In this direction, Microsoft is today announcing two new agreements with Undo and Eion, leaders in carbon removal technologies, to accelerate carbon capture efforts across the UK, Canada, and the U.S. The deals span more than 23,000 tonnes of carbon removal and will leverage enhanced rock weathering (ERW) to boost carbon capture efforts across the UK, Canada, and the U.S. These agreements further demonstrate Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to advanced carbon removal strategies as part of its overall sustainability objectives.
In addition to this, Frontier Climate, a consortium backed by a technology giant, also made an announcement about a ground-breaking agreement in river de-acidification with CarbonRun to remove more than 55,000 tonnes of CO2 through river liming.
Microsoft Enters Second Agreement with Undo
Microsoft agreed to a new deal with UK-based carbon removal startup Undo to trap 15,000 tonnes of CO2 using ERW. This deal is premised on another deal of 2022, when Microsoft promised to abate 5,000 tonnes of CO2 using the same technology. ERW accelerates natural process of silicate rock weathering by applying crushed rocks to arable lands that absorb CO2 dissolved in rainwater, transforming it into a bicarbonate ion that eventually gets sequestered into the ocean.
According to Jim Mann, Undo’s CEO and founder, the new deal reflects Microsoft’s confidence in ERW technology and its scalability, he said: “This agreement with Microsoft is a clear signal to the market that enhanced rock weathering has the potential to deliver scalable carbon removal.”.
Under the deal, Undo will be applying 65,000 tonnes of crushed rock on agricultural soils in the UK and Canada, 40,000 tonnes of basalt in the UK and 25,000 tonnes of wollastonite in Canada. Field trials and research by Undo will be conducted in collaboration with the universities like Newcastle University in the UK and the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. These partnerships are aimed at generating crucial ERW process data in a bid to further refine and optimize the technology.
Microsoft’s senior director of energy markets Brian Marrs expressed his optimism about the deal: “We look forward to working with the Undo team to pioneer further deep science and deliver crucial ERW process data.”
Eion Carbon Removal Deal with Microsoft
Another parallel agreement saw Microsoft commit to a deal with another U.S.-based start-up, Eion, focusing on the removal of carbon via enhanced rock weathering technology, much like that being applied by Climeworks. Under an agreement with Eion, 8,000 tonnes of CO2 are committed to being captured over the course of the next five years through the deployment of crushed olivine rock onto farmlands in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
Like Undo, Eion’s technology injects CO2 into pulverised aggregates, releasing essential minerals into the soil when the CO2 is released over time, improving the quality of the soil while capturing carbon. Eion Chief Executive Anastasia Pavlovic described the partnership as follows: “We’re thrilled to collaborate with Microsoft to further showcase the real strength of the category and build upon the strong, fast-growing reputation of ERW.”
Both Undo and Eion represent Microsoft’s promise to harness nature-based solutions in combination with cutting-edge tech to reverse climate change. The carbon release reduction project is one step toward the realization of Microsoft’s more general aim to go carbon negative by 2030 and its commitment to long-term environmental sustainability.
With CarbonRun, Frontier Climate’s River Liming Initiative
Frontier Climate, a consortium that includes Alphabet, Meta, and Salesforce, also announced another climate action in which it agreed to a $25 million offtake deal with CarbonRun to remove 55,442 tonnes of CO2 by river liming. The new process, which in itself involves introducing crushed limestone into acidified rivers that neutralize the bad effects of acid rain, also removes CO2 as the limestone reacts with the water.
These experiments will start with the liming of the first river in Nova Scotia, Canada, since further researches are to be conducted to assess the feasibility of this approach on other types of rivers. CarbonRun co-founder and CEO, Luke Connell, said that this offers a number of advantages: “In addition to removing hundreds of tons of CO₂ from the air, this offtake will give us the chance to study the potential of river liming in other types of rivers.”.
Alongside this, a offtake agreement, Stripe has allocated $1 million in additional research and development to CarbonRun. This will focus on the study of the environmental impacts that occur within neutral pH rivers so that the firm can exploit it and learn new approaches toward its optimization for further impacts on climate.
Conclusion: Microsoft and Partners Accelerate Carbon Removal Technologies
The collaborations with Undo and Eion by Microsoft and Frontier Climate with CarbonRun mark a step forward in efforts to address climate through novel and scalable carbon removal methods. These companies break climate innovation barriers, provide new avenues for lowering global levels of CO2, and support ecosystem health, by investing in advanced rock weathering and river liming.
It comprises collaborations with Undo and Eion which sequester more than 23,000 tonnes of CO2, apart from Frontier Climate which recently inked a 55,000-tonne deal with CarbonRun. Such efforts are increasingly crucial in climate change mitigation efforts as they harmonize nature-based solutions with the technological ones. As these efforts expand, it results in providing significant data and insights for further building on these efforts toward supports toward carbon-reduction goals and attainment toward sustainable futures.