Frontier, a carbon capture buying consortium founded by Stripe, Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, and McKinsey, has signed $33 million in offtake agreements with enhanced rock weathering (ERW) firm Eion.
As per the agreement, Frontier buyers will secure the removal of 78,707 tons of CO2 between 2027 and 2030.
Founded in 2020, Eion deploys ERW across the Southern and Midwestern regions of the US. It sources olivine, a rock type that, according to the company, reacts quickly with CO2 and spreads it across agricultural fields. The rock subsequently reacts with rainwater, which converts atmospheric CO2 into bicarbonate, which is in turn permanently stored in the ocean.
Eion claims that Olivine has two major advantages over other forms of rock used in ERW: that it weathers fast, allowing for quicker removal of CO2, and is a substitute for ag lime, a commonly used product to manage soil acidity. In addition, it can also be applied using existing agricultural processes, which Eion says ends up costing farmers less, with carbon removal credits used to subsidize the price.
“Eion has two big advantages: olivine weathers fast and farmers can adopt it easily. This means they'll deliver more carbon removal and more weathering data that can move the entire enhanced weathering field forward,” Hannah Bebbington, head of deployment at Frontier, said.
According to Anastasia Pavlovic, CEO of Eion, the deal with Frontier will “greatly accelerate our ability to impact more farmers and landowners, expand our scientific validation efforts, and drive down the cost of durable carbon removal through enhanced rock weathering of olivine.”
Frontier has facilitated several ERW agreements for its buyers over the past 12 months. In December, it agreed to a 90,000-ton, $27 million carbon removal purchase with Terradot for delivery between 2025 and 2029.
Several other data center and tech firms have also committed to purchasing carbon credits linked to ERW companies. Last September, Microsoft signed ERW carbon removal agreement with Lithos carbon, Eion, and Undo.
