Google buys carbon credits from Amazon reforestation project

Google ký thỏa thuận lớn nhất từ trước tới nay về tín chỉ carbon

Google signs largest-ever carbon credit deal

The project is called Mombak in Brazil, which had a pilot offtake agreement with Google in September 2024. Google, like many other major technology giants, is looking for carbon credit purchase agreements to offset the operation of energy-intensive data centers serving artificial intelligence systems.

Emissions from Google's data centers and offices in 2024 more than tripled from 2020, to the equivalent of 3.1 million tons of CO2, according to the company's latest environmental report.

Last year, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, pledged to invest more than $100 million in a variety of carbon removal technologies, from rock mineralization to biochar to direct air capture projects. But planting trees remains the most effective and least risky way, according to Google. Randy Spock, Google’s head of carbon credits, said the most reliable carbon reduction technology is photosynthesis, highlighting the natural process by which trees absorb CO₂ to create oxygen and sugar.

Brazil, the host of the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30), is promoting the event as a “Conference for Forests” to call for conservation initiatives. On November 6, Brazil, Norway and Indonesia pledged $5 billion to the Tropical Forests Forever Facility.

The majority of Google’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the electricity it buys for its data centers and offices. Google says it avoids using REDD credits – which are related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation – because the market has been plagued by allegations of fraud and links to illegal logging in Brazil.

To raise the bar for nature-based carbon credits, Google, Meta, Salesforce, McKinsey, and Microsoft last year formed the Symbiosis Alliance, a group of large buyers committed to more rigorous science and transparency standards. On November 6, the alliance announced it had expanded to include Bain & Company and REI Co-op, and aims to contract for more than 20 million tons of high-standard carbon credits by 2030.

According to CEO Julia Strong, Brazil has the most projects that need to be approved by the coalition, and she expects the number of qualified projects to increase soon. Because the number of projects that meet the high standards is small, and corporations are willing to pay a lot for them, the price of carbon credits has increased sharply. REDD credits can currently cost less than $10 per ton of CO₂, but credits from Brazilian reforestation projects are selling for over $50 per ton, even more than $100 per ton.

Source: https://vtv.vn/google-mua-tin-chi-carbon-tu-du-an-trong-rung-amazon-100251108130305099.htm