For the second time this year, Microsoft has partnered with a Vancouver-based carbon capture startup.
Microsoft once again turned to Canadian technology to achieve its goals. target become carbon negative by 2030.
Carbon Capture Startup in Vancouver Arch has entered into a 10-year agreement with the tech giant to remove nearly 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air. Arca's CO2 capture solution is based on carbon mineralization, a natural process that turns carbon gas into rock. Arca uses microwave radiation to break down certain minerals found in mining by-products, causing them to bind to CO2.
Arca “has proven that they can sequester carbon through their demonstration project, which gives us confidence in entering into a multi-year agreement.”
Phil Goodman
Microsoft
“This agreement with Microsoft confirms that industrial mineralization is a viable path to robust carbon removal with the potential to scale and make a significant contribution to global climate goals,” Arca CEO Paul Needham said in a statement.
The agreement with Microsoft follows Arca's completion of its first full-scale mineralization demonstration project at an operating mine this year. Phil Goodman, director of Microsoft's carbon removal program, said the purchase agreement diversifies the company's carbon removal portfolio “in a way that combines scalability and persistence.”
CONNECTED: Vancouver-based CO280 signs 12-year carbon removal deal with Microsoft
“Arch has significant scientific expertise and has proven it can sequester carbon through its demonstration project, which gives us confidence in entering into a multi-year agreement,” Goodman said.
Arca said Microsoft's long-term commitment helps as the company seeks to expand its portfolio of mineralization projects “from pilot projects to million-ton operations.”
This isn't the first carbon capture startup Microsoft has approached this year. In April the company entered into a 12-year carbon removal agreement with CO280 to remove nearly 3.7 million tons of CO2 emissions from a US paper mill. Microsoft founder Bill Gates' climate finance platform did the same. provided significant grant funding to Montreal carbon capture startup Deep Sky last December.
Last year Arch received $1.25 million. to support NorthX Climate Tech (formerly the BC Center for Innovation and Clean Energy) in developing a carbon capture solution. The company was also one of three Canadian finalists. competing in the Xprize Carbon Removal competition.
Image courtesy of Arca.
