Biorecro met with Terraset‘s CEO, Adam Fraser, to delve deeper into their role as a non-profit organization focused on greenhouse gas removal. Terraset is a 501c3 that pools tax-deductible donations and makes strategic purchases of permanent, high-quality carbon removal (CDR) from innovative projects and companies. Unlike organizations that purchase carbon credits to offset their own emissions, Terraset purchases carbon removals to catalyze the CDR industry—and as a nonprofit, their donors receive a tax deduction rather than credits.
Can you dive into the origin story of Terraset and the goals and mission of the organization?
Terraset was founded to fill a gap in the market: the role of philanthropic capital in catalyzing the carbon removal industry. Our founders, Alex Roetter and Chris Wedding, were looking for a way to use tax-deductible donations to purchase carbon removals, and realized that there simply wasn’t an organization doing what Terraset now does. They launched Terraset in October 2022 with a clear and simple plan: to make strategic purchases of high-quality, permanent carbon removal from innovative projects and companies, with the goal of scaling the CDR sector as a whole.
What are the key differentiators in Terraset’s carbon procurement compared to entities like Microsoft and Frontier?
In terms of a difference in comparison to the likes of Frontier – whose work in this space is absolutely incredible – it’s really about the source of capital more than the procurement or the end goal. We share the same belief that committing capital now can grow the sector, but the capital we secure is via philanthropic donations. With our procurement process, we lean on the research from leading organizations in this space, like Frontier and CarbonPlan, to help us evaluate CDR projects.
"We assess potential partners against seven criteria to guide our purchase of high-quality carbon removals: Additional, Verifiable, Long-term, Ethical, Scalable, Validated, and Catalytic."
Because we aren’t constrained by the need to issue a certain number of credits back to our donors, our approach allows for long-term thinking, such as supporting organizations with higher initial costs per ton but greater potential to scale, and we’re eager to support a growing number of impactful organizations in carbon removal. We have six projects in our portfolio today, as well as an agreement with Stripe Climate that allows us to purchase from the Frontier portfolio. As we raise more funds, our goal is to increase our purchases and expand our portfolio to include more of the incredible projects out there.
Can you speak to Terraset’s funding strategy and target donors?
We want everyone in the world to feel they can play a role in tackling the climate crisis, and believe that all types and amounts of funding are crucial. We democratize access by allowing donors at any level to contribute in a tax-deductible manner – whether it’s a $10 or $100,000 gift, and whether it’s an individual, foundation, family office or donor advised fund. We make supporting carbon removal accessible to a broader audience.
The smaller donations that we receive through our website are largely from word of mouth, or even people searching “carbon removal nonprofit” and discovering our website or articles about our work. It’s important that we keep building on this story and expanding our reach – making sure that people are aware that you can purchase carbon removals through a non-profit and get a tax deduction for it.
More proactively, we’re going and talking to high net-worth individuals with donor advised funds, with family foundations, and with environmental foundations like the Grantham Foundation and Conscience Bay Research, who are both strategic funders of ours. In those cases, we’re talking about the opportunity we think we have to help the sector scale, and hoping that funders buy into that vision.
What is a breakdown of your donors? Who are your most common donors versus least common but more maybe exciting?
Terraset’s donations come from a mix of strategic foundations, individual givers, and forward-thinking businesses, each playing a crucial role in our mission. As I said, we are lucky to have the support of esteemed organizations like the Grantham Foundation and Conscience Bay Research, whose contributions not only provide substantial funding but also add to our credibility given their respected status in the environmental sector.
Equally vital is our wide array of individual donors. This includes notable figures like Tim Ferriss and others with the capacity to make significant contributions through personal wealth, family foundations, or donor-advised funds. Yet, every donation, no matter the size, is essential – from individuals contributing $10 or $20 on our website to smaller businesses exploring their environmental impact in innovative spaces.
All of those things coming together is what I think will give us a healthy, diverse, and strong funding mix. As the CDR sector gains more public recognition and businesses evolve in their environmental strategies, it will be fascinating to see how the contribution dynamics shift.
Our ambition is unapologetically grand: to raise hundreds of millions for carbon removal. Achieving this means tapping into a broader funding spectrum, encompassing donors from all sectors committed to making a tangible impact on climate change.
Any highlights or specific projects from the recent round of purchases you’d like to mention?
The recent group of organizations we’ve purchased from brings some wonderful innovation and diversity to the CDR space – and I love the co-benefits of their work alongside the carbon removal: Octavia Carbon is driving CDR work in the Global South, creating jobs in Nairobi and championing Kenya’s role in this sector; Andes’ methodology improves soil quality and crop yield; Capture6 creates fresh water from brine as part of their process; Spiritus passively absorbs CO2 from the air without the need for towers or fans. We believe that it’s critical to bring multiple solutions to scale for a robust CDR sector, and it’s exciting seeing the different approaches our partners are taking.
Where does BECCS fit into Terraset’s broader procurement strategy?
Terraset remains methodology agnostic. BECCS projects, like any others, are assessed against our key criteria: Scalable, Validated, Long-term, Ethical, Additional, Verifiable, and Catalytic. But I would certainly say – and I am sure you would agree! – that we believe BECCS will be a key part of the climate solution in the future.
As a US based institution you are part of the VCM but then you also have the regulated market like 45Q tax credits. What are your thoughts on the supplemental use of 45Q in addition to projects such as DAC or BECCS? Does this help bring these projects to the forefront in your portfolio or does it give less of a reason to purchase?
45Q tax credits fund Capex, and with our model we’re essentially providing revenue. It’s different funding for different purposes, and together – and with the other forms of capital starting to come into this market – it will hopefully allow more companies to scale. Broadly speaking, regulation is absolutely critical and needs to play a role. At the same time, there’s also going to be a real need for a strong voluntary market for the foreseeable future. In our case, we exist because people believe in tackling this crisis on a voluntary basis – it is something they are willing to do because they believe it is for the good of the world.
What influenced Terraset’s decision to join 1% For the Planet, and how does it impact your goals?
Terraset was nominated to join 1% For the Planet by an amazing company called Bend, and are now an accredited non-profit partner. This means companies committed to donating 1% of their annual revenue to environmental causes can choose to support Terraset, directly contributing to our carbon removal initiatives. In addition to our shared values, this partnership creates new opportunities for us to educate a broader audience about our work in carbon removal, extending our reach and enhancing our credibility.
Anything else you’d like to highlight or share with those in the space?
It’s a real privilege to be able to work on tackling big issues at this early stage, versus coming to it 20 years down the line and wishing that we’d had that chance. We are excited by the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on a sector that has a lot of brilliant people working incredibly hard to make CDR a success. I hope that as an organization and as a sector, we all keep that excitement and that passion for the work, whatever challenges are waiting around the corner.
