The newly agreed upon deal will work towards the aim of removing 15,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, whilst simultaneously providing funding for important scientific research. This specific research will be directed towards the enhanced rock weathering (ERW) field.

At the moment, UNDO is busy setting up a range of operational commercial partnerships that they hope will make it possible to spread millions of tonnes of silicate rock every year. Doing this would eventually become the first step towards billion-tonne scale operations.

Altogether, this project marks a large and significant contribution to UNDO’s scientific research around the measurement, reporting and verification of ERW-based carbon dioxide removal. Through support provided by funding, UNDO will begin the setting up of new field trials, as well as monitoring sites. These sites will include one that will be located on a research farm that is owned by Newcastle University.

It was in 2023 that UNDO’s commercial relationship with Microsoft began and this contract involved the removal of 5,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere. The new contract, which was recently established, is a much larger deal and it will involve UNDO spreading 65,000 tonnes of crushed silicate rock combined through the UK and Canada. The end result of this process will be 15,000 tonnes of permanent carbon dioxide removal.

Senior Director of Energy Markets at Microsoft, Brian Marrs, commented, “Microsoft is committed to being carbon-negative by 2030. We are excited to support UNDO’s enhanced rock weathering carbon removal projects with co-benefits for soils, farmers and rural communities. With this follow-on deal, we look forward to working with the UNDO team who will pioneer further deep science across different measurement techniques and at varying scales to deliver crucial ERW process data.”

CEO and Founder of UNDO, Jim Mann, added, “This agreement with Microsoft is a clear signal to the market that enhanced rock weathering has potential to deliver scalable carbon removal, and that UNDO can deliver critical scientific research to instill more confidence in this vital climate tech. We are eager to continue our work advancing the science of enhanced rock weathering by scaling up our research and data-gathering capabilities, which will be greatly facilitated by Microsoft’s continued backing.”