Microsoft just signed a massive deal with Vaulted Deep to remove 4.9 million metric tons of waste over 12 years. This waste comes from manure, sewage, and agricultural byproducts. Vaulted Deep will inject it deep underground to keep it from decomposing into CO2 and methane.
The cost? Roughly $350 per ton of CO2 removal, which means the contract could be worth over $1.7 billion. But Vaulted Deep’s CEO Julia Reichelstein says that price doesn’t reflect the actual sum Microsoft paid. They expect costs to drop over time.
This follows Microsoft’s April deal with AtmosClear to sequester 6.75 million metric tons of carbon. Vaulted Deep’s method is different—no direct CO2 capture from air or power plants. Instead, they turn organic waste into slurry and inject it 5,000 feet underground. 
Julia Reichelstein explained the problem with current waste disposal:
“Generally, what happens to these wastes today is they go to a landfill, they get dumped in a waterway, or they’re just spread on land for the purpose of disposal. In all of those cases, they’re decomposing into CO2 and methane,” said Reichelstein to Inc.
“That’s contributing to climate change. And then oftentimes, especially when it’s spread on land, all those pathogens are going directly into people’s groundwater.”
Big tech like Microsoft relies heavily on dirty power for data centers and needs these projects to offset emissions. Meanwhile, companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Oracle are investing in small modular reactors to power data centers cleanly.
The fight against tech’s carbon footprint just got weirder—and a lot more underground.
