Microsoft will pay to restore parts of Brazil’s Amazon and Atlantic forests in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of carbon credits, becoming the latest Big Tech player to bet that nature-based solutions can offset an artificial intelligence-driven surge in greenhouse gas emissions.
The $3.2tn US company told the Financial Times it has signed a deal to buy 3.5mn credits over 25 years from Re.green, a Brazilian start-up which buys up farming and cattle land. It restores the land by planting native tree species, in projects financed through carbon credits and timber sales.
Neither company disclosed a value for the deal, but recent market analysis suggests it could be worth around $200mn. Microsoft’s recent dealmaking has made it one of the biggest buyers of nature-based carbon removals globally.