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Microsoft Signs Deal With Varaha for Over 100,000 Tonnes of Biochar Carbon Removal

The three-year purchase supports reactor buildout to turn cotton waste into biochar in India’s cotton belt.

Overview

  • The offtake runs through 2029, with the first reactor sited next to Varaha’s 52-acre cotton research farm in Maharashtra.
  • Varaha plans up to 18 gasification reactors operating for 15 years, with lifetime removals projected to exceed 2 million tonnes of CO2.
  • The project will source cotton stalks from about 40,000–45,000 smallholder farmers to curb open-field burning and improve soil health.
  • Varaha says it processed roughly 240,000 tonnes of biomass in 2025 to generate around 115,000 credits and aims to roughly double throughput in 2026.
  • Microsoft describes the purchase as portfolio diversification focused on high‑integrity removals, with first deliveries expected in late 2026 or early 2027.