Microsoft will bury 4.9M tons of "manure" in a secretive deal — all to offset its AI energy demands that drive emissions up by 168%

Microsoft is undoubtedly taking the "all gas, no brakes" approach with generative AI, deeply integrating it across its tech stack without signs of stopping. The software giant has been ramping up its efforts in the landscape, especially after making a multi-billion-dollar investment in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT.

While it relies on OpenAI's advanced AI models to bolster its advances in the space, the once-best tech bromance is seemingly in the crosshairs over the company's for-profit evolution plans.

Microsoft is reportedly holding back its blessings in a bid to protect its best interests, though a recent report suggests that the company is ready to walk away from the high-stakes negotiations and ride out the rest of the partnership. However, OpenAI could move to court, citing anticompetitive business behaviours.

A separate report suggests that OpenAI could prematurely declare AGI (artificial general intelligence) to sever its ties with Microsoft before 2030. Microsoft is seemingly trying to emancipate itself from an overdependence on OpenAI by developing its own off-frontier models and testing third-party AI models in Copilot.

While it has made significant headway in the AI space, the sophisticated technology also presents critical issues, including substantial carbon emissions that could potentially harm the environment and society if adequate measures aren't in place to mitigate them.

Microsoft is still committed to sustainability

To further bolster its sustainability efforts, Microsoft recently signed a deal with Vaulted Deep (via Tom's Hardware). It's a dual waste management solution designed to help remove carbon from the atmosphere in a bid to protect nearby towns from contamination.

Microsoft's new deal with the waste management solution firm will help remove approximately 4.9 million metric tons of waste from manure, sewage, and agricultural byproducts for injection deep underground for the next 12 years.

The firm's carbon emission removal technique is quite unique compared to other rivals in the industry, collecting organic waste which is combined into a thick slurry and injected about 5,000 feet underground into salt caverns.

As such, this prevents the organic waste from being dumped at a waste disposal site, which could create an opportunity for it to decompose and release carbon dioxide into the environment.

While it is still unclear how much this deal will cost Microsoft, Vaulted Deep currently charges $350 per ton for its carbon removal services. Simple math suggests that the deal might be worth approximately $1.7 billion, but Julia Reichelstein, Vaulted Deep's CEO, claims that the cost for the service is expected to drop gradually and that the estimated amount above isn't the actual figure that the tech giant paid to secure the deal.

Microsoft appears to still be increasing its efforts in sustainability. In April, the company signed a similar deal with AtmosClear to remove 6.75 million metric tons of carbon emissions.

This news comes after a separate report recently revealed that Microsoft's carbon emissions are at an all-time high, soaring 168% due to AI's exorbitant demand for energy.

According to Microsoft's President, Brad Smith:

"As we remain focused on sustained progress towards our 2030 goals, it has become clear that our journey towards being carbon negative is a marathon, not a sprint. While our total emissions (Scope 1, 2, and 3) have increased by 23.4% compared to our 2020 baseline due to growth-related factors such as AI and cloud expansion, we are encouraged by the fact that this increase has been modest compared to the 168% increase in energy use and 71% revenue growth that has taken place over the same period."

Microsoft's new deal with Vaulted Deep reiterates its firm commitment to extract more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it puts in, allowing ot to elminiate present-day ahd historical emissions by 2030.