The Canadian company yesterday (9th March) unveiled the service that allows customers to purchase the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere using its direct air capture (DAC) technology.
As part of its announcement, Carbon Engineering confirmed global commerce company Shopify as its first customer. Under its customer agreement, Shopify will reserve 10,000 tonnes of permanent carbon removal capacity from a large-scale DAC project.
Such CO2 removal will be achieved through Carbon Engineering’s plant development partner 1PointFive who is currently engineering the first industrial-scale facility, due to be operational in 2024.
Read more: New company formed to deploy Carbon Engineering’s DAC technology
Commenting on the news Steve Oldham, CEO of Carbon Engineering, said, “Carbon Engineering’s mission has always been to deliver a highly scalable and affordable solution for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.”
“We’re on the brink of large-scale deployment of our technology and the next critical step is accumulating market interest and securing customers. This new service allows us to do that.”
“It also makes it easy for companies and governments to include permanent carbon removal in their net-zero plans. We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with Shopify and welcome them as our first carbon removal customer, and we look forward to supporting others so we can collectively make large-scale carbon removal a reality.”
The new service allows customers to purchase carbon removal units in quantities as small as 100 units. Each unit represents one metric tonne of CO2 captured and permanently removed from the atmosphere, offsetting emissions from the past, the present day, or the future.
Customers pre-pay a deposit for their carbon removal units, with the remainder due only once the CO2 has been physically removed and independently verified. Customers will receive discounts for purchasing higher volumes.
Stacy Kauk, Director of Shopify’s Sustainability Fund, added, “DAC combined with permanent storage, through standalone sequestration, will play a critical role in reversing climate change. Shopify is on a mission to make commerce better for everyone, and to help make a low-carbon future a reality.”
“We’re Carbon Engineering’s first customer because we recognize the need to go beyond emissions reductions. Our commitment to this new carbon dioxide removal service is not powerful enough on its own—we need others to join Shopify’s efforts, in any capacity, to catalyse this frontier large-scale DAC technology.”