Microsoft has indicated to carbon credit suppliers that it is pausing its carbon removal purchases, according to reports by media outlets including Bloomberg and Heatmap, citing people familiar with the matter.

The move could have significant implications on the carbon removal market, which has been driven largely by purchase activity by Microsoft in recent years, with the tech giant by far the largest buyer of carbon removal credits globally, representing approximately 90% of the market in 2025, according to carbon dioxide removals (CDRs) platform CDR.fyi.

In a statement provided to ESG Today, Microsoft did not explicitly confirm or deny the media reports, with a Microsoft spokesperson saying that “we continually review and assess our carbon removal portfolio along with market conditions for the optimal balance on our path to carbon negative.”

Microsoft’s carbon removal program forms part of the company’s climate commitments to become carbon negative by 2030, removing more carbon than it emits, and to remove the amount of carbon it has historically emitted by 2050.

The company revealed this year that it signed agreements to remove a record 45 million metric tonnes of CO2 in 2025, doubling the volume contracted by the company in 2024, and increasing by nine times compared with 2023. By comparison, CDR.fyi lists the Frontier Buyers coalition as the second largest purchaser at approximately 1.8 million tonnes to date.

Microsoft’s carbon removal purchase activity included deals with 21 companies in 2025, with projects spanning a broad range of geographies, and of both nature-based and engineered solutions, with the agreements contributing the equivalent to removing nearly 10 million internal combustion cars from the road for a year. The company has also discussed its efforts to help scale the market, including working directly with carbon removal suppliers in the early stages of their projects, before they are listed on carbon credit registries, and signing contracts after conducting its own extensive due diligence with carbon removal project developers to invest and help with development. Microsoft has also participated in innovative financing transactions to help develop new funding models to scale carbon removal projects.

The tech giant’s carbon removal purchase activity has continued into 2026, with several large-scale deals already announced over the past few months, including a 15-year agreement for over 600,000 tonnes of carbon credits announced as recently as last week.

Notably, even with new purchases reportedly paused, Microsoft’s existing multi-year agreements are expected to channel billions of dollars to carbon removal projects over the next several years. Industry participants reacting to the news expressed their appreciation for Microsoft’s role in advancing the market, while noting the challenges presented by the pause. In a post made following the news, Jonathan Rhone, CEO of carbon removal project developer CO280 said:

“Microsoft didn’t just buy carbon removal credits. They built the market. They set quality standards that pushed every supplier, including us, to be better.”

Rhone added:

“This isn’t a moment for despair. It’s a call to action. Microsoft showed what’s possible — and they aren’t the only customer in this market. Remove Microsoft from the data and the baseline shrinks, but the market is still growing year over year, with new buyers stepping in every day.”