to stimulate demand. Terradot CEO James Kanoff stated that the new project would be cheaper than previous deals and represented a significant step toward the $100 per ton goal. The company plans to reduce costs by allowing carbon removal to accumulate for longer before third-party verification, which can add over $100 per ton to enhanced rock-weathering expenses.