Salesforce has announced three major climate investments to accelerate a just energy transition. The company has joined Frontier, an advance market commitment (AMC), to buy more than USD$1-billion of permanent carbon removal by 2030. Through this membership, Salesforce will commit USD$25-million to accelerate, scale and commercialise the most promising carbon removal technologies.
To avoid the most severe effects of climate change and ensure critical climate goals stay on track for a 1.5-degree future, Salesforce says that it believes it will not be sufficient to just reduce emissions.
Large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) currently present in the atmosphere and oceans must be removed, says the company.
Public and private entities need to make investments to scale and deploy clean energy technologies like renewable energy.
Everyone must support organisations at the forefront of the clean energy transition so all communities can thrive economically and environmentally, adds Salesforce.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that, to meet 2050 climate goals, the world needs to remove billions of tons of carbon every year. Total permanent removals to date are only in the tens of thousands of tons, so efforts to rapidly scale solutions are critical.
According to Salesforce, an AMC model like Frontier aims to give the industry confidence to start building solutions urgently and attract new buyers.
Salesforce says that it undertook this ambitious pledge in May 2022 as a founding member of the First Movers Coalition (FMC), whose mission is to leverage corporate purchasing power to decarbonize hard-to-abate industries. By joining Frontier, Salesforce is actively working to fulfil its FMC commitment to contract for USD$100-million in CO2 removal solutions.
According to Salesforce, Frontier's team of experts will facilitate USD$25-million of purchases from promising, early-stage carbon removal companies on behalf of Salesforce, focusing on:
- solutions that store carbon for more than 1000 years,
- have a path to affordability at scale, and
- avoid competing for arable land.
Salesforce concludes that it has allocated USD$3.95-million to non-profits advancing a just energy transition. Organisations receiving the grants are focused on making clean energy affordable and equitable for underrepresented communities, supporting early-stage climate startups and creating green jobs.
For more information, visit www.salesforce.com. You can also follow Salesforce on Facebook, LinkedIn, X, or on Instagram.
*Image courtesy of Canva