2025 is a notable yr on this planet’s continued efforts towards a extra sustainable future. It marks the five-year countdown to 2030, the top of the timeline for the Sustainable Growth Objectives (SDGs). 2025 will even be the 30th convening of the UN Local weather Change Convention—also referred to as COP30—and it’s going down in Brazil, each a symbolically and strategically essential nation on this planet’s battle towards local weather change and environmental degradation.
It is usually a notable yr for Microsoft. Along with celebrating the 50th anniversary of our firm’s founding, it’s the midpoint of our personal sustainability journey. In 2020 we introduced our ambitions to be carbon unfavorable, water constructive, and 0 waste by 2030, all whereas defending ecosystems. We’ve got made large progress over the previous 5 years, and we’re pleased with what we’ve completed. We’ve additionally discovered classes alongside the way in which, classes that continually inform and form our path towards 2030 and past.
The objectives that we set in 2020 mirrored what we believed we would have liked to do with a purpose to assist push the world towards a net-zero economic system. I joined Microsoft on this journey two years in the past—changing into our Chief Sustainability Officer in January 2023—and I proceed to be impressed by the work of workers throughout the corporate of their relentless pursuit of those objectives.
- In June 2020, we introduced our largest energy PPA up to now on the time—a 500MW PPA with Sol Programs. In the present day, we’re one of many largest carbon-free vitality consumers on this planet, with a 34-gigawatt (GW) contracted renewable vitality portfolio throughout 24 international locations up to now. We’re bringing extra carbon-free electrical energy onto the grids the place we function, and we proceed to advocate for the enlargement of fresh vitality options all over the world.
- A key element of our water constructive purpose is to replenish extra water than we eat throughout our world operations. We’ve grown our replenishment portfolio to 90 initiatives in over 40 places all over the world.
- On our journey to turn out to be zero waste, we’re discovering alternatives to maintain electronics in circulation. The repairability of our present portfolio of Floor units has advanced considerably from our first field-repairable product in 2019. That is additionally true of Xbox, which lately introduced how they’re working to develop the variety of methods gamers can get help to restore their consoles and equipment.
- We exceeded our land safety purpose, with 15,849 acres of protected land and surpassed our preliminary goal of 11,000 acres by greater than 40%.
That is solely a snapshot of the actual progress we’ve made during the last 5 years. We’ve got a longstanding dedication to sustainability, and our expertise reveals us that the investments and improvements we’ve targeted on are good for our firm, our prospects, the economic system, and our planet. Each funding has additionally been a studying alternative, an opportunity to check our assumptions and modify as wanted.
Whereas we’re pleased with these achievements, we all know that our work is way from over, and that the trail forward has gotten tougher. The world is just not on observe to satisfy important local weather objectives and we see many of those challenges mirrored in our personal journey.
In 2020, Microsoft leaders referred to our sustainability objectives as a “moonshot,” and practically 5 years later, we now have needed to acknowledge that the moon has gotten additional away. Nevertheless, the power creating this distance from our objectives within the brief time period is identical one that may assist us construct an even bigger, quicker, and extra highly effective rocket to succeed in them in the long run: synthetic intelligence (AI). This isn’t hyperbole. Already, we’re seeing AI make a constructive influence on the planet, and within the coming years, this expertise will start to quickly speed up local weather options at a scale we’ve not but seen. In November 2023, we launched our AI and Sustainability Playbook, which highlights 5 foundational enabling circumstances wanted to unlock AI’s full transformative potential for accelerating sustainability progress. In January, we shared a report that highlights our progress and the improvements which have superior every of these 5 pillars.
Constructing the AI economic system of the long run is a high precedence for our enterprise, however we’re additionally within the enterprise of sustainability. As CSO, it’s my job to make sure that these twin mandates are working collectively.
To realize this, we have to run our sustainability initiatives like we run the remainder of our enterprise: guaranteeing that our focus is on the highest-impact interventions that really transfer the needle with regards to planetary influence.
Carbon Neutrality
Microsoft introduced that it was carbon impartial in 2012, a number of years forward of our formidable purpose to be carbon unfavorable by 2030. Microsoft’s prior years reaching carbon neutrality have been primarily based on a standard mixture of environmental attributes bought with funds from our corporate-wide carbon payment and our total carbon emissions discount efforts. This can be a prime instance of the place we now have discovered and adjusted alongside our journey. Whereas we proceed to use the carbon payment to investments in emissions reductions, we now have ceased buying non-additional, unbundled renewable vitality certificates. We’re refocusing using these funds on extra long-term, higher-impact investments throughout carbon discount, carbon elimination, and clear electrical energy procurement. These interventions are anticipated to extra successfully assist us obtain our purpose of changing into carbon unfavorable by 2030 and should take us out of carbon-neutral place.
We will even proceed to spend money on revolutionary local weather options by way of our $1B Local weather Innovation Fund (CIF). Since launching the CIF in 2020, Microsoft has dedicated practically $800M to options starting from sustainable fuels and low-carbon constructing supplies to carbon dioxide elimination, water innovation, and round economic system applied sciences. We now have a portfolio of 63 investees that we’re serving to to scale. Going ahead, we are going to prolong this technique and proceed to take a position our capital to construct new markets and improve the market provide of rising sustainable applied sciences to deal with carbon, water, and waste.
We’re proud to proceed making selections that drive constructive environmental influence available in the market and ship high-integrity investments. We stay resolute in our dedication to our local weather objectives and to empowering others with the expertise wanted to construct a extra sustainable future.
In my first yr with Microsoft, I wrote a bit on LinkedIn: Eradicating Roadblocks within the Race to Internet Zero, the place I in contrast reaching our sustainability objectives to coaching for a marathon, noting that “it’ll take focus, planning, and perseverance to succeed in the end line.” In the present day—and now two years into my function—I wish to add one other comparability, to an African proverb that claims the next: “If you wish to journey quick, journey alone; if you wish to journey far, journey collectively.”
In 2025, the moon is additional away, so all of us should journey collectively and do extra if we’re going to attain it. We’ll proceed to work in shut collaboration with our workers, prospects, suppliers, business friends, companions, and with policymakers to maximise our influence in pursuit of our shared objectives.
