Climeworks and NTT DATA Group have entered a partnership aimed at scaling carbon removal as data center and AI emissions continue to rise alongside global demand for digital infrastructure.
The companies say the collaboration is designed to support long-term net-zero ambitions while addressing emissions that cannot yet be eliminated through operational changes alone. The deal highlights how climate strategy is increasingly extending beyond efficiency improvements into purchased atmospheric carbon removal.
Climeworks framed the agreement as a structural shift in how AI infrastructure providers approach sustainability. The company said the partnership “underscores the growing role of carbon removal in enabling the AI economy to grow responsibly in line with net zero goals,” signaling its expansion beyond early adopters into enterprise-scale digital infrastructure.
The Japanese company emphasized that emissions reduction remains the priority, but acknowledged the need for additional mechanisms to deal with residual output with company CEO Yutaka Sasaki stating: “NTT DATA is continuously reducing our carbon emissions, and we extend our overall expertise and experience to help clients along their own journeys to truly sustainable operations. Our agreement with Climeworks complements these efforts by applying high-quality CDR credits toward our own residual emissions, and we believe our support will help expand the effectiveness and reach of CDR technology overall.”
Data center emissions pressure builds
The deal comes as data center electricity demand accelerates due to AI training and inference workloads. Industry research shows that digital infrastructure emissions are becoming a growing share of global energy use, intensifying pressure on cloud and IT providers to find scalable decarbonization strategies.
Climeworks co-founder Christoph Gebald said that as artificial intelligence scales and data center construction expands, companies need “clear, credible ways to manage their carbon footprint,” noting that the agreement provides access to long-term carbon removal capacity intended to support net-zero operational goals.
Industry analysis shows that corporate carbon removal purchasing is accelerating as AI-driven data center demand grows, with hyperscalers and infrastructure providers increasingly locking in long-term carbon removal contracts, though total volumes remain small relative to global emissions.
Many agreements, including long-term carbon removal purchases by major enterprises, are still in early scale-up phases and represent a fraction of what is required to materially offset global data center growth.
Sustainability experts, including the IPCC and Science Based Targets initiative, emphasize that carbon removal cannot replace direct emissions reductions and should instead serve as a complementary tool to address residual emissions in net-zero pathways.
As AI infrastructure expands globally, the intersection of data center growth, renewable energy adoption, and emerging carbon removal markets is expected to become a defining feature of corporate climate strategy in the technology sector.
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