Microsoft and Swedish energy company Stockholm Exergi announced today a significant expansion of their agreement to permanently remove carbon through a planned bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) project, growing the deal to more than 5 million tonnes over ten years, from the previously announced 3.33 million tonnes.
According to Stockholm Exergi, at 500,000 tonnes per year, the new agreement marks the largest to date globally for permanent carbon removals. The companies announced their initial deal in May 2024, marking the largest-ever engineered carbon removal agreement in the world at the time.
Stockholm Exergi is planning to build a bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) facility at its bio-cogeneration plant at Värtan, Stockholm, capable of capturing and permanently storing 800,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
The facility aims to bring together the bioenergy-based combined heat and power plant fueled by residues from forestry, sawmill and pulp and paper production, with a carbon capture and storage process that captures CO2 in the plant’s flue gases, and cools and compresses it into liquid form, for transport and permanent storage in sedimentary bedrock below the North Sea floor, where the liquid CO2 mineralizes over time.
In March, Stockholm Exergi announced an investment decision to proceed with the facility, with a planned investment of approximately $1.4 billion, and a goal to have the facility operational in 2028.
Anders Egelrud, CEO of Stockholm Exergi, said:
“The extension of our existing agreement with Microsoft is a huge vote of confidence in our BECCS project and Stockholm Exergi’s ability to deliver sustainable permanent removals. It is also a strong validation that climate frontrunners on the voluntary carbon market continue to stay focused on mitigating climate change and contribute to getting the removals industry off the ground.”
The agreement marks the latest in a series of large-scale carbon removal purchases by Microsoft, including 2 BECCS-focused deals in April totaling more than 10 million metric tons. According to carbon dioxide removals (CDRs) platform CDR.fyi, the deal extends Microsoft’s lead as the largest global CDR purchaser at 20.5 million tons, well ahead of the Frontier buyers group in second place at 1.25 million tons, and established Stockholm Exergi as the largest BECCS supplier to date.
Brian Marrs, Senior Director, Energy & Carbon Removal at Microsoft, said:
“Stockholm Exergi is executing against a bold vision to deploy new carbon removal technologies towards climate action. We are pleased to announce this expanded offtake, which in turn reflects our progress to meeting ambitious 2030 Carbon Negative goals.”
