Waste management company Vaulted Deep has signed an agreement with Microsoft under which it will deliver up to 4.9 million tons of durable carbon dioxide removal over 12 years through its waste management infrastructure. Neither party disclosed the financial terms of the deal, which will last till 2038.
This comes amid Microsoft’s rising carbon emissions in its efforts to build data centers. This has undermined the tech giant’s pledge to remove more carbon from the atmosphere than it generates by 2030. The deal with Vaulted Deep, which involved buying massive amounts of carbon-removal credits, is likely an attempt to remedy the situation.
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Vaulted Deep collects solid waste like treated sewage, excess manure, or paper sludge that would otherwise be headed for a landfill or incinerator, blends it into a slurry, and injects it into porous rocks deep underground. The wells are drilled and pores opened using technology developed for fracking oil and gas. The company has removed over 18,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide so far. It has been a runner-up in the Xprize Carbon competition, and it raised a $32 million Series A in November that was led by Prelude Ventures.
“As carbon removal moves beyond pilots and prototypes, there is growing demand for solutions that can scale safely and address real-world problems,” said Julia Reichelstein, co-founder and CEO of Vaulted Deep. “Vaulted offers a dual solution: it meets urgent waste management needs and drives measurable climate and public health improvements. This agreement reflects a broader shift in how carbon removal is being deployed. It is no longer limited to emerging technologies but is increasingly delivered through large-scale existing infrastructure with novel applications.”
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Brian Marrs, senior director of energy and carbon removal at Microsoft said that Vaulted Deep “provides a differentiated, scalable approach to permanent carbon removal with low technology risk.” “Its work delivers immediate climate benefits while stimulating local economies and addresses long-standing environmental challenges that communities face every day. We support this solution as part of our broader effort to accelerate durable, high-integrity carbon removal,” he added.
Microsoft stated that last year it generated 14.9 million metric tons’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions, more than double what it hopes to be producing in 2030, when it plans on reaching negative carbon emissions. The company has been ramping up its investments in carbon removal to achieve this goal. Among these investments are a seven million metric ton deal with Chestnut Carbon to reforest 60,000 acres in the Southeastern U.S. and another for 3.7 million metric tons with CO280 to capture carbon from paper mill operations along the Gulf Coast.