Microsoft agrees to buy 2.85 million tonnes of soil carbon removal from Indigo over 12 years, Indigo says

Series: Part 1 of 2. Next: Indigo passes 2 million verified tonnes as the registry's soil protocol tops 2 million credits (February 2026).

January 2026 — Microsoft will buy 2.85 million soil carbon removal credits from Indigo over 12 years, Indigo announced on Jan. 15, 2026, calling it one of the largest soil carbon deals to date. Here's what happened, what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of Jan. 15, 2026)

Outcome: a 12-year agreement for 2.85 million credits, Microsoft's third purchase from Indigo. (Indigo, Jan. 15, 2026)
Cost: price not disclosed by either company.
Paid to farmers so far: $40 million across all Indigo programs, Indigo says. (Indigo, Jan. 15, 2026)
Status: an agreement; most credits are yet to be generated.

How the deals grew

Microsoft's first purchase from Indigo was 40,000 credits in June 2024, Indigo said. In May 2025 Microsoft committed to buy 60,000 more from Indigo's fourth and largest "carbon crop," issued in April 2025 by the Climate Action Reserve. (Indigo, May 27, 2025)

Indigo said 75% of carbon sales go directly to farmers under its standard program, and that other buyers of the fourth crop included HubSpot, which bought through Watershed. (Indigo, May 27, 2025)

The January deal is far larger: 2.85 million credits from the Carbon by Indigo program, Indigo's U.S. project, delivered over 12 years. Indigo tied it to Microsoft's commitment to be carbon negative by 2030. (Indigo, Jan. 15, 2026)

What's being measured

Indigo says it has issued 927,296 carbon removal and reduction credits from CAR1459 under the Climate Action Reserve's Soil Enrichment Protocol, using peer-reviewed research, on-the-ground science, remote sensing and machine learning. (Indigo, Jan. 15, 2026)

It calls the agreement one of the first soil carbon deals to feature credits approved under the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market's Core Carbon Principles. (Indigo, Jan. 15, 2026)

On durability, Indigo says it has added measures to reduce reversal risk across the 40-year durability term agreed with Microsoft, on top of the protocol's 100-year monitoring and reversal compensation obligations. (Indigo, Jan. 15, 2026)

Indigo says it works with farmers across eight million acres and has paid farmers $40 million across all its programs, independent of government funds. (Indigo, Jan. 15, 2026)

What the two sides said

"Microsoft is pleased by Indigo's approach to regenerative agriculture that delivers measurable results through verified credits and payments to growers," said Phillip Goodman, director of carbon removal at Microsoft, as quoted by Indigo. (Indigo, Jan. 15, 2026)

In May 2025, Microsoft's Brian Marrs said the company does "extensive due diligence when choosing projects for our portfolio." (Indigo, May 27, 2025) Indigo CEO Dean Banks said then that the purchase "affirms their confidence in our science, team, and technology." (Indigo, May 27, 2025)

Indigo's Meredith Reisfield said the deal highlights regenerative agriculture's power "to support watersheds, support farming communities, and advance global net-zero goals." (Indigo, Jan. 15, 2026) Indigo cites the IPCC for an estimate that regenerative practices could remove more than 3.5 gigatons of CO2-equivalent a year. (Indigo, Jan. 15, 2026)

What went wrong

No price. Neither release gives a per-tonne price or total value, so the deal's cost to Microsoft and payout to farmers per tonne are unknown.
Vendor-only account. Every figure comes from Indigo. The Reuters and ESG Dive reports couldn't be read from our network, so nothing here is independently confirmed.
Mostly future credits. Indigo had issued 927,296 credits from the project when it signed a 2.85 million-credit deal, so most of the volume still has to be generated and verified. (Indigo, Jan. 15, 2026)
What we don't know yet: the delivery schedule, the price, and how reversals would be handled in practice.

Our follow-up question for Microsoft

What does Microsoft pay per tonne, and what happens if measured soil carbon is later lost?

Sources

Indigo Ag, “Indigo accelerates soil carbon removals for Microsoft in second collaboration,” May 27, 2025. indigoag.com
Indigo Ag, “Indigo to Sell 2.85 Million Tonnes of Carbon Removal to Microsoft, Supporting Soil Health Through Regenerative Agriculture,” Jan. 15, 2026. indigoag.com

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder