Microsoft has signed a carbon dioxide removal deal that will see it back a reforestation and restoration project in Latin America to offset emissions from its data centers.
The company has purchased eight million nature-based carbon removal credits in an agreement that will run until 2043. The deal is thought to be the largest of its kind signed to date.
It will receive the credits from the BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group (TIG) through its $1 billion reforestation and restoration strategy in Latin America.
This focuses on the conservation, restoration, and planting of deforested and degraded properties in selected regions in Latin America, including the Cerrado biome in Brazil, one of the most biodiverse seasonally dry ecosystems in the world. Approximately half of the Cerrado has already been converted to other uses, and TIG says the biome continues to face high rates of commodity-driven deforestation.
With the support of nature charity Conservation International, the strategy aims to protect and restore approximately 135,000 hectares (330,000 acres) of natural forests in deforested landscapes. It also seeks to plant millions of trees in sustainably managed commercial tree farms on another 135,000 hectares of previously deforested and degraded land.
TIG claims it has so far invested in 37,000 hectares, and has already planted more than seven million seedlings and initiated restoration of approximately 2,600 hectares of natural forest.
Mark Wishnie, chief sustainability officer of TIG and head of the firm’s reforestation strategy, said: “We are proud to work with industry leaders like Microsoft, who are committed to purchasing high-quality removal credits and retiring them as part of a comprehensive corporate decarbonization strategy.
"Microsoft’s leadership has helped build the high-integrity carbon offset market. They are blazing a trail that other companies can follow.”
Financial terms of the contract have not been disclosed.
“This project exemplifies how reforestation and restoration can deliver carbon removal at scale while supporting local communities and restoring vital ecosystems,” Brian Marrs, senior director for energy and carbon removal at Microsoft, said.
Microsoft is aiming to be carbon-negative by 2030, and supports a range of projects in pursuit of this goal. Last week it revealed it had bought 970,000 nature-based carbon removal credits to support forest management projects in North America delivered by Anew Climate.
It is also signing renewable energy contracts to power its operations, and investing in carbon capture and removal projects as it seeks to remove its historical emissions. However, one company it backed to remove carbon this week closed down.
Other forestry projects backed by the company include an agroforestry project in Kenya, a reforestation project in Panama, and two additional forestry projects in Brazil.
