Why Microsoft’s Carbon Removal Pullback Is Such a Big Deal

About this episode

The episode discusses Microsoft's significant role in the carbon removal industry and the implications of its recent pullback on new purchases.

For the past few years, Microsoft has basically carried the carbon removal industry on its shoulders. The software company has purchased 72 million tons of carbon removal, more than 40 times what any other organization has financed, according to third-party sources. Now it’s pulling back. As we reported last week, Microsoft has told suppliers and partners that it’s pausing new purchases. Though the company says that its program “has not ended,” even a temporary pullback will have significant implications for the nascent carbon removal industry. What happens next for these companies? And is a bloodbath on the way? On this week’s episode of Shift Key, Rob speaks to  Jack Andreasen Cavanaugh  from Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy about Microsoft’s singular importance and what could come next. Shift Key is hosted by Robinson Meyer, the founding executive editor of Heatmap News. You can find a full transcript of the episode here . Mentioned: Our initial Friday story:  Microsoft Is Pausing Carbon Removal Purchases Jack’s take:  The Private Sector Built the Market, Time for Us to Scale It Heatmap’s Emily Pontecorvo on  Ctrl-S, the startup…

People in this episode

Host: Robinson Meyer

Guest: Jack Andreasen Cavanaugh

Topics covered

• carbon removal
• Microsoft
• environmental policy
• sustainability
• business impact
• energy policy

Keywords

• carbon removal
• Microsoft
• sustainability
• energy policy
• environment
• business impact

Sponsors

Lunar Energy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Microsoft, Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, Heatmap News

Books & works: Shift Key

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