Anthropic, Google, Other Big Tech Companies Commit $915 Million to Pull Carbon Out of the Sky

As AI data centers, factories, airlines, and heavy industries consume more energy, one question keeps resurfacing: How will the world remove billions of tons of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere?

A coalition backed by some of the biggest names in technology thinks the answer lies in making larger bets on carbon removal.

Frontier, the carbon removal initiative launched in 2022 by companies including Stripe and Google, announced Wednesday that it is committing an additional $915 million to help scale emerging carbon removal technologies. The latest pledge brings Frontier’s total commitments to $1.8 billion, making it one of the largest efforts to accelerate the sector.

“A coalition featuring Stripe Inc., Alphabet Inc., Anthropic PBC and Salesforce Inc. is committing $915 million to carbon dioxide removal technologies,” Bloomberg reported.

The group revealed that AI startup Anthropic and software giant Salesforce have joined the coalition as new participants, expanding the list of companies backing long-term carbon removal projects.

Big Tech-Backed Frontier Adds $915 Million for Carbon Removal, Bringing Total Commitments to $1.8 Billion

Frontier was created to solve a problem that has slowed climate technology for years. Many carbon removal startups struggle to secure financing for large projects since buyers are often unwilling to commit to purchasing removal credits years before the technology has matured. Frontier attempts to close that gap by making advance purchase commitments, giving startups greater confidence to build and scale.

“The collective, known as Frontier, pools money to buy carbon removal from startups developing durable climate solutions. Since its launch in 2022 with $925 million in backing, Frontier has sought to help fledgling companies scale up their operations.”

The new funding will support a range of approaches, including direct air capture, ocean alkalinity enhancement, enhanced rock weathering, and biomass-based carbon removal.

Each technology comes with its own technical and economic challenges. Direct air capture, for example, removes carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere using industrial systems, though costs remain high. Enhanced rock weathering accelerates natural geological processes that absorb carbon. Ocean alkalinity enhancement seeks to increase the ocean’s ability to store carbon dioxide, and biomass-based methods use plant material to capture and permanently store carbon.

Frontier believes these approaches could eventually remove carbon dioxide at a gigaton scale if costs decline and deployment expands over time.

The coalition plans to make roughly 10 to 15 targeted investments through long-term offtake agreements lasting eight to ten years, with some contracts extending through 2040. The organization did not disclose how much each participating company contributed to the latest funding round.

Interest in carbon removal has grown as scientists and policymakers acknowledge that emissions reductions alone may not be enough to meet global climate targets. Many sectors still depend on fossil fuels and face significant obstacles to eliminating emissions entirely. Carbon removal is increasingly viewed as a complementary tool that can help offset emissions that remain difficult to avoid.

For carbon removal startups, the announcement delivers something many climate ventures have struggled to secure: a clear signal that major buyers are willing to commit billions of dollars before the industry reaches maturity.