Jack Loughran Fri 31 Jan 2025
Collected at: https://eandt.theiet.org/2025/01/31/microsoft-signs-deal-offset-carbon-emissions-through-mass-tree-planting-us
Microsoft has signed an agreement to offset its carbon emissions through mass tree-planting initiatives.
Chestnut Carbon sells carbon credits based on mass tree-planting projects in the US. The firm plans to plant “hundreds of thousands of acres of new US forestland”, primarily in southern states such as Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana.
The Microsoft agreement will take place in multiple phases over the next 25 years and will result in more than seven million tons of US-based carbon removal credits being generated. Chestnut Carbon estimates it will restore 60,000 acres of land by planting over 35 million native hardwood and softwood trees.
“We’re excited to be expanding our collaboration with Microsoft given their market leadership in net zero commitments, and the signing of a second agreement within the span of a year reaffirms their view that Chestnut is delivering high-quality removal credits,” said Ben Dell, CEO of Chestnut and managing partner of Kimmeridge.
“We’re confident in our belief that nature-based afforestation solutions are the most attractive, scalable and cost-effective means for removing carbon from the atmosphere today. We continue to bring high-quality credits to market for discerning customers and look forward to building on our leading position in the market.”
In 2020, Microsoft pledged to become a carbon-negative company by 2030, a lofty but seemingly achievable goal at the time. That hasn’t gone well. The firm’s emissions have actually grown by 30% since then, largely because of its rapid adoption of AI technology in the years since.
In a bid to get its emissions under control, the firm has been ramping up its carbon removal efforts over the last year, including signing a controversial deal with energy firm Stockholm Exergi to absorb emissions from biomass power plants.
It has also been trying to resurrect the defunct nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island in a bid to power its AI facilities with low-carbon energy.
Brian Marrs, senior director of carbon removal at Microsoft, said: “This agreement with Chestnut Carbon is another positive step towards Microsoft’s goal to become carbon negative by 2030.
“We look forward to the prospect of scaling forest restoration within the United States, attracting sophisticated private capital in the process. We are glad to see the Sustainable Restoration Project diversify the ecological impact of our global carbon removal portfolio.”
In 2023, researchers found that US efforts to ramp up mass tree planting programmes were at risk from a lack of stock and species diversity.
Leave a Reply