Microsoft pledges to go carbon negative by 2030, eliminate past carbon footprint by 2050
Microsoft has also set up a $1 billion “climate innovation fund” to help accelerate carbon reduction, capture, and removal globally.
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What you need to know
Microsoft today unveiled a climate plan that sets its sights on going carbon negative by 2030. If it succeeds, this means the company will eliminate more carbon from the atmosphere than it produces. Going further, by 2050, the company hopes to have eliminated enough excess carbon to match all of its emissions since Microsoft was founded in 1975.
“While the world will need to reach net zero, those of us who can afford to move faster and go further should do so,” Microsoft president Brad Smith said in ablog postannouncing the plan. “That’s why today we are announcing an ambitious goal and a new plan to reduce and ultimately remove Microsoft’s carbon footprint.”
The plan involves cutting Microsoft’s carbon emissions by more than half by 2030, Microsoft says. That includes both direct emissions and through Microsoft’s entire supply chain. As just part of the plans, by 2025, Microsoft will shift to a 100 percent supply of renewable energy. By 2030, it plans to electrify its global campus operations vehicle fleet.
Microsoft also announced a $1 billion “climate innovation fund” through which it will invest in new technologies to help solve the problem carbon emmissions represent around the world. The company plans to invest portions of this fund in two main areas:
This new fund is in addition to Microsoft’sAI for Earthinitiative, which has already been in place for two years.
“Reducing carbon is where the world needs to go, and we recognize that it’s what our customers and employees are asking us to pursue,” Smith said. “This is a bold bet — a moonshot — for Microsoft. And it will need to become a moonshot for the world.”
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Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter@DthorpLand Instagram@heyitsdtl.
