STOCKHOLM, May 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Stockholm Exergi
today announced that it has signed a contract with Microsoft
covering 3.33 million tonnes of permanent carbon removals from
bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) at Värtan,
Stockholm. The agreement
represents the world's largest permanent removals deal to date. The
deliveries of the carbon removal certificates to Microsoft are
planned to start in 2028 and continue for a period of ten
years.
"The agreement with Microsoft is a huge step forward for our
BECCS project, Stockholm Exergi as a company and the climate. It is
the strongest possible recognition of the significance, quality and
sustainability of our project and takes us an important step closer
to a final investment decision in Q4 2024. I believe the agreement
will inspire corporations with ambitious climate objectives, and we
target to announce more deals with other pioneering companies over
the coming months," says Anders Egelrud, CEO of Stockholm
Exergi.
The contract represents a milestone for climate change
mitigation. While emissions reductions remain an over-all priority,
there is today consensus that global warming cannot be limited to
1.5 °C or well-below 2 °C without permanent carbon removals. By
demonstrating commitment to ambitious, voluntary corporate climate
objectives, Microsoft and Stockholm Exergi hope to contribute to
the much-needed growth of the industry, to allow corporates to meet
their net-zero targets and nations to meet the objectives of the
Paris Agreement. Building on this announcement, Stockholm Exergi
intends to seek complementary state aid and additional private
carbon removal deals, both of which are necessary to reach
financial close.
Since 2020, Microsoft has pursued the goal of being carbon
negative by 2030, with a reductions first strategy, complemented by
building a portfolio of carbon removal offtake agreements. It has
publicly set out its criteria for high-quality removals, pursued
financeable offtake agreements, communicated lessons learned, and
reported its progress annually.
"We are extremely proud to announce this carbon removal offtake
with Stockholm Exergi from its pioneering Värtan BECCS project.
Leveraging existing biomass power plants is a crucial first step to
building worldwide carbon removal capacity. In this case, we are
pleased with the efficiency of recovering heat from carbon capture
and adding it into district heating networks. Finally, it is
crucial to sustainably source the biomass for BECCS projects and we
were impressed with Stockholm Exergi's commitment in this regard,"
said Brian Marrs, Senior Director,
Energy & Carbon Removal.
As confirmed in the agreement with Microsoft, Stockholm Exergi
will deliver carbon removals following strict quality requirements.
This includes criteria for sustainable sourcing of forest biomass
developed together with Microsoft, conservative quantification of
net removals and comprehensive monitoring, reporting and
verification (MRV).
In line with the policy of the Swedish government, the carbon
removals exchanged in this agreement will be used by Microsoft to
negate its own emissions and will be transparently reported as
fitting under Sweden's climate
targets, similarly to how corporate emission reductions contribute
to national climate targets.
About the BECCS-facility
When in operation, Stockholm Exergi's plant will permanently
remove up to 800,000 tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere per
year.
The environmental permit for the project at the Stockholm site was obtained on March 28th this year. The construction
of the carbon capture unit, liquefaction and intermediate storage
is planned to start 2025 and will be an addition to Stockholm
Exergi's existing biomass-based combined and heat power plant in
Stockholm, in operation since
2016. The biomass feedstock for the project will continue to be
safeguarded to ensure sustainable management of forests, protection
of sensitive areas, stable carbon stocks, and to ensure that
feedstock is not sourced from roundwood that would otherwise be
used for long-lived wood products. Permanent geological storage
will take place in the Nordic region.
The permanent carbon removals are contingent on Stockholm
Exergi's final investment decision, planned for Q4 this year. To
reach final investment decision, Stockholm Exergi targets to
successfully participate in the Swedish aid program for BECCS,
expected to be concluded before the end of the year, as well as
closing other agreements on the voluntary carbon market. The
funding of the project also relies on already awarded means from
the EU Innovation Fund. Notwithstanding government aid and the EU
funds, additional revenues from selling carbon removal units on the
voluntary market are required for the project to reach financial
close. This business model, which will combine the agreement with
Microsoft (and other private buyers) with EU funding and state aid,
is a strong validation of how public-private co-funding can
maximize the quantity of permanent removals and removal projects
that can be realized within a nation's budget for climate
action.
CONTACT:
Contacts
Stockholm Exergi
Daniel Löfstedt
Press Manager
daniel.lofstedt@partners.stockholmexergi.se
Phone press service: 0046 20-30 20 40
Microsoft
Cassandra
Julin
Communication Lead Sweden at Microsoft
cjulin@microsoft.com
0046702866861
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Illustration of
Stockholm Exergi BECCS
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https://mb.cision.com/Public/15781/3972418/be7c4542ea047424_org.jpg
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Anders Egelrud, CEO of
Stockholm Exergi
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