Deadline: 25 September 2026
Google has launched the Carbon Removal and Superpollutant Elimination R&D Awards to support R&D projects that target breakthroughs in understanding of the fundamental science underlying mitigation strategies for the capture and/or elimination of carbon and superpollutants, or their ability for real world implementation. The scope for projects is broad and will consider a wide range of research and development activities, including but not limited to: theoretical, laboratory or field-based academic research; literature review or meta-analysis; engineering research or prototyping; data or modelling studies.
 
Themes
The awards are designed to address specific research areas that represent the highest priorities for near-term R&D and are seeking to support projects that address one, or both, of the following themes:
Enhancing the certainty of a given mitigation strategy (both in terms of climate impact and ability to measure the impact)
Enhancing the scale of a given mitigation strategy – targeting gigatonne scale for carbon dioxide removal (CDR), and megatonne scale for superpollutant emissions abatement.
Proposals must be directly related to one of the identified priority research areas:
Environmental and Ecological impacts of Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement
Proposals are invited for a field trial project to generate empirical evidence demonstrating the potential environmental and/or ecological impacts and co-benefits of ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE), with the aim of establishing operational frameworks and community support.
One award of up to $450,000 is available for this topic.
Assessing the Scaling Potential of Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement
Proposals are invited for a project to evaluate the capacity of OAE to scale beyond coastal outfalls while upholding environmental and ecosystem safety.
One award of up to $400,000 is available for this topic.
Next-generation CO2 Capture Systems for Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) Facilities
Support for R&D to accelerate the integration of advanced CO2 capture systems into power-only BECCS systems to reduce the energy intensity and cost of carbon capture.
One award of up to $400,000 is available for this topic.
Unlocking Underutilised Biomass Feedstocks to Scale Biochar Carbon Removal
Proposals are invited for a project to address the technical challenges of producing high-quality biochar from heterogeneous, high-moisture and/or distributed organic wastes to unlock novel sources of sustainable biomass for carbon removal.
One award of up to $450,000 is available for this topic.
Improving the Resilience of Mangrove Restoration to Sea-level Rise
Proposals are invited for a project seeking to advance predictive modelling and management strategies to ensure restored mangrove ecosystems can adapt to sea-level rise and maintain long-term carbon sequestration.
One award of up to $350,000 is available for this topic.
Optimizing land use in nature-based carbon removal projects
Proposals are invited for a project to evaluate how land marginality and productivity impact leakage, additionality, and durability in nature-based carbon removal projects, and use this to design projects that optimize land use for carbon removal efficiency and ecosystem integrity.
One award of up to $400,000 is available for this topic.
Addressing the energetic challenges of low-concentration CO2 capture
Proposals are invited for a project to validate novel capture materials with the potential to circumvent the high cost and/or high energy intensity of low-concentration CO2 capture, prioritizing the scaled use of intermittent low-grade heat or a breakthrough advancement in the second-law thermodynamic efficiency of CO2 separation.
One award of up to $450,000 is available for this topic.
Abatement of methane in diffuse emission streams
Proposals are invited for a project to accelerate the development of photochemical, photocatalytic or thermocatalytic oxidation systems for abating dilute, low-concentration diffuse methane emissions.
One award of up to $500,000 is available for this topic.
Improve constraints on methane lifetime in the atmosphere and its underlying removal mechanisms
Proposals are invited for a project that resolve uncertainties in the relationship between atmospheric oxidation capacity and methane lifetime, and thereby refine constraints on methane lifetime.
One award of up to $500,000 is available for this topic.
Optimising the Climate Impact of Carbon Removal through Tidal Wetland Restoration
Support to develop frameworks for tidal wetland restoration that optimise for the scale and permanence of carbon sequestration while minimising methane emissions.
One award of up to $450,000 is available for this topic.
Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) for Open-system Landfill Interventions
Proposals are sought for a project to develop and/or validate methane emissions models at small-scale landfill systems, enabling these models to be incorporated into standardised MRV methodologies for open-system interventions.
One award of $450,000 is available for this topic.
Development, Field Validation, and Climate Impact Verification of Perennial Crop Systems
Proposals are sought for an R&D project to advance the genetic development, field-scale agronomy, and empirical carbon and emissions accounting of perennial grains, oilseeds, and pulse crops to enable scalable, high-certainty agricultural climate mitigation.
Two awards of up to $400,000 are available for this topic.
Proposals with objectives beyond the priority research areas may consider their eligibility under an Open Call that aims to support projects aiming to achieve step-change advancements in the certainty, scale, or affordability of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) or superpollutant abatement, or in the quantification of their climate impact. One award of up to $450,000 is available for the Open Call. Proposals that meet the objectives of the priority research areas will be prioritized for funding before projects in the open call are considered.
 
Eligibility
Application is open to individuals at universities and research institutions, as well as non-profit organisations, social enterprises or businesses focused on advancing research or innovation.
The project may also include a co-PI.
 
Duration
Strong proposals are expected to include outcomes that can be achieved within two years of receiving funding.
 
How to apply
Applications are done by filling out a dedicated form. Guidance for submission can be found here.
 
Supporting material
Additional information including a list of FAQs are available here.

Please keep in mind that if you are considering applying, you must follow these guidelines. Get in touch with us (cesam-gesciencia@ua.pt) and we can provide you with specific support.