Rubicon Carbon has announced that it will supply Microsoft with two million nature-based carbon removal credits generated from a Ugandan afforestation and reforestation project.

The deal is the first to move forward under a broader framework agreement that the companies signed in May, in which Microsoft committed to purchase a total of 18 million tons of removal credits.

The credits, expected to be delivered over a nine-year period, will be generated by Kijani Forestry’s Smallholder Farmer Forestry Project in Northern Uganda, one of the first projects approved under Uganda’s Climate Change Mechanisms Regulations.

Kijani Forestry works with more than 50,000 smallholder farmers to establish woodlots on degraded land in Northern Uganda. To date, the project has planted approximately 30 million trees and is designed to generate carbon credits alongside longer-term revenue from sustainably managed timber and charcoal.

“This project demonstrates how structured finance can unlock scale in nature-based removals,” said Tom Montag, CEO of Rubicon Carbon. “By providing long-term capital to Kijani Forestry’s project, we’re helping deliver climate impact while expanding economic opportunities for the communities pivotal to building and preserving these ecosystems.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Rubicon will provide long-term financing to support the project’s development and credit delivery, in an attempt to reduce contracting complexity for large buyers. In addition, the offtake agreement allows participating farmers to receive income from future carbon revenues shortly after trees are planted.

Rubicon was founded in 2022 and is headquartered in California. It has received financial backing from climate investment firm TPG Rise Climate. In addition to ARR projects, the company also supports a range of other carbon removal technologies. These include super pollution elimination, biochar, and biomass with carbon removal and storage.

Microsoft is by far the biggest corporate purchaser of carbon removal credits. In 2025, it expanded its portfolio significantly, inking deals across ranging technologies and approaches.

Recent deals include a 300,000-ton removal deal with Arca, an industrial mineralization company, over a ten-year period. In the same month, it signed a deal with enhanced rock weathering firm Undo for 28,900 tons of carbon removal credits. It has also signed deals to purchase 2.95 million tons of removal credits from a CCS project in Denmark, a 2.6 million credit deal with sustainable farming group Agoro Carbon Alliance, and a 44,000 credit deal with biochar firm Carba.