Varaha, a developer of carbon dioxide elimination (CDR) initiatives with smallholder farmers throughout Asia, has partnered with Satya Nadella-led Microsoft for biochar carbon elimination in India.

Varaha will develop 18 industrial gasification reactors that can function for 15 years, with a complete projected elimination quantity exceeding 2 million tonnes of CO₂ over the undertaking’s lifetime.

The undertaking sources cotton stalks from smallholder farms in Maharashtra, India to be used because the feedstock for biochar manufacturing. After harvest, these stalks are handled as waste biomass, and open-field burning is a standard apply throughout the area’s cotton belt. The corporate stated that this undertaking supplies an alternate use for the stalks, changing them into biochar by Varaha’s biomass gasification amenities and sequestering biogenic carbon for hundreds of years.

“This settlement demonstrates that high-integrity carbon elimination can drive transformative co-benefits for communities and ecosystems,” stated Madhur Jain, Varaha CEO. “We’re not simply eradicating carbon—we’re creating financial incentives for farmers to mitigate open burning of crop residues.”

The undertaking’s first reactor will function alongside Varaha’s 52-acre cotton analysis farm in Maharashtra, the place Varaha works immediately with farmers to check sustainable practices, together with soil utility of biochar, beneath real-world circumstances. With as much as 18 whole reactors funded throughout India’s cotton belt by Microsoft’s dedication, the main target stays clear: scaling shortly whereas placing farmers first.

The settlement indicators rising recognition of the area’s potential for high-quality carbon elimination initiatives. Biochar presents everlasting carbon storage on geological timescales whereas supporting agricultural methods, making it some of the promising pathways for sturdy carbon dioxide elimination.

“This offtake settlement broadens the variety of Microsoft’s carbon elimination portfolio with Varaha’s biochar undertaking design that’s each scalable and sturdy. It represents a step ahead in scaling biochar CDR development in Asia and advancing co-benefits for farmers—improved soils, cleaner air, and shared financial alternative,” stated Phil Goodman, program director, CDR at Microsoft.