Microsoft announced a deal on Thursday to purchase 4.9 million metric tons of organic waste and pump it 5,000 feet underground as part of its sustainability drive. The organic waste consists of human feces, paper, pulp byproducts, agricultural residues and more. For each ton of carbon sequestered, Microsoft will receive a carbon removal credit minus all emissions associated with generating that credit. The tech giant’s deal with Vaulted Deep starts in 2026 and will last 12 years. “It’s sludgy, often contaminated organic waste that today causes problems above ground, and instead we take the waste and put it really deep underground for permanent carbon removal,” Julia Reichelstein, co-founder and chief executive of Vaulted Deep, told The Wall Street Journal. Microsoft’s large carbon footprint stems in part from its use of and work with artificial intelligence, which relies on large, energy-intensive data centers. Microsoft said in 2020 that it aims to be carbon negative by 2030 and account for all of its historical carbon emissions by 2050.
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