In a move that’s left Silicon Valley and Wall Street equally stunned, Microsoft has reportedly inked a jaw-dropping $1.7 billion deal to purchase over 4.9 million metric tons of waste. That’s right: the tech titan known for Windows, Xbox, and cloud computing is now investing big in—wait for it—excrement.

But before you wrinkle your nose, there’s a bizarrely brilliant method behind the madness. As the world’s tech giants face growing pressure to clean up their carbon footprints, Microsoft is betting big on a new way to fight climate change—one that involves burying waste deep underground, one ton at a time.

WHY IS MICROSOFT BUYING WASTE?

Microsoft’s latest move isn’t about building a new fertilizer empire or launching a new line of “eco” products. Instead, it’s all about carbon removal—a hot topic as companies race to meet climate goals and offset the emissions created by everything from AI data centers to global supply chains.

Here’s how it works: Microsoft is partnering with Vaulted Deep, a company specializing in the permanent storage of organic waste. Over the next 12 years, Vaulted Deep will collect waste sourced from manure, sewage, and agricultural byproducts—a bioslurry that, yes, could include everything from farm droppings to flushed leftovers. This waste will then be injected thousands of feet underground, locking away carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.

The cost? About $350 per ton, according to industry estimates. Multiply that by the 4.9 million metric tons Microsoft has committed to, and you land at a deal worth $1.7 billion.

THE CLIMATE CRISIS: TECH’S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET

Why go to such lengths? In the race to dominate artificial intelligence, companies like Microsoft are burning through resources at an unprecedented pace. Reports suggest that training a single AI program can require more than 250,000 gallons of water over just three weeks—a staggering environmental cost.

With its $80 billion AI investment and recent layoffs of 9,000 workers, Microsoft has faced criticism for the environmental and social impact of its rapid growth. Now, the company is trying to flip the script, aiming to be “carbon negative” by 2030 and pledging to remove more greenhouse gases than it’s emitted since its founding by 2050.

HOW DOES UNDERGROUND WASTE STORAGE WORK?

Vaulted Deep’s process is simple in concept but groundbreaking in scale. The company collects sludgy, often contaminated organic waste—material that would otherwise sit in landfills, release methane, or pollute waterways. Instead, they inject it deep underground, where it’s trapped safely and permanently.

Julia Reichelstein, CEO of Vaulted Deep, explained the process to The Wall Street Journal: “We’re taking different types of organic waste. It’s sludgy, often contaminated organic waste that today causes problems above ground, and instead we take the waste and put it really deep underground for permanent carbon removal.”

Each ton of carbon sequestered earns Microsoft a carbon removal credit, bringing the company closer to its ambitious climate goals.

A NEW ERA OF CARBON REMOVAL

This isn’t Microsoft’s first foray into climate action. In April 2025, the company signed a deal with AtmosClear to offset 6.75 metric tons of carbon dioxide—though that deal focused on removing CO2 from the air, not burying waste.

Now, with the Vaulted Deep partnership, Microsoft is taking a different approach. Instead of capturing carbon that’s already in the atmosphere, they’re preventing it from getting there in the first place by locking away the organic matter before it can decompose and release greenhouse gases.

Ryan Orbuch, a climate tech investor, summed it up on social media: “Vaulted is literally cleaning up the planet, scaling field-proven injection technology to safely dispose of harmful wastes like biosolids while permanently storing away millions of tons of CO2.”

MICROSOFT’S CLIMATE GAMBLE: GENIUS OR GIMMICK?

Skeptics might wonder: Is this just a flashy PR move? After all, the idea of “buying poop” for billions sounds more like a late-night comedy sketch than a serious climate strategy.

But experts say Microsoft’s approach is both innovative and necessary. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that simply reducing emissions isn’t enough; the world must also find ways to remove existing carbon from the atmosphere. That means scaling up every available tool—from tree planting to direct air capture to, yes, underground waste storage.

Vaulted Deep’s technology is already being adopted by other big names in tech, including Stripe and Shopify, who have purchased carbon credits through the company’s Frontier initiative.

THE BIGGER PICTURE: CAN TECH REALLY CLEAN UP ITS ACT?

Microsoft’s waste-burying deal is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Around the world, tech companies are experimenting with everything from regrowing rainforests in Panama to capturing emissions from trash burning in Norway and storing them in old oil wells beneath the North Sea.

The stakes are enormous: the global economy faces trillions in potential losses from climate-driven disasters, and public pressure is mounting for companies to act responsibly.

For Microsoft, the hope is that bold moves like this will help repair its reputation, inspire others to follow suit, and—most importantly—make a real dent in the climate crisis.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Neither Microsoft nor Vaulted Deep has disclosed the full terms of their agreement, and costs are expected to decrease as technology improves. But one thing is clear: the era of “business as usual” is over. As the world hurtles toward an uncertain climate future, even the biggest tech giants are being forced to get their hands dirty—sometimes literally.

So, the next time you hear about Microsoft’s latest billion-dollar investment, remember: it might just be the world’s most expensive flush, but it could also be a game-changer for the planet.