Microsoft will purchase more than 3.685 million tonnes of carbon dioxide removal credits over the next 12 years under a historic takeoff agreement signed with CO280 on Friday – a start-up that has cracked a way to store emissions from the United States’ vast network of pulp and paper mills.
Backed by NPG Energy Capital, the Grantham Foundation, the Business Development Bank of Canada, and Toyota Ventures, CO280 will work with an undisclosed Gulf Coast pulp and paper mill owned to produce 400,000 tonnes of removals by 2029.
Speaking about the deal, Jonathan Rhone, C0280’s CEO and co-founder, said the “trees do the heavy lifting; they absorb the CO2,” revealing that when trees are turned into pulp and paper, waste will be burned in huge “recovery boilers” that will be fitted with CO2 capture.
“That’s why the CO2 is biogenic. So basically, we’re leveraging off of that entire existing value chain,” Rhone said, adding the start-up is using private financing for “a dozen-plus projects” in development with paper and pulp mills across the United States.
Wood Central understands that CO280 will scale permanent CDR by fully retrofitting pulp and paper mills to capture biogenic C02 from boiler stack emissions for permanent geological storage. CO280 partner SLB Capturi will supply the capture technology for the projects.
“Microsoft is pleased to announce this deal with the team at CO280, which has proven how to combine innovative engineering with strong commercial development towards creating affordable and scalable carbon removal solutions,” said Brian Marrs, Senior Director of Energy & Carbon Removal at Microsoft. “The CO280 strategy of adding carbon removal to existing paper mills is an efficient way to quickly scale carbon removal and bolster investment and jobs into timberland communities across the United States.”
- Click here for Wood Central’s special feature to learn more about Microsoft’s commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2030 and plans to totally remove all carbon emissions produced since 1975 by 2050. To learn more about Microsoft’s next generation of data centres – which are being built out of mass timber, click here.
