Microsoft steps up plans to capture carbon from burning wood

Microsoft is doubling down on a controversial plan to capture carbon dioxide emissions from wood-fired power plants. Announced a contract with energy company Stockholm Exergi to capture 3.33 million metric tons of carbon emissions from a biomass power plant in the Swedish capital, in what is potentially the biggest deal of its kind to date – equivalent to take more than 790,000 gasoline-powered cars off the road in one year.

It’s supposed to help Microsoft meet its goal to capture more planet-warming carbon dioxide than it produces as a company by 2030 and then remove as much CO2 from the atmosphere as it has emitted since its founding by 2050.

But it remains to be seen whether wood-fired power plants actually help combat climate change or make things worse. Prominent environmental groups including the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth International criticized the strategy as a “false solution”. And in 2018, nearly 800 scientists signed a Letter to the European Parliament asking it to stop supporting the use of wood for bioenergy.

Exergi performs a electric power plant in Stockholm, which runs on wood pellets and waste forest residues, also known as forest biomass. Because this fuel comes from trees that can theoretically regrow to capture as much carbon dioxide as the plant releases from burning wood, proponents see it as a carbon-neutral energy source. The European Commission actually considers biomass burning its largest source of renewable energyalthough it is linked to deforestation throughout Europe and the US.

Microsoft and Stockholm Exergi are taking that idea a step further by adding machinery to the power plant that should capture most of its carbon dioxide emissions before it can escape into the atmosphere. By doing so, they believe they can achieve negative emissions – removing more CO2 from the atmosphere than this energy source produces. Negative emissions technologies like this have become popular among companies trying to offset the environmental impact of their carbon pollution.

Microsoft declined to respond to On the edgerequest for comment. He also did not clarify how much he would spend on the Stockholm Exergi deal. But Microsoft has heard these concerns before. It signed another deal last year with Danish energy company Ørsted to capture 2.76 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from a wood-fired power station in Denmark.

In Stockholm, construction of carbon capture equipment at the power station is only expected to begin next year – if Stockholm Exergi can secure sufficient additional funding from other agreements and government aid. So, it would take 10 years to remove all 3.33 million metric tons of carbon dioxide agreed in the contract.

Stockholm Exergi sees this deal as a big seal of approval for its carbon capture technology. “It is the strongest possible recognition of the importance, quality and sustainability of our project,” Stockholm Exergi CEO Anders Egelrud said in a statement. Press release.