Case Study: Google’s Approach to Ongoing Emissions Responsibility via Net-Zero Warming
Nov 9th 2026
About Google
Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Google Cloud, Chrome and YouTube, Google plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the most widely-known companies in the world. Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.
About Alphabet Inc.
Alphabet is a collection of companies, the largest of which is Google. Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in September 1998 and the company is headquartered in Mountain View, California. Billions of people use its wide range of popular products and platforms each day, like Search, Ads, Chrome, Cloud, YouTube and Android.
Why Organizations Need to Take Responsibility for Ongoing Emissions
Decarbonization by individual organizations is a critical first step towards meeting global climate goals to limit temperature rise. But there’s a problem: while organizations decarbonize their operations and value chains, they continue to produce ongoing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂). These ongoing emissions pose two problems for the planet: in the near term, they drive peak warming and increase the possibility of crossing climate tipping points. And in the long term, because atmospheric CO₂ drives warming for centuries to millennia, they extend the duration of global temperature overshoot, or how long the planet remains above critical warming thresholds.
That’s why taking direct action to mitigate ongoing emissions using external tools — what the SBTi term “Ongoing Emissions Responsibility (OER)” — is so essential. Organizations need to not only work on lowering the CO₂ they’re putting into the atmosphere — they need to start balancing the warming impacts of the CO₂ they’re still emitting.
This is more than corporate stewardship. Over the coming decades, the climate and business cases converge: unaddressed warming threatens supply chains, assets, and macroeconomic stability. By taking responsibility for their ongoing emissions, organizations insulate their own future operating environments while scaling the tools needed to reach global temperature goals.
Google’s Approach: Taking Responsibility for Ongoing Emissions via Net-Zero Warming
Google’s approach aims to align how it takes responsibility for ongoing emissions with global goals to limit temperature rise. Climate science shows that the pathways to meeting these global goals use two tools: immediate cuts in emissions of short-lived superpollutants like methane to limit near-term temperature rise, and steady investment in scaling carbon dioxide removal (CDR) to limit temperature rise in the long term1.
These tools are naturally complementary when used to limit warming. Abatement of short-lived superpollutants and nature-based CDR are both scale-ready and cost effective today, but their impacts are short-lived relative to the warming caused by CO₂ emissions. Conversely, durable CDR (which removes CO₂ and stores it for at least 1,000 years) can balance warming in the long term, but the technologies are early and need near-term support to scale.
Google therefore combines the tools: using methane abatement and nature-based CDR to balance near-term warming, while phasing in durable CDR to balance long-term warming. If paired, this ‘toolkit’ then fully balances the warming caused by ongoing emissions, achieving ‘net-zero warming’ across time.
Through this net-zero warming approach, Google can take responsibility for ongoing emissions using the mitigation tools and metrics that best align with global temperature goals. To help other organisations do the same, Google has shared simple templates for mitigation toolkits that achieve OER through net-zero warming2. For example:
- 1 ton of methane abatement (measured in CO2e at GWP20) can balance 1 ton of CO2 emissions for 12 years. 1 ton of durable CDR must be phased in within 12 years to balance long-term warming3.
- 1 ton of nature-based CDR can balance 1 ton of CO2 emissions for the duration of the nature-based CDR’s durability claim. 1 ton of durable CDR must be phased in by the time this claim expires to balance long-term warming.
Putting Net-Zero Warming into Practice: Google and Terradot
Google’s recently-announced partnership with project developer Terradot puts this net-zero warming approach into action. The project applies the methane-to-CDR template using two specific tools: Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) for methane abatement, and Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) for durable CDR.
- Methane abatement: Continuously flooded rice paddies create anaerobic soil conditions where microbes generate methane. AWD periodically aerates the fields, suppressing methane-producing bacteria without reducing crop yields. Through AWD, the project delivers 1 megaton (CO₂e at GWP20) of mitigation by 2030, balancing near-term warming.
- Durable CDR: ERW accelerates the Earth’s natural geological carbon sink. Finely crushed silicate rock like basalt is spread across fields. As rainwater absorbs atmospheric CO₂ and filters through the soil, it reacts with the minerals to form dissolved bicarbonate ions that store CO₂ for millennia. Through ERW, the project durably removes 1 megaton of CO₂ by 2040, fully replacing the methane abatement within 12 years to balance long-term warming.
Together, these tools fully balance the warming caused by 1 megaton of CO₂ emissions (see Figure 1). The tools were selected because they are highly complementary when deployed across the same 500,000 acres of Brazilian rice fields: AWD balances warming in the near term, buying time for the silicate rock to dissolve and durably remove carbon dioxide in the long term. However, the broader template is technology-neutral, applying just as effectively to other combinations of superpollutant abatement (such as landfill gas capture) and durable CDR (such as biomass carbon removal or mineralization).
Figure 1. Google and Terradot’s project, combining methane abatement and durable CDR to take responsibility for 1 megaton (Mt) of ongoing CO2 emissions through the net-zero warming approach. 1 megaton (CO₂e at GWP20) of methane abatement is delivered by 2030 to balance near-term warming, and is fully replaced within 12 years by 1 megaton of durable CDR to balance long-term warming. Note that, because CDR replaces methane abatement before the 12-year limit, the cumulative tons exceed 1 megaton CO2e in interim years
What Does This Mean for Other Organizations?
Implementation
By translating climate modeling into simple templates, and structuring a first-of-a-kind commercial deal with Terradot to demonstrate these in action, Google has shown how this net-zero warming approach can be used to make real-world progress towards climate goals. Other buyers can now apply these templates to create their own toolkits for OER. For example, any buyer who purchases 1 ton of methane abatement (measured in CO2e at GWP20) to balance 1 ton of CO2 emitted in 2030 can make sure that the emission remains balanced in the long term by also contracting for 1 ton of durable CDR, to be delivered anytime between 2030 and 2042.
As the market continues to mature, adoption of the net-zero warming approach will become easier. Organizations are likely to be able to procure pre-packaged toolkits that combine short-lived mitigation with durable CDR to balance warming across all timescales. And, in the long-term, organizations may be able to partner with dedicated funds responsible for managing the phase-in of durable CDR.
Adopting net-zero warming today also helps organizations prepare for future mandates. Under the SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard (CNZS v2, criterion C45.2), durable CDR delivered after 2035 can be banked toward long-term net-zero targets. Because net-zero warming templates phase in durable CDR over time, companies can use these to voluntarily balance their near-term warming while securing CDR that counts towards post-2035 requirements.
Affordability
By taking responsibility for ongoing emissions today, organizations generate the demand signal necessary to de-risk superpollutant abatement and durable CDR, lower unit economics, and mature the supply chains they depend on. This will ensure that cost-effective capacity is readily available by the time OER and regulatory mandates take effect.
The net-zero warming approach directly supports this progression: it establishes long-term demand signals for superpollutant abatement and CDR, while enabling these technologies to deliver on more feasible, cost-effective timelines. Today, some of the most promising CDR technologies face limitations due to early-stage supply chains or the physical rates of carbon uptake. By using short-lived mitigation upfront, organizations can balance their near-term warming while giving CDR the runway it needs to scale affordably and balance warming in the long term. In the partnership between Google and Terradot, for example, allowing CDR to be delivered across a 12-year timeframe significantly reduced operational costs, enabling a major step toward delivery closer to $100 per ton4.
Impact
By adopting the net-zero warming approach, organizations can turn near-term OER targets into action aligned with global temperature goals: balancing warming today using scale-ready solutions, while building durable CDR capacity for the long term.
| "We think this approach provides a replicable path for addressing emissions,” says Kate Brandt, Google’s Chief Sustainability Officer. "Crucially, it allows organizations to balance warming in the near term, while actively supporting the tools the planet needs for the long term. We’re excited to have partnered with Terradot to realize this impact in a way that other buyers, suppliers, and governments can follow." |
As organizations consider their OER strategy, SBTi encourages them to consider this approach.
This case study is an example provided by the company as at the time of its publication, and does not constitute endorsement by the SBTi. The SBTi accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, arising from any use of or reliance on the information contained in this case study or the reliability of any information provided by third parties.
References
1.United Nations Environment Programme. 2026. Limiting Overshoot: Navigating Exceedance of 1.5°C and Pathways towards Return.2.Hughes, E., Hausfather, Z., Spock, R., & Van Arsdale, C. (2026). Sustained neutralization of the warming response to emissions through multiple mitigation strategies [Preprint]. CDRXIV. https://doi.org/10.70212/cdrxiv.2026521.v2
3.If CO2e at GWP100 is the preferred unit, 0.34 tons of methane abatement can balance 1 ton of CO2 emissions over the 12-year window
4.Jessop, S. (2026). Google agrees biggest carbon-removal deal yet, aims to scale new model. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/google-agrees-biggest-carbon-removal-deal-yet-aims-scale-new-model-2026-09-16/
