Microsoft's new carbon removal deal will accelerate enhanced rock weathering science in Kingston area

Tech giant Microsoft has signed a deal with enhanced rock weathering company UNDO that will see significant benefits for Kingston area scientists, farmers, and the planet.

In a press release on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, UNDO, a leading carbon dioxide removal project developer, announced it has signed a deal with Microsoft to advance enhanced rock weathering (ERW) carbon removal science. The award will remove 15,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and provide funding for crucial scientific research in the ERW field. It will also contribute to Microsoft’s commitment to be carbon-negative by 2030. 

UNDO's commercial relationship with Microsoft began in 2023 with a contract to remove 5,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere.

“This agreement with Microsoft is a clear signal to the market that enhanced rock weathering has the potential to deliver scalable carbon removal, and that UNDO can deliver critical scientific research to instill more confidence in this vital climate tech,” remarked Jim Mann, CEO and Founder of UNDO. 

“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.” 

ERW accelerates natural rock weathering, whereby the carbon dioxide in rainwater interacts with silicate rocks such as wollastonite. The CO2 mineralizes and is safely stored as solid carbon for hundreds of thousands of years. To speed up this natural geological process, UNDO spreads crushed silicate rock across agricultural land, accelerating the chemical reactions between rain, air, and rocks, and permanently removing CO2 from the atmosphere. 

According to the release from UNDO, in partnership with Kingston-area mining company Canadian Wollastonite, this deal will fund the spread of 25,000 tonnes of crushed wollastonite rock over 5,000 hectares of Canadian farmland, permanently removing thousands of tonnes of atmospheric CO2.

Wollastonite is a calcium silicate that Canadian Wollastonite President Bob Vasily described as “a white mineral for a green world.” Wollastonite’s acicular (needle-like) shape adds strength to anything it is mixed into, allowing for the manufacture of lighter, thinner products. The needle-shaped crystals are also proven to be effective as a natural pesticide in controlling grubs and slugs in crops, lawns, and gardens.

As an added bonus, Canadian Wollastonite (CW) will provide the crushed rock to local farmers free of charge as part of their deal with UNDO. For farming communities in Ontario, crushed wollastonite brings agronomic advantages such as improved soil pH, crop health, and pest resistance. 

Brian Marrs, Senior Director of Energy Markets at Microsoft, noted, “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.”

In 2021, the Government of Canada announced its commitment to net zero emissions by 2050. The country has developed significant political, business and financial backing for carbon removal and has attracted more than 70 carbon dioxide removal (CDR) companies around the country, according to UNDO.

Today’s announcement represents a significant contribution to UNDO’s scientific research concerning the measurement, reporting, and verification of ERW-based carbon dioxide removal. With the funding, UNDO says it will set up more field trials and monitoring sites in Ontario, including one on a research farm owned by the University of Guelph and at UNDO’s principal laboratory for operations in Canada at Queen's University in Kingston. 

Currently operating in southeast Ontario, UNDO has shared plans to expand its operations across eastern Canada, first in Ontario and then in Québec. UNDO is establishing a range of operational commercial partnerships that will spread millions of tonnes of silicate rock each year, a first step towards billion-tonne scale operations.

Earlier this year, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) concluded a clear link between the heat waves that Canada suffers annually and human-caused climate change. To avoid the worst effects of climate change, up to 10 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide removal per year is expected to be needed by 2050, according to the median estimates of scenarios considered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

While society must do all it can to limit emissions in the first place, carbon dioxide removal, especially scalable and durable options that can lock away CO2  without the construction of gigantic machines, is increasingly seen as a critical decarbonization tool. UNDO aims to do just that with ERW and the added benefit of improving crops --- and they'll do so with the wollastonite mined right here in the Kingston area.