In a bid to accelerate carbon removal solutions, Canadian e-commerce company Shopify has invested in nine climate tech start-ups including Australian-based company Loam Bio, bringing its total carbon removal spend to $32 million.

Loam Bio has developed a microbial seed coating that increases carbon in soils as well as crop yields. The technology is said to help farmers, thus laying the foundation for globally-scalable carbon removal. 

Shopify’s head of sustainability, Stacy Kauk said the nascent long-term carbon removal market could collapse without a demand signal.

“We need as many companies as possible innovating in this space to remove over 200+ years of emissions to go beyond critical emission reductions,” said Kauk.

The initiative is part of Shopify’s Sustainability Fund, where the company helps scale and commercialise climate technologies and provide long term impact. In the three years since its inception, the fund has established demand for carbon removal where previously there was none.