May 06, 2025
CDR Monthly Recap - April 2025
We are back with another edition of the CDR Monthly Recap, a monthly round-up of some of the top news, developments, and market updates from the world of durable carbon removal.
After a relatively slow Q1, April set the record for the biggest month in durable CDR purchase volume history with nearly 11 million tonnes contracted, as Microsoft alone led with almost 10.5 million tonnes worth of deals. Other big deals saw the participation of purchasers Frontier, Hafslund Celsio, Mitsui OSK Lines, Wihlborgs, Öresundskraft and Carba, to name a few.
In April, we also launched the Q1 2025 Durable CDR Market Update, analyzing and uncovering key trends in the durable CDR market.
Policy updates, new projects, partnerships, and large funding opportunities and announcements continue to drive momentum for the industry ahead, along with various events in the field.
Read on to learn more below!
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What is the market sentiment for durable CDR?
Explore findings from the 2025 CDR Market Survey with Sylvera, in which we present the market sentiment and expectations for durable CDR solutions for 2025 and beyond.
Deals and Partnerships
[Image source: AtmosClear]
Deals
AtmosClear, a portfolio company of Fidelis, signed an agreement with Microsoft for 6.75 million tonnes of CDR, making it the single-largest durable CDR deal in record. As per the agreement, the tonnes will be delivered over 15 years by AtmosClear.
CO280 signed an offtake agreement with Microsoft for 3.658 million tonnes of CDR. At the time of signing, this was the largest-ever durable CDR deal on record, with the AtmosClear deal bumping it to second place. As per the agreement, the tonnes will be delivered over 12 years by CO280.
Swedish energy company Öresundskraft signed offtake agreements to sell 120,000 tonnes of CDR to real estate company Wihlborgs (100,000 tonnes) and Helsingborgshem (20,000 tonnes).
Frontier signed a $31.6 million offtake agreement to purchase 100,000 tonnes of CDR from Hafslund Celsio. The tonnes will be removed from Hafslund's facility in Oslo, which is also the first-ever retrofit of a waste-to-energy facility to deliver carbon removal.
CREW Carbon delivered the world’s first Wastewater Alkalinity Enhancement (WAE) CDR credits to Frontier buyers. The 104.4 credits were issued and verified by Isometric.
Biomass direct storage company Carba signed an offtake agreement with Microsoft for 44,000 tonnes of CDR. This is Carba’s first CDR deal, and the tonnes will be delivered over 5 years, starting in 2025.
Climeworks announced Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) as its first shipping industry partner, signing a 15,000-tonne offtake agreement and an MOU for investing in scaling Climeworks’ Direct Air Capture deployment globally.
Microsoft signed an offtake agreement with Terradot to purchase 12,000 tonnes of CDR. This is Microsoft’s 6th enhanced weathering deal with 4 companies to date, totalling ~52,000 tonnes.
Alt Carbon signed an offtake agreement with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, for 10,000 tonnes of CDR, making it Japan’s first-ever enhanced Enhanced Weathering deal. The tonnes will be generated from Alt Carbon’s Darjeeling Revival Project in Eastern Himalayas, India.
Tambora Carbon Removal, an Indonesian climate tech startup specializing in enhanced rock weathering for smallholder farmers, secured its first CDR offtake agreement for 4,400 tonnes with Wild Assets, a CDR-focused buyer.
CDR financier Altitude committed to procuring over 25,000 tonnes of CO₂ Removal Certificates (CORCs) from biochar-based CDR facilities in West Africa for its purchasing facility, Ascent. The credits will be issued via the Puro Registry.
Urban innovation hub MaRS Discovery District has led a CDR credit pre-purchase round from six Canadian suppliers, with Japan’s M-Lab consortium participating, to support early-stage companies and boost market traction for CDR in Canada.
Climate non-profit myclimate partnered with Cotierra to make its first biochar credit purchase, sourced from Colombia’s first registered biochar-based carbon removal project.
Bio-oil sequestration company Charm Industrial delivered 180 tonnes of verified carbon removal credits to customers of Commons, a sustainable spending platform. The tones were officially certified by Isometric.
Carbon Direct announced a Request for Proposal (RFP) for suppliers, targeting a procurement of 200-300,000 tonnes of CDR on behalf of its client. Successful projects will comply with its 2024 Criteria for High-Quality Carbon Dioxide Removal.
ClimeFi is set to purchase 90,000–120,000 tonnes of durable CDR credits on behalf of its clients and has launched an RFI for suppliers meeting a 5,000-tonne annual capacity.
Partnerships
Clean Energy Ventures partnered with Klimate as part of the firm’s long-term CDR commitment to advance climate solutions. The partnership includes the purchase of CDR credits to remove its scope 1 to 3 emissions from 2023 through 2028.
BeZero Carbon and Xpansiv expanded their partnership, integrating BeZero’s credit ratings into Xpansiv’s platform to boost transparency and decision-making in voluntary carbon markets.
Market expansion firm DKSH partnered with Klimate to procure CDR credits from Octavia Carbon’s DAC project in Kenya and a biochar initiative in Thailand, supporting net-zero and community co-benefits.
Eion and Perdue AgriBusiness partnered on a carbon-insetting deal, using optimized olivine to help Perdue grain farmers remove 3,500 tonnes of CO₂. This is the first Ehanced Weathering deployment within a company's own supply chain to remove CO₂.
Puro.earth partnered with BlueLayer to develop a digital MRV system for carbon removal projects, enabling faster verification and standardized data submission to improve reliability in carbon credit issuance.
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Projects
[Image source: 1PointFive]
Occidental and 1PointFive secured the first Class VI permits issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to store CO₂ from DAC at their upcoming Stratos facility in Texas, launching later this year.
Alcom launched the Philippines’ first Combined Heat Power Biochar & BioOil facility via the $45 million Green Transition Investment Program, set to produce 64,000 tonnes of biochar per year, and will sequester 1 million tonnes of CO₂ over the project’s lifetime.
The City CDR Initiative announced its first cohort, featuring 10 cities including the likes of San Francisco, Helsinki, and Sydney, to baseline urban CDR opportunities, aiding sustainable city planning and innovation globally.
Ocean-based CDR project SeaCURE announced that it has launched its pilot facility in Weymouth, UK, with a projected 100-tonne annual CO₂ capture capacity, backed by £3 million in government funding to validate and scale the approach.
Canadian CDR company Carbon Alpha selected Mangrove Systems as its preferred dMRV provider for its North Star project, located in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. In October, it became the first Canadian CDR project to be listed on Puro.earth.
UK-based company Mission Zero opened its second DAC plant in Norfolk, developed in partnership with O.C.O. Technology. With a capacity of 250 tonnes a year, this is the world’s first plant that captures CO₂ from the atmosphere and turns it into limestone.
Minneapolis is set to become the first city in North America to own and operate a biochar production facility. The facility will process over 3,000 tonnes of wood waste annually, producing 500 tonnes of biochar.
Biochar company Husk announced the launch of its operations in Vietnam. It previously partnered with Klarna and Carbonaires to develop a biochar plant in Cambodia with a capacity to remove 16,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year.
Truecoco Ghana produced its first tonnes of biochar from coconut husk waste, advancing CDR and supporting smallholder farmers. The project aims to be the first certified industrial coconut husk initiative globally.
ecoLocked announced that the ecoLocked Hub is now the first standalone material processing plant certified by the European Biochar Certificate (EBC), ensuring high-integrity biochar handling for reliable carbon removal credits.
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Financing
[Image source: XPRIZE]
XPRIZE announced the winners of its $100M Carbon Removal competition. Mati Carbon took the $50 million Grand Prize, while NetZero, Vaulted Deep, and UNDO Carbon received runner-up awards.
Occidental Petroleum purchased DAC startup Holocene Carbon, marking its second such deal for a DAC company, having acquired Carbon Engineering in 2023. The transaction amount was not disclosed.
RepAir Carbon secured a $15 million extension to its Series A funding led by Extantia Capital and Taranis Carbon Ventures, with support from Ormat Technologies, Repsol, and a $3 million grant from the Israeli Innovation Authority.
Greenlyte, along with Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (MPI CEC) and Evonik Industries, secured public funding for a pre-study integrating DAC and hydrogen with methanol synthesis, paving the way for Greenlyte’s first commercial facility.
Patch and Varaha announced a multi-million dollar financing deal supporting reforestation, regenerative agriculture, and biochar across South Asia, benefiting 100,000 farmers while targeting 20 million+ tonnes CO₂ removal over the next five years.
Grain Ecosystem, which provides decarbonization tools to accelerate CDR projects with a focus on biochar, announced a seed round led by Elevate Ventures, with backing from SNØCAP, SE Ventures, and others.
UK-based CDR startup Kairos Carbon secured a £1 million grant from Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme, delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, that will support its work on recovering nutrients from agricultural feedstocks.
Cascade Climate announced the awardees for its ERW Field Data Partnership Grants: over $1.2 million in funding across 9 projects focused on addressing key research priorities in enhanced rock weathering.
remove announced 12 teams that will be part of its inaugural Africa Carbon Removal Accelerator. The program, launched in January, aims to support sub-Saharan Africa-based CDR startups through expert exposure, guidance, and community connections.
CDR marketplace CEEZER announced the third cohort of the CEEZER Carbon Coalition, a program which provides start-ups in the voluntary carbon market with the tools needed to bridge the gap between ideation and commercialization.
Pricing Mismatch in Durable CDR
Explore insights from the Durable CDR Pricing Survey, conducted in partnership with OPIS, to help market participants better understand pricing expectations for durable CDR credits.
Policy
[Image source: Carbon Removal Alliance]
The Carbon Removal Alliance released two policy memos highlighting partnership opportunities between CDR companies and mining and wastewater industries to grow the CDR market in the U.S.
Carbonfuture published The 2025 Guide to Carbon Removal Policy, offering a comprehensive overview of policy efforts, breaking down the latest developments in U.S. and EU policy, along with insights from hubs like Germany, Denmark, and California.
Carbon Gap will launch the new Nordic Carbon Removal Association on June 3, 2025, in tandem with a survey with Implement Consulting Group to inform the Nordic Carbon Dioxide Removal Market Report.
Research and reports
[Image source: Carbon Direct]
Carbon Direct, in collaboration with Microsoft, released the new criteria for high-quality marine CDR, providing science-based guidance for buyers and developers on integrity, durability, and monitoring to responsibly scale marine carbon removal.
Cowboy Clean Fuels introduced a new methodology that combines Biomass Carbon Removal and Storage (BiCRS) with Renewable Natural Gas (RNG). The methodology was developed in partnership with EcoEngineers.
The World Resource Institute released a policy paper on the role of biomass and biofuels in U.S. decarbonization and the need to prevent land use change to ensure real climate benefits.
ClimeFi initiated rating coverage on project developer Deep Sky. The ratings coverage will support ClimeFi’s clients and corporate partners with dynamic and forward-looking insights into Deep Sky’s DAC credit supply.
Opna launched the Opna Impact Framework, adding an extra layer to its due diligence for carbon removal projects, assessing them across five pillars: carbon, social, environmental, economic, and innovation.
Frontier designated CDR registry Puro.earth as a Leading Credit Issuer, recognizing Puro’s governance, scientific rigor, and transparency in high-quality carbon removal credits.
Isometric launched “Open Sourcing CDR”, a new series in which it open sources its foundations and shares how it operationalizes science, its work with partner organizations, and lessons learnt from building its registry over the past four years.
The UK government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero published an independent review of CDR methods covering areas such as scale of deployment, co-products, regulatory framework gaps, and economic cost, amongst others.
Puro.earth launched the public consultation for its 2025 update to its Biochar Methodology,which features CORC200+ durability, ICVCM alignment, and refined guidance on biomass sourcing, production, and end-use applications, amongst others.
Ocean Visions launched the Marine CDR Ecosystem Database, a comprehensive platform mapping stakeholders, funding, and partnerships across the mCDR sector to support collaboration in the field.
Verde, in partnership with Oregon Biochar Solutions, completed a proof-of-concept project at National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT), leading to the world’s first biochar CDR credits issued from asphalt applications by Puro.earth.
The OpenAir Collective announced 5 finalists for its 2025 Carbon Removal Challenge, with student teams from 3 countries set to showcase their solutions in New York City this May.
Isometric approved testing, inspection, and certification company SGS as a Validation and Verification Body (VVB). SGS can now conduct assessments of CDR projects under the Isometric Standard.
Non-profit climate fund Terraset published its 2024 annual report, highlighting its key initiatives and investments in CDR while committing to adding new CDR methodologies to its portfolio this year.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) published a paper on CDR technologies currently deployed, their relative costs, technological readiness, and associated co-benefits and risks.
remove and sus.lab|ETH released a new report featuring insights from an explorative study and shares fundraising lessons and investor insights for CDR startups navigating venture capital funding.
The Green Finance Institute, in collaboration with ERM, Oxford Net Zero, and CO2RE, published an investment readiness assessment for CDR in the UK. The report highlights key recommendations to accelerate private sector investment in CDR.
The Rocky Mountain Institute published a report on opportunities for integrating carbon removal methods within existing industrial operations and how they can leverage their unique position to bring new technologies to life.
Carbon Centric published a whitepaper sharing insights on the advantages of early CDR engagement, approach based on sectors, and considerations for building a credible and transparent CDR strategy.
Leaderboard Updates - April 2025
Nearly 11 million tonnes of CDR were purchased in April, almost a 32X jump from 339K tonnes in March.
Listed below are the March leaderboards for top suppliers and purchasers:
Supplier Leaderboard
Purchaser Leaderboard
Heads Up!
- Carbon Unbound East Coast 2025
CDR.fyi Co-founder and CEO Alexander Rink will be speaking, moderating and engaging in an interactive session at Carbon Unbound East Coast 2025 in New York, titled “DEMAND: The Only Way is Up” where top industry experts will break down the barriers to scaling demand and explore real-world solutions from buyers, suppliers, investors, and policymakers.
Our Co-founder Kevin Niparko will also be present at the conference in New York. Don't forget to reach out to us to connect at the event.
Alex will be joined by leaders in the space including:
Daniel Pike – Principal, RMI
Jan Mazurek, PhD – Senior Director, Aviation & CDR, ClimateWorks Foundation
Peter Minor – CEO & Co-Founder, Absolute Climate
Randy Spock – Carbon Credits & Removals Lead, Google
Richard Saines – Managing Director, Pollination Law
- Scaling Durable CDR: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Role of Standards
Join us on May 8 for an insightful webinar with Sylvera, diving into the findings from our 2025 CDR Market Survey Report.
We'll explore how market sentiment, pricing expectations, and standard-setting guidance are influencing buyer and supplier behavior in the voluntary carbon market.
The webinar will be moderated by Annalise Downey (Senior Technical Climate Consultant, Sylvera) and will feature a panel of experts:
Francesco Guglielmi, Chief Marketing & Sales Manager at Exomad Green
Christopher Spry, Head of Carbon Markets at NatWest Markets
Robert Höglund, Co-Founder at CDR.fyi
Simon Manley, Director of CDR at Sylvera
- Building Trust & Ensuring Integrity in CDR
On May 15, CDR.fyi Co-founder and CEO Alexander Rink will be speaking in a webinar by Klimate exploring the key pillars of a trustworthy and high-integrity carbon removal market—from the science behind carbon removal to what defines a high-quality project.
Alex will be joined in the session by experts from organizations such as Isometric and Klimate.
Events Round-up - April 2025
[Image source: SF Climate Week]
This year’s edition of the SF Climate Week in San Francisco saw a host of in-person events centered around carbon removal hosted by organizations such as Charm Industrial, Puro.earth, Carbon Business Council, and many more.
CDR.fyi Co-founder Robert Höglund was part of a webinar by Milkywire discussing practical approaches to setting corporate long-term and interim targets for carbon removal. The webinar featured leaders from organizations such as Klarna, Salesforce, Schneider Electric, and WBSCD.
Carbonfuture hosted a webinar on the how key policies across Europe are shaping the carbon removal market featuring experts from organizations such as the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, the European Commission, and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Carbon Removal Alliance hosted a webinar discussing how sectors like mining, wastewater, and pulp and paper can help unlock growth for carbon removal.
Check out the CDR Events Calendar to stay updated with upcoming CDR events in April and beyond.
CDR.fyi Updates and Research
- 2025 Q1 Durable CDR Market Update: Back at Basecamp
We released the 2025 Q1 Durable CDR Market Update report, analyzing and uncovering key trends in the durable CDR market. At 462,000 tonnes contracted, this was the lowest-volume quarter since Q1 2023, before Microsoft changed the course for the year in early Q2.
The blog post is an abridged version of the comprehensive edition exclusive to our Data Partners and Platform Subscribers. For access to the full report or further information, kindly contact us at partners@cdr.fyi.
- Introducing CDR.fyi New Data Model
This week, we published a blog post on the launch of our new data model and the various features and upgrades that it brings, such as expanded order status, registry & MRV separation, granular source tracking, and more refinements to our older framework.
We launched the new data model in April, and early feedback has already been positive. If you have suggestions, corrections, or visionary ideas about how we can enhance the CDR.fyi data model, contact us at team@cdr.fyi.
Stay connected
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- We'd love to hear from you! Reach out to us anytime with suggestions or comments at team@cdr.fyi.
Disclosure
CDR.fyi is a public benefit corporation operating globally. The company has numerous contributors, some of whom have affiliations with companies in the industry, including Milkywire, Charm Industrial, CDRJobs, and DVNE. Data and content published by CDR.fyi, including This Week in CDR, this Monthly Update, and our Quarterly Market Updates, are vetted and reviewed by CDR.fyi representatives with no conflict of interest.
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