NextGen establishes world's largest diversified portfolio of permanent carbon dioxide removals
NextGen CDR Facility (NextGen) - a joint venture between global climate project developer and solutions provider, South Pole, and Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Corporation – backed by founding buyers Boston Consulting Group, LGT, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Swiss Re, and UBS – has announced the advance purchase of 193,125 tonnes of CDRs from carbon removal projects that will constitute the world's largest diversified portfolio of CDRs offering 1000+ years of CO2 storage once delivered, according to the company's release.
The advance purchase of carbon removals, which will be registered under ICROA-endorsed certification standards, will include CDRs from the world's largest scale Direct Air Capture and Storage (DACS) project, being developed by 1PointFive in Texas, which is expected to remove and permanently store up to 500k tonnes of carbon dioxide per year once fully operational. NextGen will also purchase CDRs from the world's largest tech carbon removal project, the Summit Carbon Solutions' $5.1bn biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) project being implemented in the Midwestern region of the United States, which will remove over 9M tonnes per year through the capture, transportation and permanent storage of biogenic carbon removals once completed. NextGen will also purchase carbon removal credits from climate tech company Carbo Culture's inaugural high technology biochar project (C1) in Finland.
The company is scaling up with the first series of commercial facilities planned to produce high quality biochar to remove and durably store 2.5M tonnes of CDRs by 2030.
NextGen's portfolio establishes market best practice for project standard certification. All projects will be certified and verified under standards endorsed by the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA) to ensure an independent third-party assurance that the projects are of the highest environmental integrity and benefit local communities. Strong monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) standards in the carbon removal industry are vital to ensure that removals approaches only incentivize the creation of high-quality CDR that are additional, measurable and highly durable.
By bringing together high integrity buyers and sellers of ICROA-endorsed certified CDRs, NextGen is helping to create the conditions the market needs to scale: making permanent CDRs accessible for corporate buyers with an average target price of $200 per tonne, enabling risk diversification through a portfolio approach, and providing access to deep market expertise.
Companies in NextGen will have access to a diverse global portfolio of carbon removal technologies and storage solutions, including Biomass Carbon Removal and Storage (BiCRS), Direct Air Capture and Storage (DACS), Enhanced Weathering, High-Temperature Biochar and Product Mineralization – allowing them to demonstrate and operationalize commitments to long-term CDRs, while addressing the challenge that technology companies face in urgently scaling their projects.
The NextGen CDR Facility (NextGen) brings technical expertise and global networks together to unlock the potential of large-scale technical carbon removal. It holds the ambition of purchasing over one million certified carbon removal credits by 2025. The establishment of NextGen follows South Pole's approval as an Implementing Partner of the First Movers Coalition (FMC). Its development was strongly influenced by the Carbon Removal Climate Action Group of the World Economic Forum Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders. NextGen will purchase technical CDRs from projects using a range of technological approaches that offer significant potential to scale, including BiRCS, DACCS, biochar, enhanced weathering, high-temperature biochar, and product mineralization.
