Like all its peers in the tech industry, Microsoft has a carbon pollution problem.
The software giant’s broadcasts are on the risedespite the company’s commitment to be negative carbon by 2030. This ticking clock explains Microsoft’s latest deal to address its environmental cost: It’s becoming running tide to offset some of their emissions across the ocean.
running tidewhich also works with Stripe and Shopify, aims to use this money to lock up massive amounts of carbon dioxide. Running Tide has said it will do this through efforts like growing large amounts of seaweed on biodegradable buoys, with the intention that the seaweed will eventually sink to the ocean floor. startup has a white paper on his work, but if you’re looking for a bit more detail, here’s what head of business development Jordan Breighner told TechCrunch today:
“We combine wood and alkaline minerals to form a small carbon buoy that we can seed with algae seeds and deploy deep into the open ocean,” Breighner said. “The buoy floats, the alkaline minerals dissolve, which reduces ocean acidification and removes carbon through a process called ocean alkalinity enhancement. The algae grow rapidly, absorbing CO2. After less than three months, the buoy, algae and rapidly incorporated carbon sink to the ocean floor, and if it sinks below 1,000 meters, the carbon disappears for about 1,000 years.”
“However, not all buoys are seeded,” Breighner added. “That’s based on ocean conditions that are optimal for algae growth.”
In general, the carbon removal business is still in the early stages of its development. It has not yet shown that it can sustainably extract carbon at the scale it eventually aspires to achieve. Some scientists are also concerned that fully fledged, corporate-backed sequestration schemes, such as giant kelp farms, could unintentionally harm ocean ecosystems. MIT Technology Review reported last year.
So far, Breighner said Running Tide “has only removed less than 1,000 tons of carbon in test and research implementations.” The startup intends to withdraw up to 12,000 tons in 2 years for Microsoft alone.
The deal is in the single-digit millions, the Running Tide said. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on the price.
Microsoft’s most recent sustainability report showed a 21.5% increase in emissions from 2020 to 2021. The software giant attributed This to scope 3 emissions, which he said were related to data center development and more customers using his products more frequently. In other words, Microsoft grew its cloud and gaming businesses, and its total emissions grew along with it. The company claims to be carbon negative in the next seven years or so, and his plan to get there depends on carbon removal.
