UK-headed carbon removals and renewable energy company Drax Group has announced a new carbon removals deal with Canada-headed Karbon-X Corporation, a leading environmental company. The agreement is the latest indicator of the growing demand for high-quality carbon removals from bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).
Under the terms of the agreement, Karbon-X will purchase carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits from Drax representing 25,000 tonnes of permanently stored carbon at US$350 per tonne.
The deal, which will occur over five years starting in 2030, is linked to Drax’s planned deployment of carbon-negative BECCS in the United States.
We’re excited to work with organizations like Karbon-X that understand the importance of investing in high-value carbon removals today. The CDR market, which is already maturing at a rapid pace, is expected to experience a supply crunch within the next decade as companies and countries approach their deadlines for carbon reduction targets, said Laurie Fitzmaurice, President of Carbon Removals at Drax.
New CDR business
The agreement with Karbon-X is the latest in a string of previously announced carbon removal Memorandums of Understanding that have included Respira and C-Zero.
Drax also launched a new independent business unit earlier this year that is focused on becoming the global leader in large-scale carbon removals.
This business unit will oversee the development and construction of Drax’s new-build BECCS plants in the US and internationally, and it will work with a coalition of strategic partners to focus on an ambitious goal of removing at least 6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year from the atmosphere.
BECCS is a carbon removal technology that uses sustainably sourced biomass to generate renewable energy while permanently sequestering the carbon underground.
Measuring the impact of these high-quality carbon removals is more straightforward when compared with other solutions like nature-based removals, resulting in high demand.
This agreement with Karbon-X represents another major step forward in delivering BECCS by Drax in the United States to help meet this growing demand to decarbonize our planet, said Laurie Fitzmaurice.
Voluntary carbon market
Karbon-X intends to sell the credits it purchases from Drax on the voluntary carbon market, enabling individuals and organizations to achieve their own emissions reduction targets.
It follows a stringent set of guidelines to ensure it selects only high-quality projects and providers, like BECCS by Drax.
We are thrilled to be working alongside Drax in pursuit of its carbon removal program. This partnership represents significant progress in our collective mission to combat climate change and build a more sustainable future, said Chad Clovis, CEO of Karbon-X.
As companies, industries, and countries increasingly look to engineered carbon removals to ensure they can meet climate commitments, CDRs from carbon-negative BECCS are becoming an integral piece of this market.
Through BECCS, carbon removals are quantifiable and auditable, resulting in a higher quality credit. This separates BECCS-derived CDRs from carbon offsets, allowing organizations to have greater trust in the impact of their investments.
