Leading tech companies Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce have announced the formation of the “Symbiosis Coalition,” a collaborative effort aimed at reducing their carbon footprints through nature restoration projects.
The coalition has pledged to secure up to 20 million tons of nature-based carbon removal credits by 2030. This initiative involves contracting external companies to carry out carbon-negative projects, such as extensive tree planting, to offset their emissions.
According to the coalition’s press release, this agreement represents the first and largest advance market commitment for nature-based carbon removal. Historically, similar projects have struggled due to perceived deficiencies in project quality and uncertainties about funding willingness. Additionally, the success of these projects has often been difficult to measure and scale.
The Symbiosis Coalition aims to address these issues by leveraging new technology and research to better quantify and scale project outcomes. Kate Brandt, Google’s Chief Sustainability Officer, emphasized the necessity of this initiative: “While we’re first and foremost committed to reducing emissions from our operations and value chain, we recognize that won’t be enough to avoid the worst effects of climate change.”
Microsoft’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Melanie Nakagawa, highlighted the coalition’s role in their broader environmental goals: “Our work with the Symbiosis Coalition is a key step towards realizing our carbon negative goal by 2030 through a diversified portfolio of carbon removal.”
The coalition plans to share its project criteria to encourage other companies to adopt sustainable practices, and it anticipates that more companies will join this initiative in the future.
