In late 2019, many companies were focusing their efforts on pursuing carbon neutrality by adopting science-based targets to measure their carbon footprints and reduce their emissions. Although important, it was becoming clear that emissions reductions alone will not be enough to achieve the IPCC’s target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. To avert climate catastrophe, we will also need to undo the last two hundred years’ worth of CO2 emissions already present in the atmosphere. 

Research into atmospheric carbon removals was by then progressing and some prototype technologies had already been developed. Atmospheric carbon removals, or CDR, can be loosely defined as the act of taking CO2 out of the atmosphere and storing it long-term, in locations ranging from geological formations, to plants, trees, soils and oceans.

However, there was a major gap in this nascent market: engineered carbon removal solutions, which are capable of storing carbon away for hundreds, if not thousands of years, were prohibitively expensive. The price per ton of CO2 removed was much higher than that of most nature-based solutions, which conversely could not offer such long-term guarantees of sequestration.

Shopify was one of the first corporations to recognise that scaling up the CDR market and driving down the cost of removals will offer our greatest chance of achieving true net-zero scenarios in the shortest possible timeframe. The Shopify Sustainability Fund was thus established to address some of the issues facing the market and has since established the company as one of the world’s largest purchasers of carbon removals credits.

“Our goal is to help prove, scale, and commercialize climate technology for massive impact in the long term” 

Tobi Lütke, CEO, Shopify