Microsoft has expanded its collaboration with Anew Climate and Aurora Sustainable Lands, signing a new, 10-year agreement for 4.8 million tons of carbon removal credits to be generated through improved forest management (IFM).
This agreement builds on a 2024 collaboration between Microsoft and the two companies that entailed a purchase of more than 970,000 tons of IFM carbon removal credits.
For Microsoft, this agreement comes in the same week as the corporation announced a purchase of 2.6 million soil carbon removal credits from Agoro Carbon.
The tech giant has positioned itself as the absolute leader in corporate carbon removal investments, striking numerous nature-based contracts as part of its strategy for becoming carbon negative by 2030.
Commenting on the new deal with Aurora and Anew, Brian Marrs, Senior Director, Energy & Carbon Removal at Microsoft, stated, “We believe transparent and high-integrity nature-based carbon removal is important to meeting Microsoft’s Carbon Negative 2030 goal. This agreement with Anew and Aurora reflects our commitment to advancing the integrity and impact of improved forest management.”
Established as a joint venture between Anew and equity investors led by Oak Hill Advisors, AB CarVal, EIG, and GenZero, Aurora generates high-integrity, verifiable carbon credits by investing in industrially harvested forests and applying IFM practices to maximize their natural CO2 removal and storage potential.
So far, the company has acquired more than 1.7 million acres of U.S. forestland, and CEO Jamie Houston explained that by being the landowner and operator, Aurora manages everything from root to credit, ensuring the highest integrity and quality of generated carbon credits, which are then marketed by Anew Climate.
Relevant: Microsoft Commits To 2.6M Tons Of Soil Carbon Removal Credits
Aurora and Anew have stated that the deal with Microsoft will enable the protection of more than 425,000 acres of forestland and provide support for carbon removal projects across New York, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Florida.
To meet Microsoft’s standards for durability and integrity, Anew will utilize extended monitoring and quantification processes powered by its proprietary Epoch Evaluation Platform that tracks locations and validates forest carbon baselines, powered by machine learning, high-resolution satellite imagery, drone data, and ground-based field measurements.
Read more: Microsoft Buys New 60,000 Soil Carbon Credits From Indigo Ag
