Microsoft and Occidental Petroleum have signed a record carbon credit deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as the technology industry struggles to keep its climate promises amid a surge in power needs driven by artificial intelligence. 

Occidental, one of the biggest US oil producers, will sell 500,000 carbon credits for an undisclosed amount to Microsoft over six years, under an agreement announced on Tuesday.

The companies said it was the largest deal of its kind, and would allow Microsoft to offset its emissions by paying Occidental to have the carbon removed from the atmosphere and stored underground.