Microsoft extends CDR deal with Stockholm Exergi
In Sweden, municipal energy major Stockholm Exergi AB has announced that it has signed a contract with big tech major Microsoft extending the existing ten-year agreement of 3.33 million tonnes of permanent carbon dioxide removal to 5.08 million tonnes via bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) at Stockholm Exergi's Värtaverket combined heat and power plant in Värtan, Stockholm.
At 500,000 tonnes annually, the extended contract represents the world’s largest agreement for permanent carbon dioxide removals (CDR) on an annual basis.
The extension of our existing agreement with Microsoft is a huge vote of confidence in our BECCS project and Stockholm Exergi’s ability to deliver sustainable permanent removals. It is also a strong validation that climate frontrunners on the voluntary carbon market continue to stay focused on mitigating climate change and contribute to getting the removals industry off the ground, commented Anders Egelrud, CEO of Stockholm Exergi.
As confirmed in the agreement with Microsoft, Stockholm Exergi will deliver carbon removal certificates following strict quality requirements.
This includes criteria for sustainable sourcing of forest biomass developed together with Microsoft, conservative quantification of net removals, and comprehensive monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV).
In line with the policy of the Swedish government, the carbon removals exchanged in this agreement will be used by Microsoft to negate its own emissions and will be transparently reported as fitting under Sweden’s climate targets, similarly to how corporate emission reductions contribute to national climate targets.
The significance of the agreement and the build-out of the industry is underlined by recent developments where both the voluntary market and nations have started in earnest to embrace the need to deploy permanent removals to reach interim and net-zero targets.
This need for removals is currently being translated into action both within voluntary standards as well as in the upcoming EU 2040 climate target.
Stockholm Exergi is executing against a bold vision to deploy new carbon removal technologies towards climate action. We are pleased to announce this expanded offtake, which in turn reflects our progress to meeting ambitious 2030 Carbon Negative goals, said Brian Marrs, Senior Director, Energy & Carbon Removal at Microsoft.
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