Rubicon Carbon has entered into a framework agreement with Microsoft that will see the tech giant purchase up to 18 million carbon credits from the TPG subsidiary.
The pair will agree specific carbon credit transactions on an ad-hoc basis going forward, which will in turn support a pipeline of individual afforestation, reforestation and revegetation projects around the world.
Each deal will be structured as a 15- to 20-year offtake agreement.
TPG established Rubicon Carbon in 2022 and seeded the platform with $300 million from the TPG Rise Climate Fund and the TPG Rise Fund.
The company was established to help unlock large scale decarbonization projects and to source “enterprise-grade solutions for carbon credit purchases.”
Rubicon Carbon CEO Tom Montag said: “This collaboration serves as a blueprint for how the financial sector can meet the urgency of the moment while also generating strong financial returns. We aim to crowd in more capital by leveraging market-based mechanisms to scale societal impact at a planetary scale.”
Brian Marrs, senior director, energy and carbon removal at Microsoft, added: “We believe that project finance needs to be central to the voluntary carbon market, and this deal signals the long-term demand for carbon removal necessary to mobilize infrastructure-grade investment and world-class execution.”
Microsoft has been one of the most active buyers of nature-based carbon credits.
The company joined Google parent company Meta earlier this month to buy forestry-derived carbon credits from EFM, which could yield up to three million tonnes of removals for Microsoft.
BTG’s Reforestation Fund has also benefited from Microsoft’s voracious appetite, as it agreed a 19-year deal for eight million carbon credits in 2024.
The tech giant has also purchased carbon credits from agricultural producers, signing deals with Truterra and Impact Ag Partners in 2021.
