Microsoft pledges to reduce carbon emissions from operations by 75% by 2030

The multinational technology giant has announced its renewed commitment to climate change action and has committed to cut its operational carbon emissions by 75 percent by 2030 in comparison to 2013 levels.

The technology giant will achieve the ambitious goals through investment in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and its carbon neutrality scheme.

The carbon neutrality plan was announced in 2012, where Microsoft pledged to become carbon neutral across all direct operations, including data centres, software development labs, air travel and office buildings.

The 75 percent carbon reduction goal is part of Microsoft Paris Agreement pledges, estimating to avoid more than 10 million metric tons of carbon emissions by 2030.

Renewable energy will play an increasing role in the company’s development, as according to Brad Smith, Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer renewable energy is “not only a clean power source but also it provides the company with better financial predictability”.  

Microsoft put an internal carbon fee which put a price on carbon based on market pricing for renewable energy and carbon offsets and it is being applied in 100 countries.

Cloud-based programmes to reduce resource consumption have contributed to a 20 percent decrease in energy reduction in the company’s facilities.

Microsoft’s first carbon reduction target came in 2009, when the company vowed to reduce its carbon emissions per unit of revenue by at least 30 percent by 2012, compared to 2007 levels.

Microsoft has also signed the “We Are Still In” declaration, as one of the American companies still committed to the Paris Agreement regardless US President’s Donald Trump to withdraw the country from the Paris Agreement.

The announcement came from Brad Smith’s blog, where he wrote: “As a global company, the changes we make in how we operate our business and the goals we set have a worldwide impact”.

“It’s our hope that this pledge inspires others to join us in setting targets, and provides confidence to governments, companies, and individuals that it’s possible for entities to help reach the goals set in the Paris climate agreement. By raising our ambitions and taking these actions, our goal is to help make the future more sustainable and beneficial to everyone”.