KBANK injects 600 million baht to back Beacon VC's push into 3 ESG startup projects

Alphabet backed its biggest carbon-removal project yet through Terradot, Reuters reported Wednesday, even as its shares slipped approximately 0.9% to $341.72. Terradot plans to deploy enhanced-weathering material across more than 200,000 hectares of rice fields in Brazil, targeting one million metric tons of methane-abatement credits by 2030 and another one million tons of carbon-removal credits by 2040, a removal target roughly ten times the scale of earlier rock-weathering projects. Google already owns an equity stake in Terradot, giving it exposure not just as a buyer of credits but as a financial backer of the technology itself. A 2024 Terradot transaction implied a removal cost of about $300 per ton, while developers see roughly $100 as a level that could unlock much broader adoption, though pricing for Google's latest agreement has not been disclosed. Alphabet's $341.72 share price stands 34.54% above its GF Value estimate of $253.99, putting more pressure on Google's massive AI and infrastructure spending to translate into durable growth.

Energy Absolute, or EA, disclosed that the Bangkok E-Bus Programme has delivered 57,327 ITMOs in carbon credits under the international cooperation mechanism to the KliK Foundation in Switzerland, bringing the project's cumulative deliveries to 108,960 ITMOs. These ITMOs represent greenhouse gas reductions that have been measured, verified and certified to standard, and have been approved for international transfer under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement to support Switzerland's NDC targets. The project puts more than 2,000 electric buses into service in Bangkok and its vicinity, replacing diesel and natural gas buses. Chatchapol Sripratum, Chief Executive Officer of EA, said this achievement shows that the transition to clean energy can deliver real environmental, social and economic results, and that the company is ready to build on its know-how, technology and partnerships to expand its Green Energy Ecosystem into other sectors.

Mitti Labs has announced a five-year carbon credit agreement with Google to scale climate-smart agriculture across 100,000 hectares of smallholder rice farms in India, in what the company calls the largest rice methane offtake to date. Under the deal, Mitti Labs will deliver one million high-integrity credits to Google by 2030. By transitioning over 70,000 farmers to water and methane-savings irrigation practices, the partnership aims to eliminate 3M tons of near-term warming impact, measured as GWP20 and equivalent to 1M tons of GWP100 impact, while conserving billions of gallons of water across critical regional basins. The partnership is also projected to deliver billions of liters of water savings nationwide, an amount equal to Bengaluru's annual supply for three years. Google Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt said Mitti Labs' approach delivers critical near-term atmospheric impact by cutting methane emissions while empowering smallholder farmers. Mitti Labs co-founder Xavier Laguarta called the partnership a powerful accelerator of the company's mission to reduce emissions, save water, and strengthen the livelihoods of the 150 million smallholder farmers who grow rice. Mitti Labs, which launched in 2023 and has grown to 150 employees, has raised $12.5 million from investors including Lightspeed India, Aramco Ventures, Voyager Ventures, Godrej Industries Group, Cisco Foundation, Francis Family Fund, and Volta Circle, and has received an A rating for its methane-based credits from ratings agency Sylvera.