Zero vs 20 Million

0 tonnes

That’s how much carbon removal the CDR leader* Microsoft would be buying in 2030 (and today) if they followed the proposed requirements on CDR targets in the SBTi draft Net Zero Standard 2.0.

The Science based target draft standard would only require companies to start scaling up CDR purchases for their residual Scope 1 emissions. Most companies will have almost all their residual emissions in Scope 3 so this would do very little for demand. In fact, the draft states that only companies with hard-to-abate Scope 1 emissions would need to start buying CDR today. That excludes tech companies like Microsoft, which are assumed to have no residual scope 1 emissions, hence zero CDR required.

In supplementary information** published last month, SBTi clarified that companies won't be explicitly required to directly buy CDR for their Scope 3 emissions at net zero. Instead, responsibility for removals primarily rests with companies addressing their own Scope 1 emissions. SBTi, however, mentions that companies can “provide support” to their value-chain partners to encourage removals. While collaborative in theory, this setup puts the responsibility to scale CDR on large Scope 1 emitters. These companies are much less likely to have an SBTi target and thus not affected by the requirement. They also have several times lower profit per tonne emitted than low-emission companies like in tech or finance.

Microsoft has contracted over 20 million tonnes of durable CDR worth several billion dollars; the second and third biggest buyers are Frontier and Google. Their example clearly points out that the ones who are most willing to buy CDR are companies with relatively low emission intensity. There are hundreds of similar companies that could start scaling up CDR if given a reason.

Of course, nothing in the draft standard forbids companies from doing more. However, by placing all responsibility on Scope 1 emitters who are unlikely to heed it, SBTi forgoes motivating those who are willing and able, ultimately ensuring that the standard will not help scale up CDR to the level needed to achieve corporate net zero targets.

*As of May 6th 2025, Microsoft has purchased over 20.4 million tonnes of durable carbon removal to be delivered over 15 years. That’s an order of magnitude more than any other company and is in addition to millions of tonnes of nature-based removals. It should be mentioned that Microsoft's emissions have increased (but emission intensity has decreased) due to fast growth, especially of data centers. That is not entirely new emissions, some of it is companies switching from their own servers to the cloud.

** The same SBTi presentation also clarified that the proposed CDR purchase requirements were cumulative up until net zero, not annual. If implemented, it would mean that the CDR demand signal from companies following the standard went from very low to hardly measurable. 

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