Frontier carbon removal commitment tops $1B with four new members: Autodesk, H&M Group, JPMorgan Chase, and Workday
April 12, 2023
April 12, 2023
SAN FRANCISCO—Autodesk, H&M Group, JPMorgan Chase, and Workday announced today that they are joining Frontier, an advance market commitment to accelerate carbon removal. The new members will commit to purchase a combined $100M of permanent, high-quality carbon removal over the next eight years, bringing Frontier’s total advance market commitment to over $1B.
Aledade and Wise are joining Boom, Canva, SKIMS, and Zendesk in participating in Frontier by committing to purchase Frontier-sourced removal through a previously announced partnership with Watershed, an enterprise climate platform.
The new funding increases the pool of capital available for large-scale purchases via multiyear offtake agreements, starting this year. Offtakes are legally-binding contracts to purchase future tons of carbon removal if and when delivered. These agreements can help more mature suppliers unlock the financing they need to scale their operations. Frontier’s team of technical and commercial experts source, vet, and facilitate these purchases on behalf of members.
The new members will join Frontier’s founders—Stripe, Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, and McKinsey Sustainability—who last year committed to buy a combined $925M of permanent carbon removal by 2030. Since then, Frontier has facilitated purchases from 15 carbon removal startups across eight technological pathways, including enhanced weathering, direct air capture, biomass burial, synthetic biology, and direct ocean capture.
While $100M is a meaningful increase in demand, the world remains orders of magnitude short of the carbon removal supply needed. Models in the IPCC report which limit warming to 1.5°C suggest we’ll need around 3.8 billion tons of permanent CO₂ removal annually by 2050. Even at an aggregate cost of $100/ton—much lower than today’s prices—annual demand will need to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
Hannah Bebbington, Strategy Lead at Frontier: “Companies across tech, banking and retail are recognizing the urgency of carbon removal, and stepping up as early buyers to accelerate progress and drive down costs. The more company executives put their weight behind this nascent field, the better the chances of getting to gigaton scale by 2050.”
Ryan Macpherson, Climate Innovation and Investment Lead at Autodesk: “Autodesk is excited to join Frontier to help catalyze the development of carbon removal solutions globally. In addition to our commitment to purchase carbon removal, we’re making our design and make software available to Frontier’s portfolio to help them scale their operations.”
Henrik Sundberg, Impact Lead Climate at H&M Group: “We have set ourselves ambitious and time-bound climate goals including an SBTI-approved net-zero target by 2040. We’re committed to playing a part in urgently scaling climate action in areas which are essential to underpin the global 1.5°C pathway. Carbon dioxide removal is one such area. As the first fashion retailer and European company joining Frontier as a member, we want to inspire others in our industry to follow our example and become early buyers of carbon removal."
Brian DiMarino, Managing Director, Head of Operational Sustainability at JPMorgan Chase: “Scaling technological innovation, including around carbon removal, will play a critical role in the transition to a more sustainable future. JPMorgan Chase is pleased to be joining Frontier to advance the development of the carbon offtake market and accelerate carbon removal more broadly.”
Rich Sauer, Chief Legal Officer and Head of Corporate Affairs at Workday: “Workday believes in supporting urgent and meaningful action to address climate change and recognizes that funding from businesses can play a central role in achieving a sustainable 1.5°C future. That’s why we’re proud to join this exciting group of climate leaders through Frontier to accelerate the development of carbon removal technologies.”
Christian Anderson, Cofounder at Watershed: “Our partnership with Frontier means that companies of all sizes are able to meaningfully buy into the most promising permanent carbon removal pathways—paving the way for a thriving sector whose success is critical to hitting climate goals. We’re proud to help a growing list of companies across sectors, geographies, and scales—including SKIMS, Zendesk, Canva, Boom Supersonic, Aledade, and Wise—uplevel their climate ambition.”
If you’re curious about how your company can contribute by becoming a Frontier member, we’d love to hear from you. Please reach out to buyers@frontierclimate.com.