Why Microsoft’s Carbon Removal Pullback Is Such a Big Deal

For the past few years, Microsoft has basically carried the carbon removal industry on its shoulders. The software company has purchased 72 million tons of carbon removal, more than 40 times what any other organization has financed, according to third-party sources.

Now it’s pulling back. As we reported last week, Microsoft has told suppliers and partners that it’s pausing new purchases. Though the company says that its program “has not ended,” even a temporary pullback will have significant implications for the nascent carbon removal industry. What happens next for these companies? And is a bloodbath on the way? On this week’s episode of Shift Key, Rob speaks to Jack Andreasen Cavanaugh from Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy about Microsoft’s singular importance and what could come next.

Shift Key is hosted by Robinson Meyer, the founding executive editor of Heatmap News.

You can find a full transcript of the episode here.

Mentioned:

Our initial Friday story: Microsoft Is Pausing Carbon Removal Purchases

Jack’s take: The Private Sector Built the Market, Time for Us to Scale It

Heatmap’s Emily Pontecorvo on Ctrl-S, the startup trying to save CDR intellectual property

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This episode of Shift Key is sponsored by ...

Lunar Energy is building the technology to turn homes into active participants in the power system. Learn more about Lunar’s vision of the future at lunarenergy.com.

Music for Shift Key is by Adam Kromelow.

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