Dive Brief:
- Microsoft signed a major carbon removal deal with Swedish energy company Stockholm Exergi Monday, which aims to permanently remove 3.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide produced by the tech giant.
- The agreement — which both companies are calling the “the world’s largest permanent removals deal to date” — will be based on a carbon capture and storage project from Stockholm Exergi. Construction on the project is set to begin in 2025 and, once operational, aims to permanently remove 800,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, according to the energy company.
- Stockholm Exergi said the delivery of Microsoft’s carbon removal certificates are planned to begin in 2028 and will continue for a decade. The deal looks to assist the tech giant in achieving its climate goals, which include becoming carbon negative by 2030.
Dive Insight:
Both companies said the deal represents a “milestone for climate mitigation” and one they hope would encourage corporations to meet their net-zero targets and governments to align their climate objectives with those of the Paris Agreement.
“I believe the agreement will inspire corporations with ambitious climate objectives,” Anders Egelrud, Stockholm Exergi’s CEO, said in a press release. Egelrud noted that the energy company aims to announce more deals with other “pioneering companies” in the months to follow.
Stockholm Exergi’s carbon capture unit will be installed at the company’s existing biomass and heat power plant located in its namesake city, which has been operational since 2016. The company said the biomass feedstock — which can include agricultural crop residues, forestry residues, algae and municipal waste — that will be used for the project will continue to be sourced in a way that is sustainable and in line with Microsoft’s quality thresholds. Such methods, in turn, would guarantee the sustainable management of forests and the protection and preservation of sensitive regions.
The contract follows a flurry of recent initiatives undertaken by Microsoft to mitigate its carbon footprint, including a clean energy deal with Brookfield Asset Management, a 6-year carbon removal contract with Catona Climate and a renewable energy credits purchase agreement with Recurrent Energy — all executed within this year alone.
