Dive Brief:

• Microsoft has entered an agreement with Denmark-based biogas producer BioCirc to remove 650,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide over seven years, BioCirc announced Tuesday.
• BioCirc, which calls itself a “circular bioeconomic company,” will utilize carbon capture and storage at some of its biogas plants and deliver 100,000 credits each year beginning in the second half of this year until 2032. This year will include a partial delivery due to the project’s start time, according to the release.
• The deal marks the first major carbon removal deal for Microsoft — which is responsible for the bulk of contracted durable carbon removals to date — since reports last month that it had paused future CDR purchases. At the time, Microsoft’s chief sustainability officer told ESG Dive that its “carbon removal program has not ended.”

Dive Insight:

Microsoft was the top carbon removal purchaser in the first quarter of this year, accounting for 43% of Q1’s purchases, according to a Monday report from carbon dioxide removals registry and data analytics platform CDR.fyi. The tech giant led the market with a 1 million metric ton CDR deal with biochar company Liferaft in March, while 113 other buyers contracted 1.3 million metric tons of removals collectively, according to the report. 

BioCirc’s removal and storage process will capture carbon dioxide from five of its Danish biogas plants, transported in a liquid form and stored 1,500-1,800 meters below the seabed from a storage facility in the Danish part of the North Sea, the company said. Microsoft Director of Carbon Removal Portfolio Phillip Goodman said in the release that the project “offers a permanent and scalable approach to [carbon dioxide] removal while contributing to a broader energy system transformation.”

By allowing BioCirc to scale its platform, the project will offer a complete carbon capture and storage value chain that combines biogas production, renewable energy and carbon capture and storage, according to the release. Microsoft’s carbon credit purchase, along with participation from the Danish Energy Agency, were “prerequisites” for the project to be implemented, BioCirc said.

BioCirc Group CEO Bertel Maigaard said that Microsoft is “helping develop the market for permanent [carbon dioxide] displacement,” in addition to dealing with residual emissions and working on its climate goals, which include becoming “carbon negative” by 2030.

“The agreement is a major milestone for BioCirc and an important confirmation of our approach to delivering permanent [carbon dioxide] displacement," Maigaard said in the release.

Microsoft adds the agreement to its broad carbon removal portfolio and is at least the tech giant’s second deal for removals from bioenergy and carbon capture and storage this year. Shortly before the company’s reported carbon removal purchasing pause, Microsoft announced a deal for 626,000 metric tons of BECCS removals from what is believed to be Canada’s first majority Indigenous-owned carbon removal project.

CDR.fyi previously found that Microsoft is responsible for 87% of carbon removal purchases in 2025 and 78.5% of all disclosed contracted durable carbon removals as of April 13.