1PointFive and Amazon Announce 10-year Carbon Removal Credit Purchase Agreement

The 250,000-metric-ton Direct Air Capture credit removal purchase is the technology industry’s largest agreement with 1PointFive

HOUSTON, Sept. 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 1PointFive, a carbon capture, utilization and sequestration company, today announced that Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has agreed to purchase 250,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits over 10 years. The agreement furthers Direct Air Capture (DAC) as a viable carbon removal solution to help organizations further their climate goals.

The CDR credits for Amazon will be enabled by STRATOS, 1PointFive’s first commercial-scale DAC plant, currently under construction in Texas. The plant is designed to capture up to 500,000 metric tons of CO₂ annually when fully operational, making it the largest plant in the world, and a milestone in reaching climate relevant scale.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world needs to remove roughly 1 trillion tons of CO₂ from the atmosphere over the course of this century to keep global warming below the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit set by the Paris Climate Agreement.

1PointFive is progressing the development of Carbon Engineering’s Direct Air Capture technology, alongside other decarbonization solutions, at an industrial scale to help organizations achieve their net zero goals. Under the agreement with Amazon, the captured CO₂ underlying the CDR credits will be stored in saline reservoirs that are not associated with oil and gas production.

“Amazon’s purchase and long-term contract represent a significant commitment to direct air capture as a vital carbon removal solution,” said Michael Avery, President and General Manager of 1PointFive. “The addition of 1PointFive’s high-integrity, quantifiable carbon removal credits support Amazon’s path to achieve net zero and shows the growing role that DAC technology will play in decarbonization pathways. We are excited to collaborate with Amazon to help them achieve their sustainability goals.”

“Amazon’s primary focus is to decarbonize our global operations and reach net-zero carbon by 2040 through our transition to renewable energy, building with more sustainable materials and electrifying our delivery fleet and global logistics. We are also pursuing changes such as reducing the weight of packaging per shipment for our customers. At the same time, we also need to seek every possible avenue to reduce carbon in the atmosphere,” said Kara Hurst, vice president of worldwide sustainability at Amazon. “These investments in direct air capture complement our emissions reductions plans and we are excited to support the growth and deployment of this technology.”