Microsoft Signs Carbon Removal Deal with Nature-Based Startup Grassroots Carbon
Nature-based soil carbon removal solutions startup Grassroots Carbon announced today an agreement with Microsoft, providing the tech giant with high-quality soil carbon drawdown credits generated from regeneratively managed grasslands and representing additional carbon sequestered over a 30-year period.
Launched in 2021 through the merger of grazing management software company PastureMap and carbon credit aggregator Soil Value Exchange, Texas-based Grassroots Carbon partners with ranchers across the U.S. to reward them for drawing down and storing carbon in grazing lands through the use of regenerative grazing practices, connecting them with companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint through the purchase of carbon credits. Grassroots Carbon arranges soil sampling and measurement to assess carbon storage on ranchers’ land, provides education on land management practices for carbon storage, and verifies, certifies, and finds buyers for the carbon credits.
In addition to carbon removal, improved soil health benefits include enhanced water storage, erosion prevention, and improved grassland ecology, according to Grassroots Carbon.
Brad Tipper, CEO of Grassroots Carbon, said:
“Grassroots Carbon is thrilled Microsoft is including soil credits in their carbon removal strategy. Soil carbon storage is an essential part of the climate solution, and our regenerative ranchers are trusted partners in that solution. Microsoft not only made a choice to reduce atmospheric carbon levels, but to do so with impacts far beyond just carbon.”
The deal marks Microsoft’s first investment in carbon credits generated from regeneratively managed grasslands and an extension of the company’s growing portfolio of carbon removal investments, forming part of the company’s initiative to become carbon negative by 2030 and to remove all of its historical emissions by 2050. Microsoft recently announced large-scale nature-based carbon removal agreements with Chestnut Carbon and Brazilian reforestation-focused startup Mombak, and the company’s carbon removal portfolio spans a range of technologies and approaches, including direct air capture (DAC), ocean-based carbon removal, and biochar-based agreements.
Phil Goodman, Director, Carbon Removal Portfolio at Microsoft, said:
“Supporting high-quality soil carbon credit solutions is part of Microsoft’s carbon removal strategy. This project with Grassroots Carbon utilizes PastureMap, a measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) software that improves grassland management in the US by incentivizing ranchers’ transition to rotational grazing. Microsoft is excited to work with Grassroots Carbon to advance the soil carbon market through MRV innovations and the production of large data sets of soil carbon and ecological data.”
Source : esgtoday.com
