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Microsoft inks the largest carbon removal deal ever
Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., campus. (GeekWire Photo)
The deal is with 1PointFive, which is building a direct air capture (DAC) facility at its Stratos plant in Texas. The site is to begin operations next year, according to Bloomberg. 1PointFive announced the deal Tuesday.
Microsoft set a goal of becoming carbon negative by 2030, but its emissions keep rising, driven by the growing use of artificial intelligence and tools such as ChatGPT. AI requires energy-intensive computing and the construction of data centers, increasing the Redmond, Wash.-based company’s carbon impacts.
DAC is a strategy for removing carbon from the atmosphere by drawing it out of the air and storing or using it. The CO2 captured in the deal with Microsoft will be stored underground.
Microsoft made its first long-term carbon removal purchase in 2022 when it signed a deal with Climeworks to remove 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
In September, Amazon agreed to buy agreed 250,000 metric tons of CO2 removal credits from 1PointFive.
