The math behind Microsoft’s carbon removals purchase pause

Microsoft has done far more than any other company to create the market for carbon removals. So why has the tech giant reportedly paused its purchases?

According to an article in Heatmap, Microsoft “has begun telling suppliers and partners that it is pausing future purchases of carbon removal.” Melanie Nakagawa, the company’s chief sustainability officer, subsequently said that Microsoft’s carbon removal program has not ended, but that the pace or volume may be adjusted as “we continue to refine our approach toward sustainability goals.” The company did not clarify whether that change of pace equated to a pause.

If it has paused purchases, one possible explanation is that Microsoft has amassed enough credits to hit and maintain its goal of becoming carbon negative by 2030, at least for a few years past that target date. The math roughly pencils out but depends heavily on how data center emissions impact Microsoft’s carbon accounts over the next…