In a fantastic news to reduce the emissions of green house gases, tech giant Microsoft has pledged to remove ‘all the carbon’ that it has emitted into the environment since its inception way back in 1975.
It intends to reach this goal by 2050.
As a first step to reach this goal, it plans to become carbon negative by 2030, which means to remove more carbon from the environment than it emits.
In this context, it is important to understand the difference between ‘carbon neutral’ and ‘carbon negative.’ To become carbon neutral is to add no carbon to the atmosphere. Organizations can do so by not releasing greenhouse gases, or by offsetting emissions, or by balancing its emissions, which can be done by removing the amount of carbon they have produced.
The President of Microsoft, Brad Smith put up a blog on the Microsoft website discussing details of this bold goal and a detailed plan to reach the goal effectively.
“If the last decade has taught us anything, it’s that technology built without these principles can do more harm than good,” Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, said bolstering the efforts to reduce emissions. “We must begin to offset the damaging effects of climate change.”
As part of the measures to reach this goal, the company has decided to set up a 1-billion dollar climate innovation fund to develop technologies to tackle this global menace. Also, it plans to reach its goal by using a host of negative technology techniques such as afforestation, soil carbon sequestration, and direct air capture.
Environmental organizations across the world have lauded the efforts of Microsoft and have urged other organizations to follow suit.
His efforts were also praised by Anand Mahindra, Chairman of the Mahindra Group.
Bravo @satyanadella When I announced the intention of @MahindraRise to be carbon neutral by 2040—10 years ahead of the deadline—I thought we were being bold. You have raised the bar for us all… https://t.co/7QOEoe5xqT
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) January 17, 2020
This is great news and all organizations must do their bit in making the world a safer and better place for generations to come.
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