Google launches Symbiosis coalition to scale nature-based carbon removal credits

Google launched Symbiosis, a coalition with Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce to set standards and consolidate demand for high-quality nature-based carbon removal credits. For Indian project developers in afforestation and ecosystem restoration, the coalition's publicly available criteria could shape the quality bar and buyer expectations for nature-based credits.

Google introduced Symbiosis, a coalition of corporate buyers focused on scaling high-quality nature-based carbon removal projects such as restoring trees and mangroves in damaged ecosystems. The coalition will create shared guidelines for project design and measurement aligned with the latest science, consolidate demand for credits meeting these standards, and make the criteria publicly available. Symbiosis also addresses native species and biodiversity restoration and fair participation and compensation for Indigenous and local communities. The initiative builds on Google's experience co-founding Frontier, which targeted human-made carbon storage technologies.

Nature-based carbon removal project developers are directly affected, as Symbiosis sets a new standard for exemplary restoration projects with a high probability of positive climate outcomes. Corporate buyers including Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce, who have joined the coalition, gain a consolidated demand mechanism for credits meeting rigorous criteria. Indigenous and local communities are addressed through requirements for fair participation and compensation. Projects involving tree and mangrove restoration in degraded ecosystems, where measuring and verifying climate impact is challenging, stand to benefit most from standardised guidelines that improve scalability.

Project developers should monitor the publication of Symbiosis's shared guidelines for project design and measurement, which will define eligibility for consolidated buyer demand. Developers should align projects with the coalition's emphasis on native species and biodiversity restoration and ensure fair participation and compensation for Indigenous and local communities. As Google makes criteria publicly available to encourage adoption, other companies can reference these standards. More corporate members are expected to join, so developers should track the coalition's growth as a signal of future demand for high-quality nature-based credits.

Key figure — Founding corporate members: Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce