In a new deal, Microsoft buys forest restoration credits from Rainforest Builder

Carbon Herald | 24 February 2026

by Sasha Ranevska

In a new offtake agreement, Microsoft has invested in carbon dioxide removal (CDR) by forest restoration company Rainforest Builder. Under the agreement, Rainforest Builder will deliver up to 1.8 million carbon removal credits to Microsoft over a period of 15 years. 

The credits are to come from Rainforest Builder’s large-scale ecosystem restoration project in Sierra Leone called Project Buffalo. As shared in the announcement, this deal marks one of the largest carbon removal offtakes from a single project in Africa announced to date. 

Rainforest Builder is a fully integrated tropical forest restoration company with operations established across West Africa. Through Project Buffalo, the company is working on restoring the Upper Guinean Forest, a biodiversity hotspot that has lost 90% of its original area so far.

As part of the restoration, the company’s on-the-ground team in Sierra Leone has planted more than 1.8 million trees since 2023, and the long-term goal of Project Buffalo is to plant over 10 million trees across 15,000 hectares of degraded community land.

These efforts will also create a new and protected habitat for many threatened and endemic plant and animal species, which are currently limited to the small portion of remaining forest land. Additionally, the initiative is expected to have a significant positive impact on the rural economies in Sierra Leone.

Edward Stephenson, co-CEO of Rainforest Builder, said, “West Africa has experienced extreme levels of forest degradation, but the region has been slower than some others to attract the focus of global carbon markets. This landmark agreement with Microsoft is a catalyst not only for Rainforest Builder but also for the crucial role that Africa—and Sierra Leone specifically—can play in global carbon markets and combatting climate change.”

Project Buffalo has also established a broad-based benefit-sharing program focused on smallholder agricultural improvement, road infrastructure, and a community development fund. According to Rainforest Builder, in 2025, the initiative directly employed 1,200 people, and the company expects this number to substantially increase as the initiative advances further. 

Phillip Goodman, Carbon Removal director at Microsoft Corp., commented, “This agreement helps accelerate reforestation work, and carbon removal growth writ large, in West Africa. Project Buffalo is grounded in scientific rigor and supporting local communities, two priorities for Microsoft in our journey to be carbon negative by 2030.”