Occidental's 1PointFive to sell carbon credits to Microsoft

(Reuters) - Carbon capture firm 1PointFive said on Tuesday it has entered into an agreement with Microsoft to sell the tech giant 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits over six years.

1PointFive is the carbon capture, utilization and sequestration unit of oil and gas firm Occidental Petroleum. The agreement is a part of Microsoft's goal to become carbon negative by 2030.

Earlier this year, telecom company AT&T had agreed to purchase CDR credits from 1PointFive as part of its goal to reduce emissions and become carbon neutral in its global operations by 2035.

Carbon credits are tradable permits that allow the owner to emit certain amounts of greenhouse gases. Each credit permits the emission of one metric ton of carbon dioxide or the equivalent in other greenhouse gases.

1PointFive said the CDR credits for Microsoft will be provided by STRATOS, its facility currently under construction in Texas, which is designed to capture up to 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually when fully operational.

(Reporting by Tanay Dhumal in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)