Google DAC Initiatives for 2025: Key Projects, Strategies and Partnerships

Google’s DAC Evolution: From Price Setter to Ecosystem Architect

Google’s engagement with Direct Air Capture (DAC) and the broader carbon dioxide removal (CDR) market has undergone a significant transformation. Initially focused on strategic offtake agreements to drive down costs, the company’s approach has matured into a comprehensive strategy aimed at building the entire ecosystem required for these technologies to scale globally. By analyzing Google’s activities across two distinct periods, we can map its evolution from a key customer to a market-making architect, revealing critical insights into the future of high-quality carbon removal.

Industry Adoption: From Price Benchmarking to Portfolio Diversification

Between 2021 and 2024, Google’s strategy centered on catalytic, high-impact deals designed to validate emerging technologies and establish crucial market benchmarks. The landmark agreement with Holocene in September 2024 to purchase 100,000 tons of carbon removal at a record-low $100 per ton was a clear signal of intent to make DAC commercially viable. This period was characterized by a focused but diversified approach, including investments in Alphabet’s own spin-out, 280 Earth, and offtake agreements for enhanced rock weathering (ERW) with Terradot and nature-based solutions with Mombak. These moves established Google as a serious offtaker willing to support various promising pathways.

The period from January 2025 to the present marks a dramatic acceleration and a strategic pivot from simply purchasing credits to actively building the market’s foundations. The sheer volume and variety of partnerships expanded significantly. Google committed to large-scale biochar purchases from Varaha and Charm Industrial and advanced electrochemical DAC through a major offtake agreement with Phlair via the Frontier fund. A critical inflection point was the acquisition of Holocene by Occidental Petroleum, directly validating Google’s early, price-setting bet and demonstrating that its backing can catalyze major industry consolidation. Furthermore, new partnerships with SaltX for CO2 battery technology and CTC Global for grid expansion show a sophisticated shift toward solving the core infrastructure and energy bottlenecks that constrain the scaling of DAC, signaling a move from adoption to ecosystem orchestration.

Investment Analysis

Google’s financial commitments have grown in scale and strategic scope, evolving from targeted project funding to broad, multi-faceted investments across the carbon removal landscape. Early investments aimed to de-risk specific technologies, while recent activities show a commitment to funding the entire value chain. The company’s reported spending of over $100 million on carbon removal in the last year alone, tripling its target, underscores this aggressive scaling.

Table: Google’s Strategic Investments in Carbon Removal

Partnership Analysis

Google leverages partnerships, particularly through the Frontier fund, to aggregate demand and send powerful signals to the market. The evolution from individual deals to a portfolio of collaborations across multiple technologies and geographies demonstrates a mature, risk-managed approach to building a durable carbon removal supply chain.

Table: Google’s Carbon Removal Partnerships

Geography: From a North American Focus to a Global Portfolio

In the 2021-2024 period, Google’s activities were primarily centered on North America, with partnerships involving US-based startups like Holocene, 280 Earth, and Terradot. The main exception was the deal with Mombak in Brazil, indicating an early interest in geographically diverse, nature-based solutions. This regional concentration allowed for closer engagement with a burgeoning domestic innovation ecosystem.

From 2025 onward, the geographic scope has explicitly become global. The partnership with Varaha, an Indian biochar startup, and SaltX, a Swedish energy storage firm with project plans for Europe, the US, and the Asia-Pacific region, marks a deliberate strategy to build a worldwide carbon removal portfolio. This global approach allows Google to tap into the best innovation wherever it emerges, diversify its supply chain against regional risks, and support the growth of carbon removal markets in key economic zones. The U.S. remains a central hub, especially with infrastructure plays like the CTC Global grid partnership, but it is now one part of a broader global strategy.

Technology Maturity: Accelerating from Pilot Validation to Commercial Scaling

Google’s strategy reflects a clear progression in the maturity of the technologies it supports. Between 2021 and 2024, the focus was on de-risking and validating pre-commercial technologies. The Holocene deal, with delivery slated for the early 2030s, was a long-term bet designed to help a promising technology cross the commercial “valley of death.” Similarly, agreements with 280 Earth and Terradot were aimed at securing future supply from technologies still in the process of scaling.

The period from 2025 to today demonstrates a decisive shift towards commercial acceleration and solving second-order scaling challenges. The acquisition of Holocene by an energy major like Occidental, spurred by the Google deal, served as a powerful market validation, moving the technology from a venture-backed bet to a commercially recognized asset. Large-scale offtakes with Phlair (electrochemical DAC) and Varaha/Charm (biochar) show confidence in multiple pathways that are ready for scaled deployment. Most tellingly, investments in enabling technologies like SaltX’s CO2 batteries and CTC Global’s grid support signal that Google is now focused on the operational realities of deploying DAC at a massive scale, a clear indicator of a maturing market perspective.

Table: SWOT Analysis of Google’s Carbon Removal Strategy

Forward-Looking Insights: From Credit Purchases to Infrastructure Plays

The most recent data from 2025 signals a clear trajectory for the year ahead: Google’s focus is expanding from being a premier buyer of carbon credits to a strategic investor in the fundamental infrastructure that enables the entire carbon removal industry. The partnerships with SaltX for energy storage and CTC Global for grid expansion are the most potent signals of this shift. These are not carbon removal deals; they are deals to solve the bottlenecks that prevent carbon removal from scaling.

Market actors should expect Google to make further investments in these foundational areas. The next wave of announcements is less likely to be just another offtake agreement and more likely to involve clean power generation dedicated to DAC hubs, logistical solutions for biomass or rock feedstock, and technologies that improve the energy efficiency of the capture process itself. While the price of carbon removal remains a critical metric, Google’s strategy indicates that the operational and energy costs of scaling are now the primary focus. The key signal to watch is how Google leverages its capital and partnerships to solve the energy and infrastructure puzzle, as this will ultimately determine the pace and scale of the DAC industry’s growth.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main change in Google’s carbon removal strategy over time?
Google’s strategy has evolved from being a ‘price setter’ to an ‘ecosystem architect.’ Initially (2021-2024), it focused on high-impact purchase agreements, like the $100/ton deal with Holocene, to drive down costs. More recently (2025-today), it has shifted to building the entire market by investing in foundational infrastructure like energy storage (SaltX) and grid expansion (CTC Global) to solve the bottlenecks preventing the industry from scaling.

Is Google only investing in Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology?
No, Google has a diversified portfolio of carbon removal technologies. While DAC is a key focus (with partners like Holocene, 280 Earth, and Phlair), the company has also made significant commitments to other methods, including enhanced rock weathering (Terradot, Eion Carbon), biochar (Varaha, Charm Industrial), and nature-based solutions (Mombak).

Why was Google’s deal with Holocene considered so significant?
The Holocene deal was significant for two key reasons. First, the record-low price of $100 per ton set a new benchmark for the industry and signaled Google’s intent to make DAC commercially viable. Second, this deal was a major catalyst for Occidental Petroleum’s subsequent acquisition of Holocene, which validated Google’s role as a market-maker whose backing can attract major industry consolidation.

How has the geographic focus of Google’s carbon removal partnerships changed?
Initially, Google’s partnerships were primarily focused on North America, with deals involving US-based startups like Holocene and 280 Earth. Since 2025, its strategy has become explicitly global, with new partnerships involving an Indian biochar startup (Varaha) and a Swedish energy storage company (SaltX), demonstrating a deliberate plan to build a worldwide carbon removal portfolio.

What kind of investments should we expect from Google in the future?
The article suggests that Google’s future investments will increasingly target the fundamental infrastructure that enables carbon removal at scale, rather than just purchasing credits. Based on its recent deals for energy storage and grid expansion, the next wave of announcements is likely to involve projects related to clean power generation for DAC, logistics solutions for materials, and technologies that improve the energy efficiency of the capture process.

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