Informed by new research from PwC UK that shows AI can boost global GDP by up to 4.4% and reduce emissions by 4% by 2030, Microsoft commits to a tech-first approach to drive progress across operations, products, customers and data science.
This week, Microsoft
President Brad
Smith shared the
company's vision of a doubling down on sustainability, with a roadmap that will
put sustainability at the core of every part of the business and technology to
work for sustainable outcomes.
"The magnitude and speed of the world's environmental changes have made it
increasingly clear that we must do more, and today Microsoft is taking steps to
do just that," Smith said. "We're taking action to put our own house in order,
while increasingly addressing sustainability challenges around the globe by
engaging our strongest assets as a company — our employees and our
technologies."
Leading this commitment is a substantial increase of the company's internal
carbon
fee
to $15 per metric ton on all carbon emissions. The internal Microsoft tax was
established seven years ago to hold all business divisions financially
responsible for reducing carbon emissions. The funds from this increased fee
will maintain Microsoft's carbon
neutrality,
as well as help the tech giant take a tech-first approach that will put
sustainability at the core of every part of its business.
Other key commitments include:
-
Building sustainable campuses and datacenters, including a "zero-carbon"
campus in Puget Sound and innovating to reduce carbon at campuses around
the world.
-
Accelerating research through data science in its AI for
Earth program with new
datasets and open source APIs for environmental applications.
-
Partnering with existing and new customers to drive sustainable
transformations with a low-carbon cloud, devices and solutions.
-
Advocating for environmental policy changes, including joining the
Carbon Leadership Council in support of a framework for a national
price on
carbon.
In addition, Microsoft announced, with PricewaterhouseCoopers UK (PwC
UK), new
research
that shows the potential of AI to enable economic growth while reducing
greenhouse gas emissions. Looking at four key sectors — agriculture,
energy, water and transport — the report finds that AI-enabled
advances could yield as much as a 4.4 percent increase in global GDP and a 4
percent decrease in global greenhouse gas emissions while creating as many as 38
million new jobs globally.
The announcement builds on more than a decade of work on this issue, including
reducing carbon emissions and purchasing more than 1.5 GW of renewable energy,
as well as partnering with customers to drive sustainable transformation and
a $50 million commitment to AI for Earth.
Published Apr 17, 2019 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST