Microsoft leads by example with a 6% cut in carbon emissions

The American tech giant Microsoft has taken a significant step towards its mission of net carbon emissions by reducing its own carbon emissions by 6 percent, or roughly 730,000 metric tonnes in the first year of operations since its board made a commitment to become carbon negative as a company by 2030.

Microsoft’s President Mr. Brad Smith pointed out that Microsoft purchased the removal of 1.3 million metric tons of carbon from 15 suppliers across 26 projects around the world. “During our first year, we reduced our emissions by 6 percent, from 11.6 million metric tons to 10.9 metric tonnes,” Mr. Smith remarked.

“By 2030, our goal is to cut our emissions by more than half. This means that if we sustain and then improve upon these reductions for 10 consecutive years, we will reach and hopefully exceed this goal,” the Microsoft President stated in a blog post.

Redmond, Washington-based multinational had earlier made a commitment to remove all the carbon the company has emitted directly or through electricity use since it was founded in 1975 by 2050.

The overall reduced activity due to COVID-19 induced restrictions have made a small contribution towards the company’s reduced carbon emissions this year.

“Obviously that aspect is unsustainable, making other and more significant sources of progress more important. At the top of this list is the need to accelerate a shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy in our facilities and emissions reductions by our suppliers,” the Microsoft Official stressed.

However, the Microsoft President expressed his concern that there is no real existing carbon removal ecosystem and the world must build a new market on an unprecedented scale and timeline, from nearly scratch.

“This will be incredibly hard, requiring integrity, public-private coordination, and heavy investment simultaneously,” Mr. Smith remarked.

Suggesting a significant shift in the way the compensations will be planned from the next fiscal year, Mr. Smith stated that progress on sustainability goals will play a considerable part in deciding executive pay from the next fiscal year in July.

“This will apply to the compensation of the members of the company`s Senior Leadership Team, including CEO Satya Nadella,” the Microsoft Official appended.