The Port of Greater Baton Rouge has landed the world’s largest permanent carbon removal project to date.
AtmosClear BR LLC, a portfolio company of the global energy infrastructure firm Fidelis, has signed a contract with tech giant Microsoft for 6.75 million metric tons of carbon removal over 15 years. AtmosClear is developing an $800 million carbon capture facility at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge to support Microsoft’s decarbonization goals.
According to a statement from Fidelis, the facility will use sustainable materials like sugarcane bagasse and trimmings from forestry management to produce “clean” energy while capturing 680,000 metric tons of CO2 per year for permanent storage or to be used as a feedstock for low-carbon natural gas or other synthetic fuels.
Construction on the project is expected to begin in 2026, and the facility is expected to be up and running in 2029.
Fidelis says the project will create about 75 direct new jobs and about 600 construction jobs while also supporting a “significant revival” of forestry management jobs previously impacted by mill closures in the area.
Brian Marrs, senior director of energy and carbon removal at Microsoft, says the project is “vital” to the tech giant’s goal of becoming carbon negative by 2030.
“We are proud to work with Fidelis on this pathbreaking project, which will bring together science, engineering and commercial innovations to offer a compelling model for carbon removal in the United States,” a statement from Marrs reads.
Grön Fuels, another subsidiary of Fidelis, is planning to build a $9.2 billion renewable fuels facility at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. Read more about that project here.
