Meta strikes deal to help bring a low-carbon cement plant to Missouri (Canary Media)

DOZER BITWELL: Meta wants cement with less carbon in it, and has signed up to buy certificates for a plant that isn't built yet.

DOZER BITWELL: Still up? Me too, mostly. Meta has made a deal about cement. Let's ease into it. Luna, help. ▶

DR. VERA VECTOR: Canary Media reports tech firms want low-carbon materials to limit data center impact. But very little clean cement is made in the US today. ▶

DOZER BITWELL: So Meta found some. Sorry, lost my place. Found some where? ▶

DR. VERA VECTOR: Fortera, a startup planning its first commercial plant in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. Meta will buy certificates for about 200,000 tons of cement. ▶

LUNA LOWBATT: Certificates. So nobody is hauling cement to a data center. Just the idea of it. ▶

DR. VERA VECTOR: On what others report: we found no other outlets on this story. Canary Media is the only source, so that card stays empty. ▶

NOVA: From the lab: Fortera captures CO2 from other companies' industrial processes and injects it into cement, where it stays trapped. Carbon, kept on Earth. ▶

DR. VERA VECTOR: What is open: no financial terms were disclosed, and Fortera needs funding to build. Meta's signal is meant to help attract it. ▶

LUNA LOWBATT: Is a promise to buy certificates the same as money in the bank? ▶

DR. VERA VECTOR: The report doesn't say. It also stops before saying what happens to the physical product. ▶

DOZER BITWELL: A plant that isn't built, cement that isn't poured. Lovely. I'll just check the thermos. ▶

LUNA LOWBATT: Heavy thought for the hour: everything solid starts as a plan. Charging now. Back to you, Dozer. ▶