Microsoft Inks 10-Year Forest Carbon Credit Deal

In a groundbreaking step to support its climate pledges, Microsoft has agreed to buy 4.8 million carbon removal credits over a decade from Anew Climate and Aurora Sustainable Lands. The credits will be created by one of the United States' most significant and ambitious nature-based carbon removal projects, covering over 425,000 acres of ecologically diverse forests across five U.S. states. The pact is an important step in Microsoft's path to becoming carbon negative by 2030, affirming the company's commitment to expanding on long-term, science-driven, and transparent ways of removing carbon.

The pact, revealed June 25, 2025, not only centers on scale, but on quality of verification mechanisms to be used during the 10-year period. Operated under the American Carbon Registry's (ACR) newly launched Improved Forest Management (IFM) v2.1 protocol, the project is keeping things high for nature-based climate solution integrity. In contrast to traditional carbon offset projects, the project uses dynamic baseline monitoring, advanced quantification procedures, and strict monitoring protocols. All are key factors in providing high-quality carbon credits that effectively define the worth of the environmental and atmospheric effect of protecting forests.

The forests covered under this initiative are spread across New York, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Florida. These working forests will be maintained by utilizing IFM practices with focus on ecological balance, biodiversity conservation, and long-term carbon sequestration. Anew Climate's Epoch Evaluation Platform will be a key component in the monitoring and verification process. The platform uses sophisticated technologies such as machine learning, satellite imagery, and drone data to cross-check carbon outcomes in real-time and at a hyperlocal scale.

Anew Climate CEO Angela Schwarz referenced the innovative character of the project as a breakthrough moment in scaling up nature-based carbon removals. "This collaboration sets a new benchmark for nature-based carbon removals, combining technical ingenuity with environmental stewardship at scale," she said. Schwarz further emphasized that Microsoft's involvement is critical in driving the market forward, introducing innovations that work well for individual projects but lift the whole carbon credit market's standards.

Jamie Houston, chief executive of Aurora Sustainable Lands, emphasized the unique nature of Aurora in the project. Ownership and operation in most carbon projects are split, but Aurora is operator and owner of the project. "Aurora Sustainable Lands is unique because we own the land and operate the project, root to credit," Houston explained. It is this vertically integrated structure that allows for highest levels of quality control and allows each stage of the project—ranging from forest stewardship to issuing credit—to meet highest standards of transparency and environmental performance.

What sets this initiative apart even more is that it has promised to do more than the bare minimum of standard carbon registries. The initiative entails permanent working forest easements, legally binding contracts for forestland conservation along with permitting sustainable use. Longer-term monitoring obligations, based on sophisticated AI and satellite technologies, will encompass long-term monitoring and accountability. These extra levels of scrutiny and approval are intended to meet Microsoft's high bar for integrity and resiliency in its carbon reduction plan.

In Microsoft's view, this partnership is an indication of a more profound, systemic change towards aligning sustainability throughout the entire organization. Microsoft Senior Director of Energy & Carbon Removal Brian Marrs indicated the agreement aligns with the company's overall climate ambitions. "Carbon removal with a transparent and high-integrity nature-based nature is essential to achieving Microsoft's Carbon Negative 2030 vision," he said. Marrs said the project, in addition to carbon ambitions, also facilitates innovation in verification and carbon removal transparency.

The initial credits under the agreement's terms will start supply from 2025 and represent the start of an expandable, consistent source of nature-based removals that not only can be utilized to balance Microsoft's operation emissions but also supply to wider environmental restoration targets. By this agreement, Microsoft is once more at the forefront of business action on climate change, demonstrating that high tech expectations and big environmental action are not two opposing goals but complementary aspirations.

The deal has important regional benefits for people across the project's five-state area. Apart from its climate worth, preservation and sustainable management of more than 425,000 acres of forestland will create economic opportunity, especially for timber-based towns and cities, and help maintain regional biodiversity. This overlap of environment, economy, and technology advancement renders the Microsoft-Anew-Aurora deal a potential model for other public and private partnerships that are in the process of addressing climate change at scale.