Microsoft Corp., the world’s biggest investor in carbon removal projects, rejected speculation that it is abandoning its efforts to build out the technology.

“Our carbon removal program has not ended,” Microsoft Chief Sustainability Officer Melanie Nakagawa, said in an emailed comment to Bloomberg. “We continue to both build on and support our existing portfolio of both nature-based and technology-based solutions.”

The comments follow a Heatmap report that the technology behemoth is pausing carbon removal purchases.

Bloomberg reported separately that individual Microsoft staff had started calling some carbon-removal project developers to tell them the work was being shelved. In one instance, Microsoft employees said the decision was motivated by financial considerations, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private talks.

Nakagawa said Microsoft may choose to recalibrate its approach to reducing its carbon footprint, while insisting such steps don’t constitute a retreat from the company’s commitment to its climate goals.

“Our decarbonization approach combines reduction, removal, and efficiency, and carbon removal is one piece of that equation,” she said. “At times we may adjust the pace or volume of our carbon removal procurement as we continue to refine our approach toward sustainability goals. Any adjustments we make are part of our disciplined approach — not a change in ambition.”

Microsoft is by far the largest investor in removal credits, having set an ambitious goal to be carbon negative by 2030. The company is engaged in deals across a variety of technologies, with BloombergNEF estimating that its purchases in 2025 accounted for 96% of the entire market.

“This dependency on a single buyer in a single sector is a serious vulnerability,” said Ben Caldecott, director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group at the University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.

“As hyperscalers direct their firepower towards AI build-out, with mounting pressure on free cash flow and balance sheets, it is hard to see voluntary demand expanding from here,” said Caldecott, whose academic work includes a paper on carbon removal technologies. “Durable growth in carbon removal will need to urgently come from compliance markets and from a much wider range of sectors and geographies.”

Pulling vast quantities of carbon from the atmosphere will be essential if the planet is to have a chance of avoiding catastrophic levels of overheating. At the same time, global capacity for removing carbon from the atmosphere is currently just a fraction of what scientists say is needed.

(Updates with BNEF analysis.)

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