CDR Monthly Recap - December 2024

We are back with another edition of the CDR Monthly Recap, a monthly round-up of some of the top news, developments, and market updates from the world of durable carbon removal.

After a November that saw sales of around 170,000 tonnes of CDR, nearly 747,000 tonnes of CDR were sold in December 2024, with some large deals featuring Frontier Buyers, Google, NextGen CDR, Terradot, CO280, CREW Carbon, and Exomad Green leading to the surge. Other developments such as policy updates, large funding rounds, new projects, and partnerships continue to drive momentum for the industry ahead, along with a host of events in the field.

Read on to learn more below!

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Deals and Partnerships

[Image Source: Frontier]

Deals

Frontier Buyers signed offtake agreements to purchase 296,378 tonnes of CDR from CO280 and CREW Carbon. Frontier buyers will purchase from CO280 224,500 tonnes of CDR between 2028 and 2030 for $48 million and 71,878 tonnes of CDR between 2025 and 2030 from CREW for $32.1 million.

Enhanced weathering company Terradot signed offtake agreements to sell 290,000 tonnes of CDR to Google and Frontier buyers. Google has purchased 200,000 tonnes as part of its agreement with the tonnes are expected to be delivered by the early 2030's, while Frontier will pay $27 million to Terradot to remove 90,000 tonnes of CO₂ from 2025 to 2029.

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) announced the purchases of 50,250 tonnes of CDR, in a deal facilitated by ClimeFi, from its portfolio of suppliers including Andes, Euthenia Energy, Exomad Green, Graphyte, Lithos Carbon, and O.C.O Technology.

Advance market commitment NextGen CDR signed a multi-year offtake agreement with Bolivia-based biochar producer Exomad Green for 36,000 tonnes of CDR. The deal was supported by Carbonfuture’s digital measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) system to ensure transparency and accountability. Exomad Green also announced the expansion of its Concepción Biochar Production Facility, allowing it to double its CO₂ removal capacity from 60,000 tonnes to 120,000 tonnes annually by 2025.

Sweden-based impact platform Milkywire secured a $5 million pre-purchase agreement to support the early-stage CDR suppliers, as part of Salesforce’s commitment to purchase $100 million in durable CDR by 2030. Milkywire also announced a call for proposals for durable CDR suppliers as part of its Climate Transformation Fund for 2025. (Disclosure: CDR.fyi Co-founder Robert Höglund leads the Milkywire CDR Fund.)

Event organizer London Marathon Events (LME) signed a deal to purchase 1,935 tonnes of CDR through CUR8, following its previous two purchases. This deal is part of LME’s goal to achieve net zero by the end of 2030.

UK-based insurer Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) purchased an 800-tonne CDR portfolio of credits, in a deal supported by CUR8, to neutralize its operational emissions.

Management consultancy Arkwright Consulting announced the purchase of carbon removal credits from Norway-based BECCS company Inherit Carbon Solutions, as part of its commitment towards environmental stewardship.

Partnerships

Isometric partnered with seven leading digital MRV providers, including Mangrove Systems, Carbonfuture, and Cula, to deliver real-time data for carbon removal. Their users can now issue high-quality credits monthly via Isometric’s certification platform.

Direct air capture (DAC) company Climeworks partnered with research institute King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) to assess DAC feasibility, integrate renewable energy, and advance CO₂ storage, supporting Saudi Arabia's sustainability goals.

CDR project developer Skytree acquired ReCarbn, a Dutch startup renowned for its innovative advancements in DAC technology. All three co-founders of ReCarbn will take on leadership roles at Skytree, providing expertise across different functions.

Enhanced weathering company Lithos Carbon partnered with Morin Ag Services, an agricultural company, to use crushed basalt on farmlands in Wisconsin to capture and store CO₂. Lithos will get access to CDR credits through this partnership, via its enhanced weathering technology.

PyroNam, a subsidiary of project developer PyroCCS, partnered with German non-profit atmosfair gGmbH to set up a new biochar plant in the Nog Verder farm in Namibia that will remove 2,000 tonnes of CO₂e per year.

Absolute Climate launched the Absolute Carbon Standard, the first independent standard for assessing carbon credit quality, announcing a first registry partnership with C-Capsule, the carbon removal certification service provided by Evident, the leading registry provider certifying renewable energy and clean assets.

Climate tech company BluSky Carbon partnered with Lympha Inc., a project financing and advisory firm, to collaborate on monetizing CDR credits generated from BluSky's biochar facilities, with Lympha looking to assist in supporting the financing needs.

Carbon credit platform CEEZER partnered with MRV providers Carbonfuture, Cula, Mangrove Systems, and Kanop to enhance its project monitoring data by covering over 9,000 carbon projects on its platform.

DAC company Climeworks partnered with Thanks a Ton to introduce an offering that includes carbon removal from Climeworks in greeting cards available to individuals and companies.

Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) and ENEOS partnered on the sale and purchase of marine fuels, with ENEOS set to procure CDR credits from 1PointFive’s STRATOS DAC plant in Texas, starting operations in 2025.

Projects

[Image source: Exomad Green]

Exomad Green announced the expansion of its Concepción Biochar Production Facility in Bolivia, allowing it to double its CO₂ removal capacity from 60,000 tonnes to 120,000 tonnes annually by 2025.

Spiritus launched a pilot plant in New Mexico with support from the Nambé Pueblo Development Corporation, a real estate and construction company, to demonstrate and test its DAC technology.

Equatic partnered with design and engineering firm Arup to develop the world’s first large-scale ocean carbon removal facility. Once operational, the plant will remove 100,000 tonnes of CO₂ a year.

Indian enhanced weathering company Mati Carbon announced the expansion of its operations to Tanzania and Zambia, having begun trials with its partner smallholder farms.

Financing

[Image source: U.S. Department of Energy]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) opened up applications for up to $1.8 billion to DAC technology and project developers with support at various stages on their commercialization path towards the realization of 4 regional DAC hubs.

DAC company Heirloom raised $150 million in its Series B round co-led by Future Positive and Lowercarbon Capital, while Japan Airlines, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsui & Co., MOL Switch LLC, Quantum Innovation Fund, and Siemens Financial Services also participated in the round.

Terradot announced its official launch along with a financing of $58.2 million, out of which $4.2 million was in the Seed round and a recent $54.2 million as part of its Series A round.

Canadian project developer Deep Sky secured $40 million in grant funding from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst to accelerate the development of its Deep Sky Alpha (formerly Deep Sky Labs) facility and advance research and testing of its DAC technologies.

Enhanced weathering (EW) startup Everest Carbon announced its launch, unveiling the first-ever commercial EW sensor along with a $3 million seed round fundraise, led by Carbon Removal Partners.

Chinese tech company Tencent launched the CarbonX Program 2.0, offering financial support to early-stage technologies in four key areas, including carbon removal, with pilot projects planned in Kenya.

Frontier announced the launch of its Alkalinity Sourcing Challenge, with an aim to find the most accessible deposits of highly reactive rock that could collectively get the world to teraton scale CDR over the next century at the cheapest possible cost. $5000 will be awarded to the 10 best submissions while the applications are due for the challenge by January 6, 2025.

Carbicrete, a Montreal-based carbon removal company that decarbonizes concrete, announced a financing collaboration with Meta that will expand the scale of its low-carbon concrete production technology.

Policy and Research

[Image source: Pexels, Social Soup Social Media]

The Canadian government announced its 2035 climate goals and also announced its commitment to solicit feedback from stakeholders on carbon removal’s role in Canada’s future economic and environmental ambitions.

The CDR community is organizing a dedicated CDR pavilion at COP30 in Belem, Brazil, aiming to bring discussions on carbon removal at the heart of the conference, while also educating policymakers, companies, and activists on CDR and putting it on the agenda of various countries. The community is also looking to hire a project manager to lead the effort in running the CDR pavilion.

Climeworks announced the launch of its Scientific Advisory Network, a group of 8 leading experts who will support the company in evaluating carbon removal technologies in its portfolio.

Isometric released a new protocol “Open System Ex-Situ Mineralization (OSEM) Protocol” for public consultation, which is also the first for durable CDR in the mining industry. It also became the first carbon registry to get approval from verification bodies ICVCM, CORSIA And ICROA.

Taiwanese biochar producer TCHAR received the European Biochar Certificate (EBC), following its guidelines to produce high-quality for climate action. TCHAR aims to generate 1 million tonnes of CDR credits by 2032.

Puro.earth released a CDR policy meta-map highlighting the progress made by governments, international organizations, and voluntary rule-setters in defining net-zero emissions, thereby creating demand for durable carbon removal.

Reports

[Image source: Puro.earth]

Puro.earth published its latest CDR Offtake Market Report, offering detailed insights into market trends, buyer commitments, and offtake agreements in the carbon removal industry.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a report evaluating opportunities to enhance CDR's economic viability by directing R&D efforts toward impactful cost-reduction innovations.

Clean Air Task Force and CONCITO published a report examining best practices for integrating permanent carbon removal into the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and identifying potential risks to address.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Business (WBCSD) published a report in collaboration with Climeworks highlighting the significant growth and trends in the durable CDR market, emphasizing the need for substantial investments and technological advancements to meet global climate goals.

Leaderboard Updates - December 2024

Nearly 747,000 tonnes of CDR were purchased in December, almost a 4.4X increase from 170,000 tonnes in November.

Listed below are the December leaderboards for top suppliers and purchasers:

Supplier Leaderboard

Purchaser Leaderboard

Events Round-up - December 2024 

[Image source: Carbon Business Council]

Carbon Business Council held a webinar discussing the implications of COP29 for carbon removal, featuring a panel of leaders from organizations such as Rethinking Removals, Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal, ClimeFi and Oxford Net Zero.

The Carbon Removal Technologies & CDR Markets conference was held in Tokyo, Japan bringing together top experts and innovators in the CDR space discussing technologies such as BECCS, Biochar Carbon Removal, DACCS and mineralization.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Business (WBCSD) held a webinar on the launch of its report, jointly published with Climeworks “Carbon Dioxide Removal and the Journey to Net Zero”. Leaders from organizations such as Majid Al Futtaim, U.S. DOE, Climeworks, and Equinor were part of the panel.

Check out the CDR Events Calendar to stay updated with upcoming CDR events in October and beyond.

CDR.fyi Updates and Research

• 2025 CDR Market Survey

CDR.fyi launched the 2025 CDR Market Survey in partnership with Sylvera to uncover key trends in market expectations in durable CDR across supply and demand for 2025 and beyond. Summary results will be published on the CDR.fyi blog in January, and survey respondents, Data Partners, and Platform Subscribers will receive a complimentary copy of the full report containing detailed insights.

• CDR Data Insights: Advanced Analytics for the Carbon Removal Market

We recently released CDR Data Insights, a new tool exclusive to CDR.fyi Data Partners and Platform Subscribers that provides advanced analytics & insights into the state of the market. The tool allows users to:

• View long-term trends with cumulative breakdowns of key metrics.
• Analyze 6-month breakdowns of tonnes delivered, purchased, and transaction volumes - by method.
• Discover new suppliers and purchasers entering the market and track their activity month by month.

To learn more about CDR Data Insights, please email us at team@cdr.fyi.

Heads Up!

In early February, we will be releasing the CDR.fyi 2024 Year in Review, the submissions for which are now open.

The CDR.fyi Year in Review is the definitive report of the state of the durable carbon removal market, used by press, policymakers, investors and the CDR ecosystem to benchmark our progress, identify key trends & bottlenecks to scaling durable CDR.

We request all durable CDR market participants to complete their data submissions via our Portal. In case you haven't started with the Portal, please reach out to us at team@cdr.fyi or use the link here to sign up as a Portal member.

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Disclosure

CDR.fyi is a public benefit corporation operating globally. The company has numerous contributors, some of whom have affiliations with companies in the industry, including Milkywire, Charm Industrial, CDRJobs, and DVNE. Data and content published by CDR.fyi, including This Week in CDR, this Monthly Update, and our Quarterly Market Updates, are vetted and reviewed by CDR.fyi representatives with no conflict of interest.

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