Google has agreed to its largest carbon removal deal yet, backing Terradot's enhanced rock weathering project across 200,000 hectares of rice paddies in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The project aims to cut methane emissions from rice farming and remove CO2 from the atmosphere. It is expected to generate 1 million metric tons of methane abatement credits by 2030 and 1 million metric tons of carbon removal credits by 2040, with the two credit streams verified separately. Enhanced rock weathering accelerates the natural process where certain crushed rocks absorb CO2. The deal is ten times larger than previous rock weathering projects and is the first to combine methane abatement and carbon removal at that scale, according to Google's head of carbon removal. Google has been an investor in Terradot since 2024, and the companies see the model expanding across Brazil's 1.5 million hectares of rice fields, plus pilot programs in other rice growing countries starting in 2026. Credit pricing was not disclosed, but a 2024 Terradot deal for 90,000 tons of removal implied around $300 per ton. The companies say the new project will be cheaper, though not yet at the $100 per ton level many developers target. Terradot says verification can add more than $100 per ton to enhanced rock weathering costs, so allowing longer accumulation before third-party verification is part of the cost reduction plan.
