AI is adding gigawatts of new energy demand. To keep up, companies are looking to biomass-energy and especially when it is paired with carbon capture (BECCS).

These projects provide both energy and carbon removal. This means the future of energy procurement requires integrated teams: energy experts handling the fundamentals of contracting and carbon removal experts assessing feedstocks, permanence, and monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV).

Notable deals combining energy and removals

• Stockholm Exergi is converting a biomass Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant into BECCS, offering both district heating, power, and durable removals.

• Frontier buyers have committed $40M+ to Arbor’s Louisiana BECCS project which generates energy along with removals.

• British power-generator Drax plans to invest up to $12.5B in U.S. BECCS plants that will deliver biomass power while also capturing CO₂.

Why both teams are needed to evaluate biomass energy

• Energy teams remain essential to pricing, structuring offtakes and hedging risk. But biomass introduces complexities that carbon removal/ nature based solutions experts are positioned to evaluate:

• Feedstock sourcing: Is the wood or waste sustainable, or does it drive deforestation via leakage?

• Carbon accounting: Is combustion net-neutral once logistics and land-use are considered?

• Supply chain stability: Are biomass feedstocks available at the needed scale, consistency, and price over the long -run?

• Indirect impacts: Does biomass harvesting affect soil carbon, water use, or biodiversity indirectly?

• Certification & standards: Are feedstocks certified (e.g., FSC, ISCC) to prove sustainability to regulators and investors?

Why both teams are needed to evaluate capture

• Energy teams still need to assess developer reliability, contract terms, and subsidy economics, but carbon integrity requires additional review from removals experts:

• Permanence of storage: Are captured tons injected into reservoirs with long-term monitoring?

• Monitoring, Reporting & Verification (MRV): Are standards robust, transparent, and consistent with global protocols?

• Geological risk: Is the storage basin suitable, with proven injection history and capacity?

• Counterparty credibility: Is the project developer financially and technically capable of delivering durable removals?

• Cross-boundary issues: How are removals treated if capture, transport, and storage occur under different regulatory regimes?

• Demand-side procurement functions and supply-side offerings will both converge. By the 2030s, bundled energy & removals contracts evaluated by integrated teams are likely to be the standard practice.

Takeaway: Energy teams are still indispensable, but “RE-movals” demand new expertise. The next corporate capability is procurement that unites both.