Proposed Climate Fix Tech Companies Spent Millions On Is Surprisingly Simple: Rocks

In an effort to mitigate the impact of their pollution on the climate, tech giants like Google have invested millions of dollars into a startup called Terradot, which uses rocks to trap carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This approach is part of a larger strategy known as Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW), where crushed rock is spread out over large areas to speed up the natural process of weathering and capture CO2.

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A New Frontier in Carbon Removal

Google has joined forces with other big companies, including H&M Group and Salesforce, to collectively pay Terradot $27 million to remove 90,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This deal was brokered by Frontier, a carbon removal initiative led by Stripe, Google, Shopify, and McKinsey Sustainability.

A Big Deal for ERW

Google has also announced its own separate deal with Terradot to purchase an additional 200,000 tons of carbon removal, although the company declined to disclose how much this deal is worth. If the cost is similar to the Frontier agreement, which is roughly $300 per ton of CO2 captured, it could add up to $60 million.

A New Era for Terradot

Terradot was founded by James Kanoff and Sasankh Munukutla, two undergraduate students at Stanford who had previously worked on a research project together. Their startup has gained significant backing from investors like Sheryl Sandberg, who praised the company’s "drive, technology, and focus on execution" in a press release.

The Science Behind ERW

Carbon dioxide removal encompasses various strategies to take CO2 out of the atmosphere, with Enhanced Rock Weathering being one such approach. This process mimics the natural weathering of rocks by rainwater, which releases calcium and magnesium and traps CO2 in water as bicarbonate. The bicarbonate is then carried away by groundwater and stored in the ocean, effectively removing it from the atmosphere.

A Challenging Task Ahead

While Terradot has a 2029 deadline to meet its commitment of capturing 90,000 tons of CO2 under the Frontier deal, and an early 2030s target for the Google deal, experts warn that accurately measuring the amount of CO2 captured is still a significant challenge. The company plans to take soil samples to assess how much CO2 is trapped based on the degradation of rock over time.

Counting the Unseen

The question remains: how much CO2 will Terradot actually manage to capture? While Google acknowledges that measuring this with precision is currently difficult, the company believes that deploying ERW widely in the real world will help develop more rigorous measurement tools.

A Word of Caution from Experts

Dr. Jagoutz, a geologist at Harvard University, notes that "how much they sequester is still the outstanding question." However, he also emphasizes the need to try new approaches and not let uncertainty hold back trials in the real world.

The Bigger Picture: Climate Change and Clean Energy

Google’s carbon footprint has grown significantly as it builds out energy-hungry AI data centers. The company has recently announced plans to develop advanced nuclear reactors and solar and wind farms to power its data centers with clean energy. While carbon removal can help counteract some of a company’s legacy pollution, switching to clean energy is the only effective way to stop climate change.

Conclusion

Google’s investment in Terradot marks a significant step towards addressing the impact of climate change on our planet. However, it also highlights the complexities and challenges involved in measuring and verifying carbon removal efforts. As we move forward in this new era of clean energy and carbon management, it is essential to continue exploring innovative approaches like ERW while acknowledging the limitations and uncertainties that come with them.