SAN FRANCISCO, April 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Living Carbon, a public benefit company transforming degraded and underutilized land into high quality environmental assets, announced today that Microsoft has agreed to purchase 1.4 million tonnes of carbon removal credits from Living Carbon's US-based reforestation projects. The credits will be generated through Living Carbon's large-scale reforestation of 25,000 acres of degraded lands in the broader Appalachian region, with a primary focus on areas previously impacted by coal mining.
Living Carbon's projects restore forest cover on former mine lands—many of which have remained ecologically and economically underutilized for decades. In addition to delivering measurable and highly additional carbon removal, Living Carbon's restoration activities also produce a range of co-benefits, including improved soil and water health, enhanced biodiversity, and new economic development opportunities in historically underserved rural communities.
"Restoring degraded mine lands offers one of the most scalable and meaningful opportunities for nature-based climate action in the United States," said Maddie Hall, CEO and Co-founder of Living Carbon. "We're proud to be working with Microsoft to advance high-quality reforestation and unlock the potential of some of the most challenging yet important lands in the U.S.—not only for carbon removal, but also for restoring ecosystems and supporting the return of these lands to productivity."
Decades of coal mining in the Appalachian region have impacted millions of acres of land, including over 4 million acres of formerly mined land in Central Appalachia alone. Abandoned mine lands often suffer from poor soil quality, erosion, toxic metal content, and invasive species—conditions that make natural regeneration difficult without costly active reforestation. Living Carbon's holistic approach to reforestation, including extensive site preparation and the careful selection of well-suited, native species, improves the quality of the soil and viability of the landscape. By targeting these underutilized sites, Living Carbon's projects offer a rare opportunity to address climate, ecological, and economic recovery in tandem.
"Living Carbon's work to restore degraded and formerly mined lands in Appalachia represents a meaningful and measurable approach to nature-based carbon removal," said Brian Marrs, Senior Director for Energy & Carbon Removal at Microsoft. "We are pleased to support this project as part of Microsoft's broader portfolio of high-quality carbon removal solutions. Uniquely targeted nature-based projects like this address systemic challenges while also generating positive climate and ecological outcomes."
All carbon removal credits delivered to Microsoft under this agreement will be verified and issued by Isometric, in line with its Reforestation Protocol. Certified in November, the protocol set a new standard for scientific rigor and transparency in reforestation—with tech-first quantification, dynamic baselines and advanced approaches to leakage and lifecycle assessment.
"This agreement shows the growing demand for scientifically rigorous, technology-enabled verification in reforestation," said Lukas May OBE, Chief Commercial Officer at Isometric. "We look forward to working with Microsoft and Living Carbon on this important project as part of our mission to help carbon removal scale, responsibly and fast, to the level the planet needs."
Living Carbon's model is designed to scale across millions of acres of degraded land, bringing climate, biodiversity, and community benefits to regions most in need of regenerative investment and turning U.S. environmental liabilities into climate assets.
Living Carbon PBC is a climate technology company transforming degraded and underutilized land across the United States into resilient forests and long-term environmental assets. Through science-backed restoration and rigorous project design, the company generates high-quality carbon credits or bioproducts on land that would otherwise remain barren and unproductive - delivering measurable climate impact. Living Carbon’s partners include: Meta, Google, Microsoft and McKinsey. To learn more about Living Carbon’s technology and ongoing projects visit: livingcarbon.com
Isometric is the world's most rigorous carbon removal registry with a mission to ensure the transition to carbon removal happens responsibly and fast. Its robust rules for removing carbon, trusted by Fortune 100 companies, raise the bar for scientific rigor, transparency, incentive alignment and rapid verification—addressing the problems that plagued the traditional carbon market.
The Isometric Registry provides a permanent audit trail for every credit issued by Isometric and Isometric Certify enables monthly credit issuance so suppliers can generate revenue in months, not years.
