JPMorgan and Microsoft Sign Major Carbon Removal Offtake Deals, Signaling Growing Corporate Demand
JPMorgan commits to 60,000 tons of carbon removal credits from Graphyte, while Microsoft secures 626,000 tonnes from Canada's first Indigenous-owned BECCS project, as corporate buyers race to underwrite the next generation of carbon removal infrastructure.
Overview
Two major corporate carbon removal agreements announced in the first week of April 2026 underscore the accelerating shift in climate finance from voluntary pledges to binding, multi-year offtake commitments. JPMorganChase has agreed to purchase 60,000 metric tons of durable carbon dioxide removal credits from biomass sequestration startup Graphyte, while Microsoft has signed a 15-year deal with Canada’s North Star Carbon Solutions for 626,000 tonnes of removal credits generated through bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. Together, the deals total nearly 700,000 tonnes of contracted carbon removal and span two distinct technological approaches.
The announcements follow a period of rapid infrastructure buildout across the carbon capture industry, as previously reported by The Machine Herald. Where earlier developments focused on the supply side — commissioning megascale capture facilities — these latest deals highlight the demand side: large financial and technology companies locking in long-term purchase agreements that provide the revenue certainty developers need to move projects forward.
JPMorgan and Graphyte: Carbon Casting Meets Wildfire Prevention
JPMorganChase has committed to purchasing 60,000 metric tons of carbon removal credits from Graphyte over the next decade, according to Carbon Herald. Graphyte, headquartered in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, uses a process it calls “carbon casting” — compressing carbon-rich agricultural and forestry residues into a stable form and storing the material underground to prevent the carbon from re-entering the atmosphere.
The company currently operates Project Loblolly at Jefferson Industrial Park in Pine Bluff, which went online in January 2024 and issued 15,000 credits to existing customers in 2025, as reported by the Pine Bluff Commercial. Storage for the Arkansas project is located between Pine Bluff and Sheridan.
The deal will also help fund Project Ponderosa, a planned facility near Flagstaff, Arizona, scheduled to open in 2027. That project would source forest biomass from thinning operations in the western United States — work that directly reduces wildfire risk but has historically lacked strong commercial markets. According to Carbon Herald, the Arizona facility is expected to create jobs and convert previously disturbed land into wildlife habitat, reflecting a broader strategy of pairing carbon removal with regional economic and ecological co-benefits.
Graphyte CEO Barclay Rogers said the agreement demonstrates “the growing confidence and momentum behind CDR solutions that are not only scientifically robust, but economically viable,” as quoted by the Pine Bluff Commercial. Time magazine ranked Graphyte 169th among its Top GreenTech Companies of 2026.
Microsoft and North Star: Indigenous-Owned BECCS in Saskatchewan
Microsoft has agreed to purchase 626,000 tonnes of carbon removal credits over 15 years from the North Star Carbon Solutions Limited Partnership, according to Svante Technologies. The project, described as Canada’s first major Indigenous-owned carbon removal initiative, is a partnership between the Meadow Lake Tribal Council and carbon capture technology provider Svante.
The North Star project will deploy bioenergy with carbon capture and storage at the existing MLTC Bioenergy Centre in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. The facility captures CO2 generated during biomass energy production, compresses it, and injects it into secure underground geological formations for permanent storage, as detailed by Carbon Credits. At full capacity, the plant is expected to generate up to 90,000 tonnes of carbon removal credits per year.
The biomass feedstock comes from wood waste produced by the NorSask Forest Products sawmill, which is owned by MLTC, creating what the partners describe as a closed-loop system. The Meadow Lake Tribal Council, formed in 1981, represents nine First Nations in northwest Saskatchewan, and 100 percent of the project’s distributions flow to those communities, according to Carbon Credits. The development phase is expected to create approximately 50 construction jobs.
Svante is funding the early development stages until a final investment decision, with commercial operations planned for early 2029.
What We Don’t Know
Neither deal disclosed financial terms. The price per tonne in both agreements remains undisclosed, making it difficult to assess whether these commitments reflect improving unit economics or continued reliance on premium pricing for early-stage carbon removal credits.
Graphyte’s carbon casting approach is relatively new and has not yet been independently validated at the scale envisioned for Project Ponderosa. The durability of biomass-based carbon storage — how long compressed organic material remains sequestered underground — is an active area of research, and long-term permanence claims have not been verified over multi-decade timescales.
For North Star, the 2029 commercial operations target is still three years away, and the project must secure a final investment decision before construction can proceed. BECCS projects globally have faced cost overruns and delays, and Saskatchewan’s regulatory framework for underground CO2 injection will need to accommodate the project’s scale.
Analysis
The two deals reflect a broader pattern emerging in the carbon removal market: major corporations are moving beyond one-off pilot purchases toward the kind of long-term, high-volume offtake agreements that can underwrite project financing. JPMorgan’s 10-year commitment and Microsoft’s 15-year contract both provide the revenue visibility that lenders and investors typically require before committing capital to infrastructure projects.
The deals also illustrate the diversification of carbon removal approaches receiving institutional backing. Graphyte’s biomass sequestration and North Star’s BECCS represent alternatives to the direct air capture technologies that have dominated headlines, each with different cost profiles, co-benefits, and risk characteristics. The emphasis on additional benefits — wildfire prevention in Arizona, Indigenous economic development in Saskatchewan — suggests that buyers increasingly value projects delivering measurable outcomes beyond tonnes of CO2 removed.