Microsoft has agreed to purchase a record 2.85 million soil carbon credits from Indigo Carbon, reinforcing its ambitious goal to become carbon negative by 2030 — meaning it plans to remove more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits. The deal is one of the largest ever in the voluntary carbon removal market and reflects growing corporate momentum to integrate nature-based solutions into climate strategies.
What The Deal Involves
Under the multi-year agreement, Microsoft will buy soil carbon credits tied to regenerative agriculture projects in the United States. These credits are generated through practices such as reduced tilling, cover cropping and managed grazing, which help soil trap carbon and improve ecosystem health. The deal, valued at an estimated $171 million to $228 million based on typical credit pricing, surpasses previous record purchases and signals strong corporate commitment to large-scale carbon removal.
Soil carbon credits differ from traditional offset credits by focusing on enhancing natural carbon sequestration in soils, rather than merely avoiding emissions. They are increasingly seen as a scalable nature-based tool that can support climate goals while offering co-benefits like improved soil health and water retention.
Why This Matters For Microsoft’s Climate Goals
Microsoft has set one of the most aggressive climate commitments among global corporations: to be carbon negative by 2030 and to remove all historical emissions by 2050. While the company has invested in internal emissions reductions and renewable energy, its emissions have continued to rise — partly due to expansion of data centres and artificial intelligence infrastructure. Large purchases like this soil carbon credit agreement are intended to offset those emissions by removing carbon from the atmosphere.
The company’s strategy combines nature-based credits with other carbon removal approaches to create a diversified carbon removal portfolio, and it continues to invest in climate innovation funds and early-stage technologies that may accelerate removal solutions at scale.
Benefits For Farmers And The Carbon Market
A significant portion of revenue generated by these credits goes directly to farmers participating in regenerative agriculture programs. Under typical arrangements, around 75 percent of the payment per credit is funnelled back to the growers who adopt carbon-sequestering practices, creating financial incentives for sustainable land stewardship.
This type of corporate procurement can help build a more robust and demand-driven carbon removal market, encouraging wider adoption of climate-smart agricultural techniques and supporting rural economies.
Critiques And Broader Context
While such large corporate purchases are widely seen as positive steps toward climate goals, critics of voluntary carbon markets caution that the effectiveness, permanence and measurement of credits must be rigorously verified to ensure real climate impact. Nonetheless, Microsoft’s deal marks a significant moment in the corporate climate action landscape, showing how major buyers are embracing large-scale removal commitments.
