A year after announcing a pledge to become carbon negative by 2030, Microsoft has revealed it has cut its emissions by circa 730,000 metric tons, or six percent.
If this rate of reduction is maintained, Microsoft will reach its target ahead of the proposed deadline, says the firm.
Since publishing a Request for Proposals (RFP) in July, Microsoft has also arranged for a total of 1.3 million metric tons of carbon to be removed, across 26 different projects.
A company called ClimateCare, for example, is working on removing 100,000 tonnes of carbon via a large-scale reforestation project in Peru.
UK start-ups Recycleye and SATAVIA, meanwhile, are utilizing Microsoft technology to deliver solutions to environmental problems in particularly problematic industries.
Recycleye, hosted on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, offers an innovative way of scanning waste as it passes through a conveyor belt in management facilities, using robotics and artificial intelligence.
AI aviation start-up SATAVIA is also using Azure, to aid in its quest to cut the climate impact of air travel by 60%. The firm aims to optimize flight plans and offset emissions from contrails produced when an aircraft reaches 26,000 feet through high-resolution imaging of the Earth’s atmosphere.
As part of its commitment to transparency, Microsoft has published a comprehensive rundown of its sustainability projects, which has been subject to a review by consultancy Deloitte.
