Microsoft Signs Forest Restoration Deal to Remove 3.5 Million Tons of CO2

Microsoft and nature-based climate solutions startup re.green announced a new agreement, the second between the companies, expanding their collaboration to restore forests in Brazil to cover an area three times the size of the city of Paris, with Microsoft purchasing carbon removal offtakes from the projects totaling 6.5 million tons.

Microsoft and re.green signed their initial agreement in May 2024 to restore areas in the Amazon and Atlantic Forests covering 15,500 hectares, and for the purchase of 3 million tons of carbon removal credits over a 15-year period. The new agreement adds 17,500 hectares to the partnership and nearly 3.5 million tonnes of carbon removals.

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Thiago Picolo, CEO of re.green, said:

“Signing this second offtake agreement with Microsoft reflects our shared commitment to high-integrity nature-based solutions, with tangible results to date. Restoring these biomes, home to the planet’s richest biodiversity, represents one of the greatest opportunities for large-scale decarbonization. We are thrilled to conclude another agreement with Microsoft, enhancing our impact and reaching new areas.”

Based in Rio de Janeiro, re.green aims to restore one million hectares of degraded land in the Amazon and Atlantic forests in Brazil, with a goal to capture 15 million tons of carbon per year, in addition to conserving biodiversity, sustainably managing forest products, and supporting the empowerment of local communities. The company’s forest restoration process includes selecting degraded lands through internally developed spatial analysis technology, using restoration models based on native and regional species, engaging and training local communities to support the restoration and protection of forests while generating income and preserving the projects, and actively monitoring forest restoration and recovery, enabling the company to market high-quality carbon credits and forest solutions.

According to the companies, the first agreement initiated last year has already resulted in the planting of more than 4.4 million seedlings spanning 80 native species across 11,000 hectares of degraded or abandoned pasturelands.

The new announcement expands the focus of the collaboration to three regions, including the eastern edge of the Amazon Forest Biome, Southern Bahia, at the heart of the central biodiversity corridor of the Atlantic Forest, and Vale do Paraíba, also in the Atlantic Forest, covering its southeast biodiversity corridor.

In addition to the carbon removal attributes, the companies highlighted other benefits from the projects, including the reestablishment of the diversity, structure, and function of natural forest ecosystems, increasing habitat for endemic, rare, and threatened species and fostering local development, as well as social benefits for local communities, with hundreds of people employed in restoration efforts and other related activities.

The agreements form part of a rapidly growing series of carbon removal deals by Microsoft, forming part of the tech giant’s initiative to become carbon negative by 2030, including several large-scale nature-based carbon removal agreements, with several focused on forest restoration, in addition to technologies including ocean-based carbon removal, and biochar-based projects, and direct air capture (DAC) agreements.

Brian Marrs, Senior Director of Carbon Removal and Energy at Microsoft, said:

“Microsoft is pleased to expand its collaboration with re.green to continue advancing native-species-led restoration in Brazil. Meeting our 2030 carbon negative target will require tapping into a diverse array of carbon removal pathways, and we are keen to support those nature-based solutions which go beyond sequestering CO2 to simultaneously improve social and ecological outcomes.”

About re.green

re.green is a nature-based climate solutions company focused on restoring degraded ecosystems at scale in Brazil. Its mission includes biodiversity conservation, sustainable management of forest products, and empowering local communities while producing high-quality carbon credits.

About Microsoft

Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, with a commitment to sustainability and a focus on achieving carbon-negative operations by 2030.