Microsoft chooses the huge carbon removal deal in which the paper factory works

Microsoft announced on Friday that it buys 3.7 million metric tons of Carbon removal credits from Co280A project developer that works with pulp and paper mills.

The purchase covers 12 years of emissions from the first carbon capture project in CO280 in a mill on the Gulf coast. CO280 is expected to start capturing a company₂ In 2028.

The purchase of Microsoft should help in achieving its goal of becoming a carbon negative company by 2030-that is, the removal of carbon more than its business produces. But even with Microsoft’s envy, it is a long arrangement: the company has been created 17.1 million metric tons From greenhouse gases in 2023.

To reduce this number, Microsoft has been purchased Large quantities of renewable energy And to deal with what could not replace renewable energy sources, the deals have been inhabited Remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphereHelping to compensate for what cannot be eliminated.

The Microsoft project is the first among the dozens of CO280 in business, and the founder and executive director Jonathan Ron exclusively told Techcrunch. Ron, who used to sell power stations to the core and paper industry, said that adding carbon capture to this process seemed to be a natural seizure.

“It seemed as if it was irrational, everyone missed,” he said. The pulp and paper industry is emerging 88 million metric tons of biomedic carbon dioxide annually.

To build a carbon capture facility, CO280 works with SLB Capturi, a joint venture between SLB (previously known as Schloberger) and Aker Carbon Capture. The capture technology depends on the user widely Amin’s operationAnd it will be attached to a large mill boiler, which helps to recycle various chemicals for reuse. The boiler also releases a lot of carbon that was imprisoned in the wood itself.

Usually, the granulated carbon will be thrown into the atmosphere. But by drawing a company₂ From this step of this process, the paper mill will effectively remove carbon from the atmosphere by optical representation. “The trees do all the heavy lifting by picking up a company₂ From the air, Ron said.

Once it is taken, carbon dioxide will be sent 40 miles via the pipeline to the salty groundwater layer that is used for CO₂ storage. In all, this first stage of the project will get about 40 % of the vital carbon dioxide issued by the mill and 30 % of the total carbon dioxide₂Including fossil fuels used to operate the process. CO280 plans for the second stage that must double these numbers.

Ron said that carbon capture units will be built as joint projects with paper factories. In contrast, the mills will receive part of carbon credit revenues, which helps to enhance the end result. CO280 sells its credits of about $ 200 per metric ton, and buyers can claim tax credits under the inflation reduction law, which leads to a decrease in cost.

CO280 was previously sold carbon removal credits to Frontier, the advanced commitment in the market created by Stripe, Google, Shopify, Meta and others.