Google has entered into an agreement to purchase carbon removal credits from direct air capture (DAC) supplier Holocene at the lowest price on record for this technology: 100 dollars per tonne, for delivery in the early 2030s.

"We are committed to doing our part to decarbonize the global economy and achieve our goal of zero net emissions across all our operations. Carbon removal technologies are key to that goal," said Randy Spock, head of Carbon Credits and Removals at Google, in a statement.

According to a Negócios newspaperThe partnership with Holocene to achieve this reference price "will be a significant step towards promoting the viability of DAC as a tool to combat climate change," he adds.

CCD is a "promising technology" because it uses chemical or physical processes to extract carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the air, after which it is stored permanently underground or reused in products. "Experts agree that we will have to collectively remove billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year by 2050 to halt climate change, and CCD could be an important part of the solution," Randy Spock points out.

But direct air capture faces a long road to viability and commercial scale. Currently, no DAC plant is producing more than 2000 tons of carbon removal credits per year, Google points out.

"Although the technology is improving, the prices are still many hundreds of dollars per ton of CO2 removed. For more companies and governments to invest in CCD projects, the costs have to come down dramatically," Spock argues.

Google's partnership with Holocene aims to address one of the main barriers facing DAC technologies: the high price. But Randy Spock believes that "although Holocene's technology is still in the early stages of development, it has the potential to significantly reduce costs over time".

Google adds that a number of factors contributed to the deal with Holocene reaching a substantially lower price than typical DAC deals. In particular, the company's "innovative approach", combining elements of liquid and solid systems, which "has a high potential to reduce the costs of this difficult physical challenge in the long term".

In addition, Google will provide initial financial support, while making a long-term commitment to accept credits from Holocene's low-cost facilities, which are scheduled for delivery in the early 2030s.

Finally, Holocene's projects qualify for the US government's 45Q tax credit, in addition to Google's payment, which incentivizes investment in CCD by providing suppliers with 180 dollars per ton of carbon removed.

The basis of Holocene's technology is its chemistry. The company uses amino acids and other organic compounds to continuously capture CO2 from the air. Once captured, the CO2 is concentrated and heated at low temperatures to create a pure stream of CO2 that can be transported and stored permanently.

With this agreement, Holocene will capture and store 100,000 tons of CO2 by the early 2030s (the equivalent of around 20,000 gas vehicles driven in a year) and accelerate the development of its technology.

"While this is significantly more CO2 than has been removed and stored by DAC solutions to date, it is nowhere near the volume of carbon removal that is needed on a planetary scale. But achieving low-cost DAC on a small scale is a first step towards giving the carbon removal market the confidence that it is possible to achieve millions, even billions, of tons per year," concludes Randy Spock.

(Photo DR)