Google Funds Amazon's Deforestation Through Brazilian Startups, Becomes The Largest Carbon Credit Supplier

The deforestation carried out in reshuffle with the help of Google (photo: x @EpicPlain)

Google has just signed the biggest carbon removal deal in its history by funding Amazon's forest redorestation project through a Brazilian startup, Mubak. The move confirms how tech giants are now racing to seek high-quality carbon credit to cover emissions from their energy-hungry data center.

The two companies revealed that the project will offset 200,000 tonnes of carbon emission metrics, four times that of trials conducted in September 2024. The value of this cooperation was not disclosed, but the scale of the project has made Mangom now Google's main carbon credit supplier in the forestry sector.

This agreement comes amid increasing pressure on the tech industry that is intensively building data centers for artificial intelligence (AI) facilities that suck up large amounts of electricity and produce high emissions. Google, under the umbrella of Alphabet Inc., has disbursed more than $100 million for carbon capture projects, from biochar technology to direct air capture. But in the end, Google chose the most natural and efficient approach: planting trees.

"We have a lot of technology, but the minimal risk remains photosynthesis," said Randy totals, Google's Head of Credit and Carbon Elimination. That's the best way nature reduces carbon in the atmosphere.

Brazil is now in the global spotlight for hosting the UN Climate Summit COP30 in Belem, dubbed the COP Forest'. The Brazilian government is promoting conservation and the formation of new funds for tropical forests.

Google insists that it is staying away from REDD's type of carbon credit that gives awards for efforts to prevent deforestation. The scheme was rocked by allegations of fraud and links to illegal logging. We chose to overhaul because their approach was credible and transparent, he said, quoted by VOI from Reuters.

Mubak startup restores damaged grazing land into forests again. According to Gabriel Silva, co-founder and CFO in reshuffle, now there is a flight to quality' in the carbon credit market. "In the past, buyers often bought credit without knowing what they got, often the project was of low quality, even fake," he said.

To ensure the credibility of nature-based projects, Google last year joined Meta, Salesforce, McKinsey, and Microsoft to form Symbiosis Coalition, a large carbon-buying consortium. The group is committed to purchasing more than 20 million tons of natural carbon credit by 2030, with strict scientific standards emphasizing transparent accounting, long-term preservation, as well as benefits for biodiversity and local communities.

Of the 185 projects proposed, only the Mangom project has passed Symbiotics' strict assessment so far. Brazil is also listed as the country with the highest number of refrequency projects targeting recognition from the coalition.

However, the limited supply of high-quality carbon credit and the heavy demand from large companies make prices soar. If REDD credit is sold below $10 per tonne of carbon, then the new reforestation project in Brazil could reach 50 to 100 US dollars per tonne.

"We're trying to reduce costs to make it more efficient," Silva said. But now, demand is much bigger than supply.

This agreement marks a major step in the transformation of the global carbon ecosystem, where sustainability is no longer just a jargon, but is part of the world's tech giant's business strategy.