Microsoft has signed a multi-year agreement with Bengaluru-based climate-tech startup Alt Carbon to remove up to 36,920 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide, marking the technology giant's first purchase of carbon-removal credits in Asia generated through Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW). Under the agreement, Microsoft will receive verified Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) credits from Alt Carbon's Darjeeling Revival Project, an initiative focused on reviving Darjeeling's tea estates and surrounding agricultural ecosystems while removing carbon dioxide at scale. The deal underscores growing corporate interest in engineered carbon-removal technologies at a time when demand for high-quality carbon credits is rising faster than verified supply. Alt Carbon, the deep tech startup building Planetary Intelligence said it has onboarded more than 80,000 acres of agricultural land, working with over 35,000 farmers across more than 60 Gram Panchayats in West Bengal. The company has also created over 250 jobs across field operations, logistics and laboratory monitoring. The startup generates carbon credits through Enhanced Rock Weathering, a process that involves spreading waste basalt rock on agricultural land. The basalt reacts with carbon dioxide dissolved in rainwater and converts it into stable bicarbonate ions that eventually reach the oceans, where the carbon can remain locked away for centuries. Alt Carbon has issued 9,566 carbon credits to date through carbon registry Isometric, a notable milestone in a market where project development has often outpaced verified credit issuance. "Alt Carbon is dedicated to undertaking frontier research to map out our planet. Our deal with Microsoft is built upon years of work building high-integrity carbon removal infrastructure in India," said Shrey Agarwal, CEO and Co-founder of Alt Carbon. "From laboratory capabilities to field operations and farmer networks, we have focused on advancing the science of rock weathering globally. Over the past few years, we have measured and indexed thousands of soil and water samples across land parcels covering an area roughly twice the size of Manhattan. Climate Change remains one of the most significant civilizational challenges we face and India can be a global leader in tech-based carbon removal," he added. To support scaling, Alt Carbon has established laboratory infrastructure in Bengaluru and Darjeeling. Its Bengaluru-based Shonku Labs conducts research and development, while the Darjeeling Climate Action Lab processes environmental samples collected from project sites. The company said it has analysed more than 20,000 samples so far and plans to expand annual processing capacity to 100,000 samples by 2026. The infrastructure is aimed at improving measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), a critical requirement for ensuring the credibility of carbon-removal projects. As part of the agreement, Alt Carbon will continue field trials, conduct deep-soil and porewater monitoring, collect crop uptake measurements and share data publicly to advance scientific understanding of Enhanced Rock Weathering in tropical agricultural systems. The Microsoft agreement also includes an option to purchase additional volumes in the future, subject to successful delivery and verification milestones. Sparsh Agarwal, President and Co-founder of Alt Carbon, said the deal reflects a broader shift taking place in the carbon-removal industry. "ERW is emerging as a scalable and rigorous pathway for Carbon Removal technologies globally. This is a scientific breakthrough that could have the capacity to scale across the Global South, with a potential to remove up to 2 gigatons of CO2 annually," he said. "The numbers tell a clear story about the market: Global South suppliers now account for 26% of CDR issuances, up from under 2% in 2022. This transformation is driven by the combination of favourable geologies, lower costs, and a new generation of science-first developers." "The efficiency gap is equally striking: for every dollar of funding, Global South suppliers have produced 15 times as many engineered carbon removal credits as their counterparts in the Global North. Alt Carbon sits at the centre of this shift - bringing together cutting-edge science, operations that move with velocity, and the lab infrastructure needed to meet the standards that buyers like Microsoft demand," he added. Microsoft said the agreement was driven by Alt Carbon's focus on scientific measurement and verification. "Our contract with Alt Carbon for high-quality carbon removal uses field deployments to collect primary and secondary quantification methods for carbon quantification, while using a high standard to safeguard against environmental impacts," said Phil Goodman, Program Director, Carbon Removal, Microsoft. "We are encouraged by Alt's efforts to build durable carbon removal capacity in India given their past success in delivering carbon credits," Goodman added. As demand for verified ERW grows, Alt Carbon is launching Alt Explorers, a bespoke executive education and immersion program designed to shorten the path from Net Zero planning to multi-year procurements, offering direct access to Alt Carbon's field operations, laboratory infrastructure, and MRV methodology. This invite-only program is designed for senior decision-makers across sustainability, marketing, and finance. This year, Alt Carbon also launched its Bengal Renaissance Project (BRP), an industrial biochar program that is building a network of biomass banks, and pyrolysis and gasification plants across Eastern India, with a mission to weave hope back into the lands of India. Backed by investors including Lachy Groom, Shastra VC, iSeed Ventures, Pixxel founder Awais Ahmed and Lossfunk founder Paras Chopra, Alt Carbon aims to remove 5 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030.

Source: CNBC TV18

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