Anthropic's First Climate Move: Joins the Frontier Coalition and Participates in a $915 Million Tranche

Anthropic has joined Frontier, the carbon removal coalition founded in 2022, becoming the first company focused exclusively on AI to join the group. The news comes along with a new funding tranche of $915 million that brings the total commitments of the coalition to $1.8 billion.

Frontier is born from Stripe, Google, Shopify, and McKinsey with the goal of aggregating corporate purchases of carbon removal and scaling the most promising technologies in the sector. Google is a founding member, while Anthropic is the first entity entirely dedicated to AI to be part of the coalition. This is also Anthropic's first climate initiative in the form of an agreement, as it has yet to publish a sustainability report.

In the new round of $915 million, contributions came from, in addition to Anthropic, Stripe, Google, Shopify, Salesforce, and H&M Group. So far, Frontier has contracted nearly $700 million across more than 50 projects, aiming to remove 1.8 million tons of carbon.

Portfolio and Strategy

The supported technologies range from direct air capture to enhanced rock weathering, from bio-oil to ocean alkalinity, and even bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. For the new phase, Frontier aims to focus purchases on 10-15 selected projects, with supply agreements lasting 8-10 years to accompany companies to the commercial investment phase. The coalition plans to operate until 2040.

By 2025, 7 portfolio companies are expected to have initiated work on 1.4 million tons of new annual removal capacity; by 2026, they should deliver over 50,000 tons. For new contracts, Frontier requires that candidate companies demonstrate a path toward government support or subsidies.

A Sector Grown from a Dozen to Hundreds of Operators

The number of companies active in carbon removal has grown from about a dozen in 2022 to hundreds, with over 20 distinct technological approaches. More than 350 new corporate buyers have emerged in sectors ranging from financial services to aviation, from retail to education, entertainment, and the automotive sector, with collective purchases nearing four million tons of carbon removal.