Durable CDR Demand Structure Snapshot: Microsoft, Frontier, and the Rest of the Market

Purpose

Following reports that Microsoft has paused its carbon removal purchases, this CDR.fyi brief examines Microsoft’s market activity and compares it with Frontier's and other buyers'.

The aim is to show how different buyer segments have shaped the market to date. Charts and data may be shared with attribution.

Highlight & Top Numbers

• As of April 13, 2026, Microsoft accounts for 36,439,157 tonnes, or 78.5% of total disclosed durable CDR tonnes contracted. Frontier-linked buyers account for 1,841,384 tonnes, or 4.0%, while all other buyers account for 8,167,880 tonnes, or 17.5%.
• To date, 259 durable carbon removal suppliers have sold credits in the voluntary CDR market. Of these, 39 suppliers have contracted with Microsoft, 38 with Frontier-linked buyers, and 195 with neither Microsoft nor Frontier.
• While Microsoft and Frontier account for most contracted tonnes, buyers outside those two companies account for 90% of delivered and 94% of retired tonnes to date.
• Buyers other than Microsoft and Frontier account for most recorded deals below 100K tonnes, while Microsoft is the only buyer to have signed disclosed purchase agreements for volumes above 1Mt.
• Contracted volume from buyers excluding Microsoft and Frontier has increased each year since 2022, reaching 3.2M tonnes in 2025.
• Microsoft’s contracted portfolio is concentrated in BECCS, which accounts for 76% of its disclosed durable CDR volume.

Contracted, Delivered, and Retired Volumes by Buyer Segment

While Microsoft (79%) and Frontier Buyers (4%) represent the majority of total durable CDR tonnes contracted since 2020. To date, 90% of delivered tonnes have been delivered to all other buyers, and 94% of retired tonnes have been retired by all other buyers as well.

This chart compares purchases, deliveries, and retirements of tonnes across Microsoft-linked transactions, Frontier-linked transactions, and all other buyers.

CDR Demand Structure Over Time

Contracted Durable CDR Volume

Share of Contracted Durable CDR Volume

This chart groups durable CDR demand into Microsoft-linked transactions, Frontier-linked transactions, and all other buyers over time.

Share of Cumulative Total Demand for Durable CDR by Deal Sizes

While demand from Microsoft accounted for 79% of the total market, buyers other than Microsoft and Frontier accounted for the majority of deals, up to 100K tonnes. Microsoft is the only purchaser to have signed any purchase agreements for over one million tonnes.

Non-Microsoft and Frontier Activity

Considering tonnage volume, the yearly volume purchased by buyers other than Microsoft and Frontier Buyers (an advance market commitment for permanent carbon removal) has roughly doubled every year from 2022 to 2024. The 3.2M tonnes contracted by buyers other than Microsoft and Frontier in 2025 was nearly equal to the total for 2023 and 2024 combined.

Method Mix of Demand Structure

Method Mix of Contracted Durable CDR Volume by Buyer Segment

Microsoft makes up the majority of credits contracted for three of the ten CDR methods, with the highest concentration for BECCS at about 27.5 Mt, followed by Biomass Geological Sequestration at about 5 Mt and Mineralization at about 0.3 Mt.

This chart shows how demand has been distributed across methods for Microsoft-linked transactions, Frontier-linked transactions, and all other buyers, in both absolute tonnes and as a share of segment demand.

Method Mix of Delivered Durable CDR volume by Buyer Segment

Microsoft has contracted about 27 Mt of BECCS removals, but no BECCS credits have yet been delivered under its disclosed offtake agreements. Of the 91K tonnes delivered to Microsoft to date, most came from Biochar Carbon Removal (75K tonnes, or 82.3%), followed by MBCCS (12K tonnes, or 13.1%) and Biomass Geological Sequestration (2K tonnes, or 2.4%).

This chart shows the share of credits delivered to each buyer segment by each method and the total delivered.

Microsoft’s Durable CDR Contracted Portfolio

Microsoft’s influence on the durable CDR market is not evenly distributed across methods.

BECCS accounts for the largest share of Microsoft’s contracted portfolio at 76%, followed by Biomass Geological Sequestration at 13%, Biochar Carbon Removal at 7%, and DACCS at 2%.

This chart shows the composition of Microsoft’s contracted portfolio by method, providing additional context for where its purchasing activity has been most concentrated.

Notes on the Data

Data Sources: All of the data used in preparing this report is based on reported transactions, including public announcements, direct submissions by suppliers and purchasers through the CDR.fyi Portal, and integrations with ecosystem service providers. See Methodology for additional details on our approach. To provide feedback on the CDR.fyi data model, reach out to us at partners@CDR.fyi.

CDR.fyi tracks carbon removal purchases & deliveries with a permanence of hundreds to thousands of years. For any corrections or questions, contact team@CDR.fyi. For data licensing & partnership inquiries, contact partners@CDR.fyi.

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Acknowledgments

Thank you for exploring Durable CDR Demand Structure Snapshot: Microsoft, Frontier, and the Rest of the Market

Data, analysis, and content for this report were prepared by Tank Chen and the CDR.fyi team.