Microsoft has signed a marine CO2 removal deal with Ebb Carbon.
The deal, the largest of its kind by the tech giant, will remove 350,000 tons of CO2 over the next 10 years.
The agreement involves an initial commitment to remove 1,333 tons of CO2, with an option to remove the remaining CO2.
Ebb has partnered with Isometric and will utilize their MRV protocol to measure, report, and verify the CO2 amounts removed through their Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) technology.
OAE is a carbon removal approach involving adding alkaline substances to seawater to accelerate the ocean’s natural carbon sink.
Ebb Carbon was founded in 2020 by former Tesla, SolarCity, and Google X executives. In April 2023, it raised $20 million in a Series A funding round to develop and deploy its technology, the largest investment in an ocean-based carbon dioxide removal technology to date.
The $20 million Series A was raised across two rounds, led by Prelude Ventures and Evok Innovations.
The second close was completed at an increased valuation at the end of March. This adds to a previous seed funding round of $3 million, bringing the total raised to $23 million. Other investors in Ebb include Congruent, Grantham, and Incite.
Microsoft has signed several carbon removal deals over recent months, including three in September alone. These deals included agreements with Lithos Carbon, Arbor, and Toroto, which represent a range of different carbon removal technologies.
Microsoft is aiming to be carbon-negative by 2030, and is pursuing this goal by signing renewable energy contracts en masse to power its operations, as well as investing in carbon capture and removal projects that can offset its historical emissions.