Google has signed a carbon removal agreement with Vaulted Deep, a waste management company, to remove 50,000 tons of CO2 by 2030.

Houston-based Vaulted Deep generates carbon removal credits by injecting organic waste deep underground for permanent storage. The credits are generated by storing waste that would otherwise release CO2 and methane into the atmosphere, and are certified by the carbon registry Isometric.

According to the companies, the agreement also includes a commitment to support research into quantifying the emissions eliminated through this process alongside Isometric, as well as help reduce local pollution and strengthen the economy in communities where Vaulted operates, starting in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Vaulted Deep utilizes slurry injection technology, a type of geological fracturing commercialized in the oil and gas sector in the 1980s, to manage oilfield waste. It works by injecting excess organic waste deep underground into natural formations that have the same features as those that have stored hydrocarbons for millions of years. According to the company, its wells extend up to a mile in depth, where the target formations are found. As one of the pioneers of the technology, Vaulted has been operating in Los Angeles since 2008.

Commenting on the deal, Reilly O’Hara, program manager of Carbon Removal Commercialization at Google, said: “This deal builds on our previous superpollutant efforts and is exciting for a number of reasons, but chief among them is that it can help steer us towards how to best use all of the tools in our toolkit - including superpollutant mitigation and carbon removal - to tackle both near-term warming and long-term drawdown.”

Earlier this year, Google partnered with Recoolit and Cool Effect to support the removal of more than 25,000 tons of ‘super pollutants’ by 2030.

Google has also signed several other carbon removal agreements this year, including a deal with biochar firms Charm Industrial to purchase 100,000 tons worth of removal credits and Varaha, for a further 100,000 tons of removals.