Shut up element of highly effective teal blue wave breaking in open ocean on a vivid sunny afternoongetty
Once we discuss carbon elimination, the dialog typically appears like science fiction. Machines that suck CO₂ straight from the air, forests genetically engineered to develop sooner, mineral powders unfold on farmland to lock away greenhouse gases. Every strategy is tantalizing, none assured.
Now, the ocean is stepping ahead as an answer.
Frontier, the $1 billion carbon elimination fund backed by Stripe, Google, Shopify, McKinsey, and others simply introduced a $31.3 million offtake settlement with Planetary, a Canadian climate-tech agency pioneering ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE). Underneath the deal, Planetary will take away 115,211 tons of CO₂ between 2026 and 2030 at $270 a ton.
“This offtake with Frontier consumers permits us to show that ocean alkalinity enhancement can safely and successfully take away CO₂ past small-scale trials.” mentioned Mike Kelland, CEO of Planetary. “This strategy could possibly be the most affordable and most scalable carbon elimination resolution. We’re keen to point out how it may be rolled out responsibly.”
It’s not the largest contract Frontier has signed. However it might be some of the necessary—as a result of it’s a landmark for the ocean as a carbon sink, and for OAE as a reputable, scalable pathway.
The Ocean Already Does the Work — We’re Simply Serving to It Alongside
The ocean already does the lion’s share of local weather work for us. Every year it absorbs about 25–30% of human CO₂ emissions, pulling the gasoline into floor waters the place it slowly mixes into the deep ocean. With out this service, our world would already be far hotter.
However that pure absorption comes with a price: ocean acidification. As extra CO₂ dissolves into seawater, it types carbonic acid, decreasing pH and threatening marine life. Shellfish wrestle to kind shells, corals bleach, complete ecosystems wobble.
OAE flips this equation. By including alkaline substances—minerals like magnesium oxide or calcium hydroxide—into seawater, you improve the ocean’s capability to soak up CO₂ whereas counteracting acidification. The chemistry is straightforward: alkalinity turns dissolved CO₂ into bicarbonate, a kind steady for over 10,000 years.
In impact, OAE asks the ocean to do extra of what it already does—solely safer, sooner, and extra durably.
For years, OAE lingered within the background of local weather technique: promising in principle, however untested at scale. The challenges have been huge. How do you measure carbon elimination in a fluid system as huge because the ocean? How do you guarantee security for marine ecosystems and communities?
From Experiments to Markets: Why This Deal Issues
Planetary has been chipping away at these questions. Earlier this 12 months, they delivered the world’s first independently verified OAE removals, a small batch of 625 tons licensed by Isometric. They’ve additionally embedded security triggers and sensor networks into their deployments, monitoring water chemistry in actual time and pausing operations if circumstances stray past thresholds.
Simply as importantly, they’ve made Indigenous and coastal group engagement central to their work. The Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq and the Lennox Island First Nation, as an example, have been companions in analysis and monitoring. In an period the place public belief could make or break local weather applied sciences—as seen when Planetary’s deliberate Cornwall trial was halted amid native opposition—that social license is essential.
Frontier’s offtake isn’t only a buy. It’s a sign.
First, it validates OAE as a pathway worthy of significant capital. With projected prices between $70 and $120 per ton, OAE is on observe to be one of many most cost-effective types of sturdy carbon elimination. Planetary’s pathway to
Second, it units a regular for measurement. Not like land-based mineralization, the place weathering charges can stretch over a long time, Planetary dissolves its alkaline minerals earlier than launch. That ensures you already know when and the place the carbon elimination occurs, an enormous advance in measurement, reporting, and verification. Frontier’s willingness to put in writing a $31 million test suggests they consider the science is strong.
Third, it aligns local weather motion with co-benefits. Not like direct air seize machines, OAE improves ocean well being by buffering in opposition to acidification. Which means higher circumstances for oysters in Prince Edward Island, for lobster fisheries in Nova Scotia, for coral reefs elsewhere. It’s uncommon in local weather tech to discover a resolution that each cuts carbon and heals ecosystems.
A Turning Level for the Ocean — and for Carbon Elimination
This deal just isn’t the endgame. It’s a pilot for a future the place OAE might scale to billions of tons per 12 months, changing into a spine of worldwide carbon elimination. However dangers stay. Native opposition might stall deployments. Regulatory frameworks for ocean carbon elimination are nonetheless nascent. And we don’t but understand how ecosystems will reply at bigger scales.
That’s why this offtake issues. It creates the circumstances for studying by doing—safely, transparently, and at a scale that begins to matter.
In a decade outlined by local weather urgency, we have to widen the portfolio of options. Timber gained’t be sufficient. Direct air seize might be too costly, too gradual. The ocean, already our largest ally, could maintain the important thing.
Frontier’s wager on Planetary is greater than a contract. It’s a wager that the ocean, with a nudge from chemistry, could be a accomplice in constructing a livable future.
