Energy Efficiency, GHG Emissions, Industrial  -  September 30, 2024

Microsoft Signs MOU for Environmental Attributes of Low-Carbon Cement

Microsoft signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) indicating its intent to negotiate a contract for the purchase of environmental attribute certificates (EACs) to accelerate the production of low-carbon cement.

Microsoft signed the agreement with low-carbon cement technology company Sublime Systems and intends to purchase EACs  generated from Sublime’s first commercial facilities. The outcomes of this collaboration are intended to inform the development of a book and claim market and demonstrate the impact that this model can have on the decarbonization of the cement and concrete sector, which currently accounts for about 8% of global CO2 emissions.

“Low-carbon cement is a critical climate solution not only for our work to become carbon negative by 2030, but also for the world as we look to transition to a net-zero economy,” said Julia Fidler, Fuel and Materials Decarbonization Lead, Microsoft, in a statement. “We look forward to collaborating with Sublime and an ecosystem of industry partners to develop systems that are verifiable and held to the highest standards of integrity.”

Book and claim models decouple environmental attributes from the product itself and enable low-carbon materials producers to access a customer base well beyond their immediate geographic area. These models are presently utilized by various industries, such as electricity, aviation, and maritime shipping.

Microsoft and Sublime are developing their EAC transaction to be verifiable, additional, and catalytic — criteria that a Microsoft and RMI previously highlighted as foundational for a book and claim model to be impactful in decarbonizing steel and concrete.

This MOU is part of Microsoft’s multi-prong 2024 strategy to forge “partnerships to accelerate technology breakthroughs” for greener concrete. It builds on Microsoft’s prior history of book and claim agreements in sustainable aviation fuel and clean energy technologies.

Microsoft’s EAC purchases could accelerate the time to market for Sublime’s manufacturing technology and enhance the commercial viability of the company’s first and second low-carbon cement plants.

This agreement will focus the companies’ efforts on developing the ideal structure for Microsoft to purchase EACs from the first commercial facility Sublime is developing in Holyoke, Massachusetts, which is expected to have a 30,000 TPY production capacity and may open as early as 2026. The facility was selected to receive an investment from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) and will focus on scale-up of Sublime’s “true-zero” cement manufacturing technology, which avoids the two major emissions sources of cement production and does not require carbon capture or clean up.

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