Tech giant Microsoft inked a record carbon capture agreement with Occidental Petroleum subsidiary 1PointFive, a company specialising in carbon capture, utilisation, and sequestration (CCUS).
Under this agreement, 1PointFive will sell 500,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits to Microsoft over six years. The agreement underscores the growing adoption of this climate technology as a viable solution for organisations aiming to achieve net-zero emissions.
This deal supports Microsoft’s carbon removal strategy and represents the largest single purchase of CDR credits enabled by Direct Air Capture (DAC) to date.
The CDR credits for Microsoft will be provided by STRATOS, 1PointFive’s first industrial-scale DAC facility, currently under construction in Texas. The captured carbon dioxide (CO2) underlying the credits will be securely stored through subsurface saline sequestration and will not be used to produce oil and gas. Direct Air Capture offers a transparent and durable method for addressing emissions on a large scale, especially for hard-to-abate industries.
Michael Avery, President and General Manager of 1PointFive said, “A commitment of this magnitude further demonstrates how one of the world’s largest corporations is integrating scalable Direct Air Capture into its net zero strategy. Energy demand across the technology industry is increasing and we believe Direct Air Capture is uniquely suited to remove residual emissions and further climate goals.”
“DAC plays an important role in Microsoft’s carbon removal portfolio supporting our broader goal of becoming carbon negative by 2030,” said Brian Marrs, Senior Director for Carbon Removal and Energy at Microsoft.
In June this year, Microsoft signed a deal with Anew Climate to purchase 970,000 nature-based carbon removal credits as a part of its decarbonisation mission.
