Frontier

Frontier focuses on carbon removal approaches that store carbon permanently (> 1,000 years), do not compete for arable land, and have a path to being affordable at scale (< $100/ ton), even if they’re not there today.

Frontier signs offtake agreements to accelerate carbon removal technologies that have the potential to be low-cost and high-volume in the future. Importantly, Frontier aims to pull net new carbon removal supply into existence, rather than compete of the limited supply that exists today. Early offtakes help projects start building today so that they can deliver tons in the near future.

To avoid the worst effects of climate change, most climate models agree we need to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere on the scale of 5-10 gigatons per year by 2050. Existing solutions such as planting trees and soil carbon storage, will be part of the global portfolio of scale to the size of the problem, as we’ll run out of arable land.

By buying carbon removal today, companies can catalyze innovative new solutions and set new standards for corporate climate action.

Specifically, offtakes are a uniquely catalytic way to buy carbon removal. In short, offtakes are a contractual agreement to purchase carbon removal at a certain price if and when tons of carbon removal are delivered and verified. Offtakes are crucial to scaling the carbon removal market because the guaranteed multi-year demand allows suppliers to secure financing (e.g. a loan from a bank to develop the project) and expand supply capacity. If more buyers purchase offtakes, we can help create new carbon removal supply, rather than just compete over what exists today.

Frontier is an advance market commitment to buy $1B+ of permanent carbon removal between 2022 and 2030. It was founded by Stripe, Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, McKinsey, and tens of thousands of businesses using Stripe Climate.

Frontier aims to accelerate the development of carbon removal technologies by guaranteeing future demand for them. The goal is to send a strong demand signal to researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors that there is a growing market for these technologies.