Pure Data Centres (Pure DC) has committed £24 million ($31.5m) to support the development of the UK’s largest biochar carbon-removal facility in Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire.

The PureBiochar facility will be operated by A Healthier Earth (AHE), a subsidiary of Pure DC, and is expected to produce 11,500 tons of biochar annually, removing up to 18,500 tons of CO2. Phase one of the project – which covers commissioning and site preparation – is underway, with production scheduled to start later this month.

According to the company, the project will redevelop a brownfield industrial site, create specialist roles, and use local waste streams such as joinery offcuts and garden waste. It is being built to European Biochar Certificate standards, with excess heat used to generate on-site electricity.

“At Pure DC, we’re constantly looking for the overlap between delivering environmentally responsible digital infrastructure and outsized commercial opportunity,” said Dame Dawn Childs, CEO of Pure DC. “Leading tech firms are already contracting millions of tonnes of biochar annually. By building this capability, Pure DC is well placed to meet that demand, leverage existing customer relationships, and generate value for our platform. The PureBiochar facility will create credible, science-based carbon removal solutions, which global businesses can rely on.”

Pure DC said the initiative reflects its intention to embed carbon-removal capacity into its wider data-centre platform and align with sustainability commitments from hyperscale customers.

Biochar is produced by heating plant waste in the absence of oxygen through a process called pyrolysis, turning it into a stable, carbon-rich material rather than releasing the carbon back into the atmosphere. According to developers, the process can lock in carbon that would otherwise decompose, releasing CO2.

The project has also been endorsed by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Minister for Energy at DESNZ, Michael Shanks MP, said: “This investment is an excellent example of industry stepping up to pioneer innovative climate solutions.

“Greenhouse gas removal technologies, including biochar, will play an important role in us meeting our net zero ambitions, helping industry to decarbonise whilst delivering economic opportunities such as the new, high-quality jobs in Wiltshire that this facility will create.”

Pure DC noted that growth across the carbon removal market was a key factor in its decision. Most major hyperscalers have backed biochar projects over the past few years. Most notably, in May, Microsoft signed a deal to purchase 1.24 million tons of carbon removal credits from Exomad Green, the largest such agreement to date.