Microsoft has struck a deal with California startup Heirloom to remove 315,000 metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere over 10 years by harnessing the natural properties of limestone.
The startup is building one of the first two carbon capture centers in Louisiana and has already received $600 million in funding from the US Department of Energy, reports Business Wire.
The agreement between Microsoft and Heirloom is said to be one of the first banking agreements to remove carbon dioxide. This opens up an important funding mechanism for future facilities.
"Microsoft's agreement with Heirloom is another important step in the development of the high-end carbon removal market and supports our path to achieving negative emissions by 2030. As an investor and customer of Heirloom, we believe that Heirloom's technical approach and plan are designed for rapid iteration to help reduce the cost of large-scale direct air capture at the urgent pace needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement," said Brian Marrs, Microsoft's senior director of energy and carbon emissions.
Business Wire added that by 2050, Microsoft aims to remove all the CO2 that the company has emitted throughout its history.
The article emphasized that the agreement provides additional stable cash flows necessary for financing the project. So is she will contribute to US leadership in the fight against climate change on a global scale. Combined with rapid decarbonization efforts, a suite of technologies that remove atmospheric CO2 is essential to limiting global temperature increases to the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C target.
The material added that Heirloom is the world's leading provider of Direct Air Capture technology and operates the only Direct Air Capture facility in the U.S. that continuously captures carbon. The company's technology uses the natural properties of limestone to capture CO2 pollution from the atmosphere and permanently store it in a variety of ways, including concrete.
We will remind you that $3.7 billion will be allocated in the US to start an American industry for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, $6 billion will be allocated in the US for acceleration of decarbonization projects in energy-intensive industries, in particular in the production of steel, aluminum, cement, chemicals, ceramics and paper.
