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BFD Expert Voices - Climate Deals

BFD Expert Voices

There's still some life in the carbon removal market, despite major purchaser Microsoft's pause earlier this year.

Case in point: U.S. Bank is buying its first carbon removal credits from Carba's Minnesota landfill project, the companies tell Axios Pro.

What they're saying: "This market is continuing, it's growing, it's maturing," says Carba CEO Andrew Jones, a chemical engineer and a Minnesota native.

Carba, a Minneapolis-based startup that has raised $6 million in seed funding from Rusheen Capital Management, plans to launch a Series A round shortly, Jones tells Axios Pro.

U.S. Bank chose the project because biochar production is a proven process, and for its Minnesota community ties, says Ariel Meyerstein, the bank's head of sustainability.

Inside the landfill: Carba has deployed the first of four reactors, which heat biomass without oxygen and turn it into biochar, a charcoal-like substance that stores carbon.

The landfill project converts wood chips, made from trees trimmed away from utility lines, and buries the biochar underground to increase the carbon removal's permanence.

Carba's reactor uses molten salts as a heat transfer fluid, letting it lock in more carbon than would a traditional biochar reactor, while more efficiently managing high temperatures.

Because the reactors are deployed on site at the landfill, it reduces the costs of moving the feedstock around.

Zoom in: The project was the first to receive validation from Isometric for biochar storage in low-oxygen environments.

Carba says its process is low-cost, under $100 per ton removed, and can remove carbon for a thousand years.

The intrigue: Microsoft — which paused its carbon removal this year amid slowing demand — is already buying credits for 44,000 tons of carbon removed from the project.

The big picture: Expensive carbon removal technologies like direct air capture have struggled to scale, and some carbon removal companies have looked to focus on power generation.

Reality check: U.S. Bank wouldn't comment on future prospective investments.

"This was a test balloon, and we'll see what the future brings," says Meyerstein.

Exclusive: U.S. Bank makes carbon removal debut with Minnesota landfill deal

Bank sees Carba's project at a Minnesota landfill as a test balloon for carbon removal.

Aerial view of an industrial yard with large piping and machinery, pallets and containers on dirt ground, a worker in a safety vest, and dense trees behind, with distant buildings.

A reactor deployed by Carba at a landfill in Minnesota turns biomass into biochar and sequesters carbon. Photo: Courtesy of Carba

There&#x27;s still some life in the carbon removal market, despite major purchaser <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Microsoft&#x27;s pause" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/pro/climate-deals/2026/04/13/microsoft-carbon-removal-pause" data-vars-content-id="ab59a6e5-23c9-4ea3-bd47-2b15544a7fdb" data-vars-headline="Exclusive: U.S. Bank makes carbon removal debut with Minnesota landfill deal" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/climate-deals/2026/04/13/microsoft-carbon-removal-pause" target="_self">Microsoft&#x27;s pause</a> earlier this year.Case in point: U.S. Bank is buying its first carbon removal credits from Carba&#x27;s Minnesota landfill project, the companies tell Axios Pro.

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Exclusive: U.S. Bank makes carbon removal debut with Minnesota landfill deal

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