Big Tech’s big bet on a controversial carbon removal tactic

BECCS is also substantially less expensive for buyers than, say, direct air capture, with weighted average prices of $210 a ton compared with $490 among the deals to date, according to CDR.fyi. That’s in part because capturing the carbon dioxide from, say, a pulp and paper mill, where it makes up around 15% of flue gas, takes far less energy than plucking CO₂ molecules out of the open air, where they account for just 0.04%.

Microsoft’s big BECCS bet

In 2020, Microsoft announced plans to become…