Frontier's US$915m CDR Funding Backed by Google & Anthropic

Frontier has arranged an additional US$915m to support carbon dioxide removal (CDR) companies as they advance to the next stage of growth.

This new funding increases Frontier’s total investment commitment to US$1.8bn. Investors in this round include Stripe, Google, Salesforce, Shopify, H&M Group, and, for the first time, Anthropic.

Frontier was established as an advance market commitment (AMC) to consolidate buyer demand for permanent CDR.

It was launched in April 2022 with backers including Stripe, Alphabet, Shopify, Meta and McKinsey Sustainability.

An AMC is a commitment to purchase or subsidise a product if it becomes commercially viable. AMCs are typically used when research and development costs are too high for the private sector without guaranteed purchase volumes.

“The original AMC was designed to help get carbon removal off the starting line. That signal worked,” says Hannah Bebbington Valori, Head of Frontier.

“The Growth AMC is about pushing the best companies to the scale that enables robust, long-term demand.”

Already making an impact

According to Frontier, CDR technology is a costly yet dynamic sector, with hundreds of start-ups and tens of thousands of tons already delivered.

Achieving gigaton-scale removal will require collaboration between businesses and governments, with the private sector bridging the gap between policy development and technology risk reduction.

“Our renewed support helps scale novel climate solutions that benefit both ecosystems and communities—ranging from improving soil health through enhanced rock weathering to strengthening local economies through biomass carbon removal,” says Randy Spock, Head of Carbon Credits and Removals at Google.

“These long-duration removals fold into our broader climate solutions portfolio, which includes restoring natural ecosystems and eliminating superpollutants. Together, these approaches are more than the sum of their parts; they can be combined to neutralise the warming impact of emissions across all timescales.

“At Google, we believe in the power of science and technology to mitigate planetary warming. Frontier’s mission is a cornerstone of this approach, and we’re excited to expand our support for these critical solutions alongside other leading companies.”

CDR ramps up

The Growth AMC funding will support a select group of CDR projects nearing commercialization, targeting 10 to 15 projects with eight to 10 years of offtake agreements to help them reach final investment decisions.

Frontier will purchase a significant share of these companies’ capacity, potentially through 2040.

It will also prioritise projects that can demonstrate how policies will cover the cost of tons delivered once our contracts expire.

“The industry has made huge strides. Now we’re putting our foot on the gas, and helping suppliers do the same,” says Mitchel Selby, leader of Shopify’s Sustainability Fund.

"Feedback on our initial commitment was that our contracts weren’t long enough or large enough for some suppliers to secure project finance and reach final investment decisions (our initial deals ran until 2030 at the latest). We’re directly addressing this feedback with this new tranche of funding.“

The original AMC in 2022 pledged US$1bn for CDR by 2030. This commitment signalled to the market, researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors that the CDR market is expanding and demand exists.

Since then, Frontier buyers have signed initial agreements in enhanced rock weathering, biomass injection, inland water alkalinity enhancement, ocean alkalinity enhancement, and waste-to-energy with carbon capture.

In 2025, seven portfolio companies supported by Frontier funding began construction on 1.4 million tons of new annual removal capacity.

"Four years ago, a handful of us made a bet: send a clear demand signal to researchers and entrepreneurs, and the market will build. It did," says Tom Christophersen, VP Climate Action at Salesforce.

"Today there are hundreds of carbon removal companies spanning more than 20 technology pathways. In 2025, portfolio companies delivered [around] 23,000 tons. This year they're forecasting more than 50,000.

"Still a small contribution to a gigaton problem, but scale is growing and prices are coming down. More R&D is essential in this early phase.

"At Salesforce, we believe a credible path to net zero requires a diverse, balanced portfolio, including nature-based solutions that conserve & restore ecosystems at speed and scale; engineered CDR; and super-pollutant elimination that buys us critical time. No single approach carries us there alone.

“The Growth AMC sharpens the focus: longer offtakes, high-conviction bets on technologies with genuine gigaton-scale potential, and a clear line of sight to robust public-private demand. This is how we get from thousands of tons to gigatons.”

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Strong foundations for a CDR market

To build a robust CDR market supported by long-term demand, Frontier aims to attract additional corporate buyers. Early private investment can accelerate the development of new technologies.

There is also a need for increased public-private partnerships to deliver benefits to local communities.

Ongoing research into new CDR technologies will help maximise their potential.

“From my perspective working with climate strategy, one thing is clear: There are no shortcuts to decarbonisation,” says Mikael Blommé, Climate Expert at H&M Group.

“We need deep, science-based emissions reductions across the value chain—aligned with 1.5°C. But science also shows we’ll need carbon removal at scale to bring atmospheric CO₂ back to safer levels.

“If we want carbon removal to succeed—and to become a credible, scalable part of the climate solution—more companies need to engage early and help shape the market. The transition won’t build itself.”