Microsoft has signed a carbon removal credits deal with Danish company Gaia—a joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Vestforbrænding.
As part of the deal, Gaia will provide Microsoft with 2.95 million tons of carbon removal credits delivered from its energy-from-waste (EfW) carbon capture storage (CCS) retrofit at a plant in Nordhavn, Denmark.
This deal marks one more carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits purchase for the tech corporation, which has been actively investing in decarbonization projects, emerging as the leading durable CO2 removal buyer currently present on the market.
While still under development, Gaia is a project that aims to reduce carbon emissions by capturing and storing CO2 from its location and providing excess heating for Vestforbrænding and its expansion into new communities.
The project is positioned at the largest EfW facility in Denmark, where approximately 1 million tons of waste gets processed on an annual basis, with 39% of that volume getting incinerated.
Earlier this year, Gaia was pre-qualified for participation in the Danish Energy Agency’s Carbon Capture and Storage Fund, with the final subsidy winners expected to be announced towards the end of 2025.
Granted it secures the necessary funding and permissions, Gaia is expected to be fully operational in 2026, and it will strive to capture up to 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide every year.
The captured CO2 will be transported to an underground storage site, where it will be permanently put away. A portion of it will count towards Vestforbrænding’s carbon neutrality goals, and the rest will be offered to buyers as carbon credits.
Relevant: Microsoft Purchases Over A Million Tons Of CO2 Credits From Hafslund Celsio
Under the agreement with Microsoft, Gaia will start delivering the first carbon credits from 2029.
The announcement of this deal comes soon after Microsoft shared that it has launched a pilot program of integrating waste heat-powered direct air capture (DAC) systems within its data center infrastructure.
The corporation has also signed a series of CDR agreements, including a deal for 1.1 million tons of carbon removal credits with Hafslund Celsio and an agreement for 3.685 million tons of carbon credits with CO280.
Read more: Microsoft Runs New DAC System Powered With Waste Heat From Its Data Centers
