Microsoft Buys 234,000 Rainforest Restoration Carbon Removal Credits from Toroto
Technology giant Microsoft on Wednesday announced the purchase of 234,000 Rainforest Restoration Carbon Removal Credits from Mexico-based Toroto, a company that develops projects to enhance and restore ecosystems and reduce the impact of climate change. The nature-based carbon credits were generated by a project removing atmospheric carbon dioxide in the state of Campeche, in the Calakmul region of southeastern Mexico.
With the purchase, Microsoft will be able to further offset its production of carbon, ensuring that the company will be able to reduce its impact on the environment, while at the same time helping to restore the area’s ecosystem, while assisting landowners in their efforts to safeguard their natural resources. In addition, the sale provides income to local landowners of the Conhuás ejido (community-owned land), another objective for Toroto, the company said. According to Microsoft and Toroto, the agreement will help drive forward ecosystem restoration of up to 47,000 hectares of tropical rainforest.
The rainforest is home to thousands of species of flora and fauna, including endangered animals like the Baird’s tapir and jaguar. The Conhuás ejido borders the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, a protected area since 1989. The project area thus offers potential to act as a biological corridor, allowing for the ecological connectivity of the second largest rainforest in the neotropics, Toroto said.
The purchase is the latest carbon-credit purchase for Microsoft, which plans to become a carbon-negative company by 2030. In June, Microsoft purchased a record 8 million carbon credits from Brazil’s BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group (TIG), the largest such sale to date.
“The Conhuás project is an example of the potential for community-led ecosystem restoration to drive positive climate impact,” said Brian Marrs, Senior Director of Energy and Carbon Removal at Microsoft. “We are pleased to collaborate with Toroto to help incentivize both natural ecosystem restoration and community-led climate action.”
According to Santiago Espinosa de los Monteros Harispuru, CEO and Cofounder at Toroto, “Microsoft’s commitment to the Conhuás project represents a very important milestone for climate action in Mexico. They are setting an example on how the private sector can invest in nature through mechanisms that channel resources directly to the conservation and restoration of the rainforest, while the guardians of this rainforest, the Conhuás community, acquire the technical and financial capacities to continue caring for its regeneration.”