Meta DAC Procurement, $41 M Frontier Deal, 676, 000 EFM Credits, and 4 Purchase Agreements (2025)

Meta’s Procurement Strategy and Its Impact on Carbon Removal Projects

In 2025, Meta Platforms is executing a carbon removal strategy centered on large-scale procurement of high-quality credits from a diverse portfolio of technologies, rather than direct investment in capital-intensive Direct Air Capture (DAC) projects. This approach leverages Meta’s significant purchasing power to stimulate a nascent Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) market, providing critical demand signals and revenue certainty for developers across nature-based solutions and engineered removals. By acting as a strategic buyer, Meta is de-risking early-stage projects and accelerating the growth of a viable CDR credit supply chain to meet its 2030 net-zero goal.

Meta’s Shift to a Diversified Portfolio

Meta’s 2025 activities signal a pragmatic pivot toward building a diversified CDR portfolio, moving beyond a singular focus on any one technology. This strategy secures a verifiable supply of offsets to counteract emissions from its energy-intensive data centers while nurturing the broader market.

• In 2025, Meta has prioritized a mix of CDR technologies, securing large volumes from more mature methods like climate-smart forestry while also supporting next-generation technologies like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) through buyer coalitions.
• This contrasts with a pre-2025 focus that was more exploratory. The current strategy is about execution, securing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of carbon removal via long-term offtake agreements to ensure a stable supply for its net-zero commitments.
• A core component of this strategy is enabling the infrastructure for CDR, exemplified by a partnership with Sembcorp for a 150 MW floating solar project to power its operations, which is essential for future energy-intensive DAC deployment.

De-risking the Nascent CDR Market

By participating in buyer coalitions and signing direct offtake agreements, Meta is sending powerful, long-term demand signals that are crucial for CDR projects to secure financing and scale operations. This market-shaping role is a deliberate strategic choice.

• Meta’s participation in the Frontier advance market commitment group is a primary mechanism for catalyzing the market, pooling demand with other large corporations to fund and de-risk emerging CDR technologies.
• The landmark 10-year deal with EFM for 676, 000 nature-based credits and the $41 million multi-buyer deal with Arbor demonstrate a dual procurement model that combines direct purchasing with collaborative efforts to foster a competitive landscape.

DAC Purchase Volume Peaks in 2023, Faces Steep Decline Post-2024
DAC Purchase Volume surged from 467.7K in 2022 to a peak of 1M in 2023, driven primarily by Q3 and Q4 activity. However, volume declined to 841.1K in 2024, and 2025H1 is projecting a sharp drop to just 158K, indicating a significant slowdown after the 2023 peak.

(Source: CDR.fyi — via The Current State of Direct Air Capture)

Partnership Analysis for Meta’s 2025 Carbon Removal Strategy

Meta’s 2025 partnerships reveal a calculated strategy to build a robust and diverse carbon removal portfolio by engaging with project developers across the technology spectrum, from forestry to BECCS and industrial decarbonization. These collaborations are not just transactions; they are foundational investments in market creation, providing revenue certainty for startups and scaling proven solutions.

Frontier’s $41 M BECCS Offtake with Arbor

The deal facilitated by the Frontier buyer’s coalition, which Meta co-founded, represents a significant investment in a next-generation engineered carbon removal solution. It signals strong corporate demand for durable, verifiable credits beyond traditional offsets.

• In July 2025, Frontier, on behalf of members including Meta and Google, facilitated a $41 million offtake agreement with BECCS startup Arbor.
• This agreement is for the purchase of 116, 000 tons of CO₂ removal, providing Arbor with a critical revenue stream to scale its technology which captures CO₂ from biomass and permanently stores it underground.

EFM’s 676, 000 Credit Nature-Based Deal

The direct agreement with EFM anchors Meta’s strategy in proven, nature-based solutions, securing a large volume of high-quality credits over a long-term horizon. This move provides immediate, verifiable progress toward its emissions goals.

• Announced in March 2025, Meta entered a 10-year contract to purchase 676, 000 carbon removal credits from forest investment manager EFM.
• The credits are generated from climate-smart forestry projects in Washington State, demonstrating a commitment to high-integrity removals within the United States.

Decarbonizing with Electra and Sembcorp

Beyond direct carbon removal, Meta is also investing in enabling technologies and industrial decarbonization. These partnerships target both its operational footprint and its broader supply chain, creating a holistic approach to its climate goals.

• In October 2025, Meta partnered with Electra to help scale low-carbon ironmaking, part of a wider effort to decarbonize industrial supply chains.
• The partnership with Sembcorp, detailed in Meta’s August 2025 sustainability report, supports a 150 MW floating solar project in Singapore, securing renewable energy for data centers and future CDR operations.

Table: Meta Carbon Removal and Enabling Technology Partnerships (2025)

North American and Asian Focus for Meta’s CDR and Renewable Energy Strategy

Meta’s geographic strategy in 2025 is concentrated in regions where it has significant operational footprints and where regulatory frameworks and natural resources support its decarbonization goals, primarily focusing on North America for carbon removal projects and Asia for renewable energy sourcing.

• Prior to 2025, Meta’s climate-related project announcements were geographically diverse but less focused on large-scale, long-term offtake agreements.
• In 2025, activity consolidated in the United States, specifically the Pacific Northwest for forestry-based carbon removal with EFM and Colorado for industrial decarbonization with Electra, aligning projects with domestic operations and favorable policy environments.
• Simultaneously, the partnership with Sembcorp in Singapore to build a 150 MW floating solar array demonstrates a parallel strategy to secure large-scale renewable energy in key data center hubs in Asia, which is a prerequisite for powering future DAC installations.
• This dual-region focus allows Meta to leverage local advantages: the vast forestry resources and policy support in the U.S. for CDR, and the advanced renewable energy market in Singapore for operational decarbonization.

Meta’s Technology Strategy, From Mature Forestry to Foundational AI

Meta’s technology strategy in 2025 is one of pragmatic diversification, procuring credits from commercially ready solutions while simultaneously investing in foundational science to lower the cost of future technologies like DAC. This approach acknowledges that while the cost of DAC remains high, between $600-$1, 000 per ton, a parallel effort is needed to accelerate breakthroughs that will make it viable for large-scale deployment.

• Between 2021 and 2024, corporate involvement in DAC was characterized by smaller pilot purchases and early-stage investments. Meta’s actions were part of this broader exploratory phase.
• In 2025, Meta shifted to procuring large volumes of credits from mature, verifiable technologies like climate-smart forestry (EFM deal) and adjacent engineered solutions like BECCS (Arbor deal), which offer more immediate and cost-effective pathways to its net-zero goals.
• A key, non-financial contribution in May 2025 was the release of the “Open Molecules 2025” dataset. This initiative uses Meta’s core competency in AI to help the global research community discover novel, lower-cost sorbent materials, a primary bottleneck for cost-effective DAC.
• This dual strategy indicates strategic patience. Meta is deferring large-scale procurement of high-cost DAC credits while actively working to drive down the technology’s cost curve from the ground up, positioning itself to be a major offtaker when the technology becomes economically feasible.

SWOT Analysis for Meta’s Carbon Removal Strategy

Meta’s 2025 approach to carbon removal demonstrates significant strategic strengths by leveraging its market power and core AI capabilities, but it also faces external threats related to the volatility and integrity of the nascent carbon credit market. This analysis reveals a company that is skillfully shaping the market while managing the risks inherent in an emerging industry.

• Strengths: Meta utilizes its significant purchasing power and participation in buyer coalitions like Frontier to de-risk projects and secure a large, diverse supply of carbon credits. Its core competency in AI is applied to solve fundamental scientific challenges in DAC, like sorbent discovery, creating long-term value.
• Weaknesses: The company’s reliance on offtake agreements makes it dependent on the successful execution and delivery of third-party project developers, who face their own technological and financial hurdles. This indirect approach provides less operational control compared to direct investment.
• Opportunities: By acting as a primary catalyst for the CDR market, Meta can set standards for credit quality and verification. Its investment in foundational AI for materials science could lead to breakthrough cost reductions in DAC, benefiting its future procurement efforts.
• Threats: The primary threat is the reputational and financial risk associated with the quality and permanence of carbon credits, particularly from nature-based solutions. The CDR market is still developing, and a failure of key projects or a shift in regulatory standards could undermine the value of its investments.

Table: SWOT Analysis for Meta’s 2025 Carbon Removal Strategy

Meta’s 2026 Outlook: Scaling Offtakes and Integrating AI Discoveries

Looking ahead, Meta’s strategy will likely involve scaling its dual-pronged approach: expanding its portfolio of offtake agreements to include a wider array of technologies while beginning to see the early results of its foundational science investments. If the AI-driven research catalyzed by the Open Molecules dataset yields promising new sorbent materials, watch for Meta to potentially fund or partner on pilot projects to test these materials in real-world DAC applications.

• If this happens: Watch for Meta, either directly or through Frontier, to announce offtake agreements with technologies that are currently at an earlier stage, such as enhanced rock weathering or biomass carbon removal and storage (Bi CRS).
• And this happens: The global research community begins publishing findings based on the Open Molecules dataset that identify sorbent materials with significantly lower energy requirements or production costs.
• Then these could be happening: By late 2026 or 2027, Meta could announce a strategic partnership or a small-scale pilot investment with a DAC hardware company to test a novel sorbent, marking its first direct move into validating the next generation of DAC technology it helped create.

The questions your competitors are already asking

This report covers one angle of Meta’s carbon procurement strategy. The questions that matter most depend on your work.

• Microsoft carbon removal deals
• Carbon removal companies with corporate offtake agreements
• Price trends for nature-based vs engineered carbon credits
• Frontier fund next purchase announcements

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