Google and McKinsey & Company, through the Symbiosis Coalition, together with Tencent, have signed separate agreements to purchase a combined 635,000 metric tons of carbon removals from Thryve.Earth, providing long term demand for a rainforest restoration project in Indonesia.
The agreements represent one of the larger recent corporate commitments to afforestation and ecosystem restoration projects. Google and McKinsey will jointly purchase 335,000 metric tons of carbon removals through the Symbiosis Coalition, while Tencent has agreed to acquire an additional 300,000 metric tons under its first carbon removal offtake outside China. Both agreements extend over a ten year period.
The carbon removal credits will be generated through Thryve.Earth’s rainforest restoration project in Sulawesi, Indonesia. The initiative aims to restore approximately 6,000 hectares through an agroforestry model that combines long term carbon sequestration with agricultural production and biodiversity restoration.
Rather than relying solely on tree planting, the project incorporates multiple vegetation layers designed to generate both environmental and economic value. Sugar palm and timber species form the upper canopy, while crops including papaya, avocado, coffee, banana, chili, and corn provide additional income streams for participating farmers. According to the developer, the combination is intended to improve soil health, reduce wildfire risk, increase biodiversity, and create more resilient rural livelihoods alongside carbon storage.
The agreements also illustrate the growing use of advance purchase contracts to finance carbon removal projects before credits are delivered. Thryve.Earth stated that securing long term offtake commitments provides the revenue certainty needed to attract investment and expand restoration activities across larger areas. This financing model has become increasingly important as developers seek to overcome the high upfront costs associated with ecosystem restoration projects.
For the Symbiosis Coalition, the transaction aligns with its strategy of accelerating high integrity nature based carbon removal through advance market commitments. The coalition, established in 2024 by Google, Meta, Microsoft, McKinsey, and Salesforce, has pledged to contract 20 million metric tons of afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation based carbon removals by 2030. Bain & Company and REI have subsequently joined the initiative.
This marks the coalition’s third publicly announced carbon removal agreement. In late 2024, Google and McKinsey contracted 215,000 metric tons of removals from Brazilian restoration company Mombak. Earlier this year, Google, Meta, and McKinsey agreed to purchase more than 130,000 metric tons from Living Carbon for reforestation projects in the Appalachian region of the United States.
The latest agreement comes as voluntary carbon markets continue to evolve toward greater emphasis on project quality and measurable climate outcomes. Nature based carbon removal has faced increasing scrutiny over issues including permanence, additionality, leakage, and the accuracy of carbon accounting methodologies. Buyers are therefore placing greater emphasis on projects that combine independently verifiable carbon removal with broader ecological and social benefits.
The inclusion of agroforestry reflects this shift. By integrating commercial crops with long lived tree species, developers seek to reduce financial pressure on local communities that can undermine traditional conservation projects while improving the long term durability of restored ecosystems.
Tencent’s participation is particularly notable because it represents the company’s first international carbon removal offtake. The Chinese technology company has committed to achieving carbon neutrality across its operations and value chain while sourcing all of its electricity from renewable power by 2030. In addition to improving energy efficiency and expanding renewable electricity use, the company has identified emerging carbon removal technologies as part of its broader decarbonization strategy.
For corporate buyers, long term removal agreements remain only one component of broader climate strategies that continue to prioritize direct emissions reductions. However, demand for high quality carbon removals is expected to increase as companies address residual emissions that are difficult to eliminate through operational changes alone. Whether nature based projects can scale to meet that demand will depend on continued improvements in monitoring, verification, financing, and community engagement, alongside growing confidence that carbon credits represent durable and measurable climate benefits.
